On the Oscars Red Carpet: A Lot of Style, Little Substance

A return to in-person awards meant a return to fashion form for many celebrities. Have we learned nothing from the past year?

The 93rd annual Academy Awards were a night of historic firsts: first woman of color to win the directing Oscar; first Black women to win the makeup and hairstyling Oscar; oldest woman ever to win an Oscar; first Korean actor to win an Oscar. But in at least one area it was more like same-old, same-old: the red carpet. The long walk to Union Station (and the Dolby Theater) may have been the first full-fledged in-person, maskless entrance-making parade since the pandemic began, but instead of a rebirth, it was a return to familiar marketing moment form, replete with big brands and the stars that love them. Or big stars and the brands that pay them? Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. Indeed, aside from a subversive move toward comfort footwear on the part of Chloé Zhao, who wore white sneakers with her glinting knit Hermès dress, and Questlove, who paired his black ensemble with gold Crocs, it was almost like the last year of lockdowns, trauma and social justice had never happened. Or as if we hadn’t actually learned all the things that everybody said they were learning — at least when it came to image-making in all of its layers and dimensions.