{"id":719054,"date":"2026-03-26T20:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-cant-shop-the-red-carpet-anymore\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T20:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:40:16","slug":"why-you-cant-shop-the-red-carpet-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-you-cant-shop-the-red-carpet-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Can\u2019t \u201cShop the Red Carpet\u201d Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tOnce upon a more glittery time, when fashion magazines were glossy and often weighed three pounds, it was such a rush to cover the red carpet because it had the power to instantly jump start trends, spike sales and piss Joan Rivers off. And as Fashion Director of InStyle<\/em>, my juiciest and most strategic job was selecting and writing about the clothes on those scarlet runners for our magazine\u2019s most popular The Look<\/em> section, which always opened by spotlighting the current month\u2019s \u201cBest Dress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn June 14, 2009, the occasional but beautiful actress Megan Fox attended the then obscure Berlin Film Festival to promote Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen<\/em>. Though the film was incomprehensible, Fox looked so stunning in a one-shoulder crimson Roberto Cavalli gown with a large circular opening at the hip framed by a gold snake, it was an easy pick to be the next \u201cBest.\u201d Three days after the issue\u2019s publication, I received a phone call from an ebullient Mr. Cavalli, who informed me in his unmistakable gravelly, nicotine scarred basso profundo. \u201cToday, there are now no more red Cavalli dresses to buy anywhere in the world. Basta! Thank you!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Oscar Sunday earlier this month, even before Conan O\u2019Brien in Amy Madigan drag began running from a horde of angry children, the night\u2019s parade of Oscar dresses was already posted on hundreds of online sites, complete with influencers\u2019 raves and razzes.\u00a0However, the praise for such diverse finery as Jesse Buckley in Chanel, Emma Stone in Louis Vuitton, Elle Fanning in Givenchy, Rose Byrne in Dior, and even Pedro Pascal in Chanel all shared something in common: Not a single one of them ever came down a designer runway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tEmma Stone\u2019s sleekly gleaming silver scoop neck, backless, cap sleeved Louis Vuitton gown was the result of 600 hours\u2019 worth of beading. The previous week, in Paris, Louis Vuitton presented its new collection<\/a>. Out of 54 looks, there was lots of plaid, voluminous skirting and shoulders so wide you had to wonder if designer Nicholas Ghesquierre was fantasizing about redoing the uniforms of the Kansas City Chiefs. There was not a single scoop neck, cap sleeve, or cascade of bugle beads. There was a similar red carpet\/runway disconnect with Givenchy. Elle Fanning\u2019s wasp waisted, princess gown featured a skirt so voluminous two cub scouts could have hidden under it without detection. However, designer Sarah Burton\u2019s most recent highly geometric and dramatically draped Givenchy collection<\/a> featured no full skirts or gown that the Duchess of Cambridge might readily choose. Rose Byrne\u2019s intricately floral embroidered strapless black crepe Dior gown boasted a graceful mermaid silhouette with full train, while almost every gown in Jonathan Anderson\u2019s most recent Dior couture collection<\/a> exploded from the hips into a structured pleated bell jar.<\/p>\n

\n\tSocial media<\/a> also loved Zoe Salda\u00f1a in lacy black Saint Laurent, Mikey Madison in red velvet Dior, Anne Hathaway in embroidered and body-hugging Valentino. But if you crave any of these looks, don\u2019t bother heading up Madison Avenue, down Rodeo Drive, or clicking onto Net-a-Porter. You won\u2019t find them. Every single dress cited above was a \u201cone-off,\u201d made specifically for the event, not going into production. Nor was this rarified stylistic disconnect confined to Oscar night. It was a constant throughout the entire awards season. So what\u2019s going on?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe luxury industry is currently in upheaval, flooded by too many options, competition from savvy, affordable fast fashion, urgent dictums from corporate to create distinctive new brandable signatures as a busload of young new designers are prodded to reimagine classic namesakes. Like technology<\/a>, music, and AI, fashion is now relentlessly obsessed with the new, the innovative and the unexpected.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd that\u2019s the problem. Because what the red carpet and we, its adoring public, continues to crave and call \u201cHollywood Glamour\u201d has hardly changed from 1946 when Rita Hayworth danced around in Gilda <\/em>as she \u201cPut the Blame on Mame\u201d wearing an endlessly copied, timeless black strapless Jean Louis designed sheath. When discussing Jessie Buckley, no less than three on air commentators referenced Grace Kelly\u2019s 1955 Edith Head\u2013designed mint green satin Oscar gown \u2014 often cited as the ultimate red carpet look. Elle Fanning\u2019s white gown reminded another of Elizabeth Taylor\u2019s bewitching white prom gown in A Place in the Sun<\/em> from 1952 (also by Edith Head). And a gushing Gen Z commentator tried desperately to remember the sultry beauty \u201cwho was once married to Frank Sinatra, Oh, what\u2019s her name?\u201d who often wore sinuous gowns like Mickey Madison\u2019s red velvet Dior. Her name was Ava Gardner.<\/p>\n

\n\tStudios used to pay for their stars to get dressed for openings and awards. Not surprisingly, they insisted their contract headliners look, as Lina Lamont described herself in Singin\u2019 in the Rain, <\/em>like \u201c<\/em>a shimmering, glimmering star in the cinema firmament.\u201d In fact, during the \u201860s, Ms. Head (an eight-time Oscar winner) served as a fashion consultant for the Motion Picture Academy\u2019s Big Night. Parameters for polish and poise made millions of women want to look and dress like Audrey Hepburn, Ms. Taylor, Ann-Margret and Lana Turner. But studios no longer underwrite stars\u2019 wardrobes. Fashion and jewelry brands now pay them handsomely to announce their labels. Chanel aligns with Nicole Kidman, Emma Stone with Louis Vuitton, Mia Goth with Dior. The associations not only diminish the mystery about what these actresses might wear but creates a dilemma when nothing on their respective runways is red carpet worthy. Custom raiment becomes necessary. <\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not the first time this has happ<\/a>ened. In 1995, Uma Thurman was rhapsodically gushed over for looking ethereal in a gossamer lavender chiffon Prada gown<\/a>. Her appearance not only boosted Thurman\u2019s career, it elevated Prada which back then was still noted mainly for its triangle labeled bags. However, nothing on Prada\u2019s runway that year looked remotely like Thurman\u2019s head turner.\u00a0About a decade later, it was revealed that the gown had been subcontracted out to American designer Barbara Tfank.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking with Vanity Fair<\/em><\/a> last February, popular stylist Kate Young (Rose Byrne, Margot Robbie, Selena Gomez) admitted, \u201cIf somebody is a brand ambassador \u2026 there is a list of things they are not allowed to wear or touch in public,\u201d which complicates Young\u2019s aesthetic goal of wanting her client\u2019s clothes \u201cto be representative of what is in the Zeitgeist and how a real woman would wear it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tSeconding Young, veteran stylist Elizabeth Stewart (Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Jessica Chastain) agrees that having to create a gown from scratch puts pressure on the house as well as the stylist to be part designer. \u201cIt was different when only people in the industry saw dresses as they first hit the runway. Now thanks to vogue.com, and countless other style driven sites, dresses have already been seen by millions. It you\u2019re a big star; you don\u2019t want wear \u2018old\u2019 clothes. You want something custom made. It becomes a demonstration of power.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tBut that power is short circuited when it comes to designer boutique checkout counters.\u00a0Diane Keaton\u2019s passion for oversized Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren menswear (1978), Sharon Stone tucking in the Gap white shirt into a satin Vera Wang skirt (1998), Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s pale pink Calvin Klein slip dress (1996), and Angelina Jolie\u2019s thigh-baring black Versace (2012) all started trends post-ceremony because each look was readily accessible, available in the stores. Lovely and dynamic as the ladies at this year\u2019s Oscars were, good luck shopping for whatever look inspired and bewitched you. Like all those actresses nominated who didn\u2019t win, disappointment lies ahead.\u00a0You might as well be searching for Bjork\u2019s infamous Swan dress, though, you\u2019re in luck!\u00a0There happens to be a copy of it available on eBay or only $220 in case nothing else you wanted turns up.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tHal Rubenstein is a writer, a designer, and one of the founding editors of <\/em>InStyle magazine, where he served as fashion director for fifteen years.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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