How the Academy Awards became ‘the biggest international fashion show free-for-all’
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March 06, 2024
Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén, Fulbright Scholar and Sweden-America Foundation Research Fellow, University of Southern California -
The Conversation
The Oscars are no longer just a celebration of movies. They’ve also become a fashion show, with fans, designers and the media celebrating and critiquing Hollywood celebrities as they stroll, pause and pose on the red carpet of the annual awards ceremony.
A sharp look can be a story in and of itself.
Take actress Lupita Nyong’o. After she wore a powder blue Prada dress to the 2014 Oscars, she became the new “It girl” overnight. She was named People magazine’s Most Beautiful Woman, became the first Black ambassador for beauty giant Lancôme and landed on the covers of Vogue, Vanity Fair and Glamour.
But fashion wasn’t always so central to the ceremony.
Financial struggles continued to mount when, in 1949, the motion picture companies refused to fund the Academy Awards after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that puts on the awards, allowed British films to compete head-to-head with American productions.
The organization found temporary solutions to keep the event going. But when faced with the possibility of discontinuing the Oscars ceremony altogether due to financial constraints, the academy weighed the advantages and disadvantages of airing the program on television, which was seen as film’s main competitor. Eventually, the academy approached NBC and requested that the network cover the expenses to put on the event in exchange for the rights to broadcast the show in 1953.
Until then, the studios had carefully crafted and controlled their stars’ public image. Television was a new medium – and a more spontaneous one. Studio executives feared how their stars would appear on screen and behave during the broadcast. Furthermore, many nominees were skeptical of appearing at the event since there was no stipulation in their contracts about television appearances.
Edith Head, guardian of glamour
So the academy hired Edith Head as a fashion consultant to supervise the stars’ appearance.
Head was responsible for making sure that everyone dressed appropriately, abiding by the “decency and decorum” guidelines suggested by the Code of Practice for Television Broadcasters. She also had to ensure that no two dresses were the same and that the outfits worn by presenters and nominees looked good on camera and complemented the set.
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