How the 2018 Golden Globes ‘Blackout’ Turned Into One of Hollywood’s Most Memorable Red Carpets

Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is the most nominated film for the Golden Globe Awards 2024, which will take place on Sunday in Los Angeles. The female-directed blockbuster received nine nods, including Best Picture Musical or Comedy, marking a milestone in Hollywood’s gender equality history.

Gerwig’s achievement comes six years after the Golden Globes blackout. In 2018, celebrity guests went black on the ceremony’s red carpet to show solidarity with the Time’s Up movement — a response to producer Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct and a symbolic way of showing support for victims of sexual harassment and calling for gender parity across all industries. The cause ended up providing one of the most memorable red carpets in Hollywood’s recent fashion history.

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“To this day, I truly feel like it was one of the best red carpets I have ever seen,” said television host Melissa Rivers, daughter of the late Joan Rivers and former cohost of the “Fashion Police.” “It was like the greatest ‘Project Runway’ assignment ever. The actors and the designers had to work together to create something different and memorable, which allowed the actresses’ personalities to come through. No one was paid to wear a specific dress that didn’t necessarily reflect who they were. It was amazing.”

“Barbie” star Margot Robbie, who was nominated for Best Actress in a Musical in 2018 for her role as Tonya Harding in “I, Tonya,” wore a black Gucci dress covered in silver sequins and with a plunging silhouette at the event.

Nominated that year for her work in “Battle of Sexes,” Emma Stone, the star of the current “Poor Things,” embraced the blackout theme in a black Louis Vuitton dress. “The Color Purple” producer Oprah Winfrey, who was 2018’s recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award, also went black in a custom Versace gown.

“Making fashion your own, personal, will always look better than trying to pretend you’re someone you’re not. In my opinion that is the biggest fashion don’t of all. You can always tell when someone is wearing something they’re not truly comfortable in. You can see when the dress is wearing the woman, not the woman wearing the dress,” Rivers said.

The 2018 red carpet also saw Nicole Kidman in a backless black Givenchy dress, Natalie Portman in a velvet Dior gown and Issa Rae wearing a liquid chiffon gown by Prabal Gurung.

For Rivers, one of the biggest fashion moments of the night was provided by Catherine Zeta-Jones, who wore a sheer black Zuhair Murad gown.

“[Zeta-Jones] was so ‘va-va-va-voom.’ There was a moment when she was standing next to the late Kirk Douglas, who was in a wheelchair, and I remember thinking he was getting an up-close and personal look at his daughter-in-law. He looked happy,” Rivers said.

Sunday’s Golden Globes, which will start the awards season, is also one of the first star-studded events in Hollywood after a year of WGA and SAG strikes in Hollywood, bringing extra attention to its red carpet. The ceremony is scheduled for Sunday at 8 p.m. ET and is being produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by WWD parent Penske Media Corp.

WWD will be live on the red carpet with its first real-time digital experience that will bring fashion followers an insider’s look at the celebrity arrivals and analysis on who’s wearing what. TV personality Jeannie Mai will join Booth Moore, WWD’s West Coast executive editor, and Alex Badia, its style director, at 5:30 p.m. ET for WWD’s Eye on the Red Carpet on wwd.com/golden-globes. On Monday, WWD will reveal the winners of its Style Awards during the red carpet recap on wwd.com/golden-globes at 10 a.m. ET.

Launch Gallery: What the 2024 Golden Globes Nominees Wore to Their First Golden Globe Awards Red Carpet

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