LOS ANGELES — Judging from the arrivals at the 95th Academy Awards in Hollywood, the days of playing it safe on the red carpet are history — and so, too, is the redness of the carpet. The stars embraced the maximalist themes that have been coursing through high-fashion houses, bringing vivid color, rich embellishment and a touch of fantasy to a pathway now carpeted in a faint beige called “champagne.” (This could be the launch of a sarcastic hashtag called #OscarsSoBeige.)
Yet some of the nominees continued to channel the themes and characters of their recent films, turning their formalwear into a glamorous extension of their movie wardrobes. Throughout awards season and even now, a bit of surrealism touches the attire of the nominees from “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” while Austin Butler of “Elvis” channels a bit of ’50s rock ’n’ roll. It’s easy to imagine conductor Lydia Tár in any of the pitch-perfect ensembles Cate Blanchett has been wearing. Others are cleverly using the Oscars carpet as another kind of stage, where they can audition new characters, such as the sexy vixen, the sophisticate or the gender-bending glamster.
The Oscars red carpet has come to represent the culmination of a monthslong image campaign that is as much about the actors’ fashion aptitude as it is the nominated films.
