Why stars ‘method dress’ for the Oscars red carpet – and the looks we’re expecting this weekend

The red carpet at the Academy Awards, which takes place on Sunday night, promises to deliver the greatest fashion show the ceremony has witnessed in years. Attribute the elevated flair to star power and behind-the-scenes style ingenuity.

From Anya Taylor-Joy to Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Lawrence, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron and Zendaya, the mix of fashion conversation-starters in attendance is unlike any other.

The palpable anticipation surrounding the red carpet this year is also the result of the ceremony’s timing. After the SAG-AFTRA strike shut down movie production for an unprecedented 118-day period, many in Hollywood grew to appreciate the lucrative luxury brand contracts which pay them millions. Awards season, which once seemed to be a chore to some actors, has been warmly embraced by all.

If in years past, serious thespians recoiled from being asked, “Who are you wearing?” by TV crews lining the red carpet – reasoning that it eclipsed the purpose of an awards show to celebrate cinematic craft – answers to that question have been enthusiastically forthcoming this year.

“I’ll give you a perfect example – I was on the Golden Globes red carpet and Carey Mulligan was talking to me all about her Schiaparelli dress,” says Zanna Roberts Rassi, host of E! Style referring to the British actress who is vying for the Best Actress Oscar with her performance in Maestro. “You know she wanted to actually talk about it – and that for me was a first because usually she’s quite press-shy. She’s very demure. She doesn’t really want to talk about the clothes she’s wearing as much as her role.”

Roberts Rassi, who will be reporting live from the Oscars red carpet, believes that the finery seen this year should prove more interesting than usual because of a recent style shift she describes as “method dressing” whereby actors enlist the brands they represent and their stylists to dream up couture inspired by the films they are representing.

“The red carpet used to be about actors dressed as their very best selves,” explains Roberts Rassi. “It was about their individuality – you saw them as a person – as opposed to their character.”

Naz Perez, the Los Angeles pop culture expert and film critic, elaborates: “We’ve gone from who are you wearing to what story are you telling through your clothes?”

So Margot Robbie, who as a producer of Barbie is vying for the Best Picture prize (which is one of eight received by Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster), is set to complete the fashion story she and her stylist, Andrew Mukamal, first portrayed during the film’s July promotional tour and carried on relating all through awards season. Mukamal enlisted a roll call of A-list designers to create Robbie’s looks inspired by the Mattel fashion doll she brought to life on screen.

“I’m wondering if there is any pink fabric left in Europe?” jokes the Hollywood Reporter’s fashion writer Laurie Bookins, reflecting on the Barbie-inspired outfits by Giorgio Armani, Balmain, Schiaparelli and a long list of others that Robbie has flaunted. Given that she serves as a Chanel brand ambassador, it’s safe to say that on Oscars night Robbie will be wearing handiwork by Virginie Viard, the label’s creative director. “For brand ambassadors, the Oscars is the finish line and the big payoff for the brand,” comments fashion writer Merle Ginsberg.

“But it will be interesting to see how Virginie Viard channels the Barbie inspiration,” adds Brookins.

Method dressing is an Old Hollywood tradition rooted in the Golden Era when costume designers working for the major studios such as MGM, Paramount and Warner Brothers dressed contenders such as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor in gowns inspired by costumes they wore in their nominated films.

In 2018, Marvel Studios revived the concept promoting Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther. Its “purple carpet premiere” referenced the film’s key shade and its stars storming it in designer formals inspired by Ruth E. Carter’s Oscar-winning screen wardrobe helped to propel the Marvel superhero thriller to become a cultural phenomenon as well as the highest grossing film directed by a Black filmmaker.

At this year’s Oscars, Emma Stone, Louis Vuitton’s brand ambassador, is expected to continue the red carpet narrative she has maintained as the frontrunner in the Oscars’ Best Actress race for her role as Bella Baxter – a “woman with the mind of a child…” – in Yorgos Lanthimos’s outré comedy, Poor Things. Conceiving her looks for her the film’s premieres and her appearances at awards shows, Vuitton’s creative director, Nicolas Ghesquière has adapted flourishes of the avant-garde Victoriana defining Stone’s Poor Things wardrobe – from the 19th-century style row of delicate buttons adorning the pale-blue bias-cut satin slip dress which she wore at the film’s London premiere to the “mega sleeve” beautifying the stunning one-shoulder apricot silk jacquard organza gown in which she claimed the Best Actress BAFTA last month.

As Stone’s painstakingly crafted fleet of Vuitton couture has generated headlines – helping her maintain her sure-thing status in the Best Actress Oscars race – it’s also boosted the chances of Poor Thing’s costume designer, Holly Waddington, winning a Best Costume Design Oscar. It’s a remarkable achievement given that one of Waddigton’s fellow nominees, Ellen Mirojnick – who has a shot at the prize for her work on Oppenheimer – has racked up 77 costume design credits over the course of her career.

Cast members from Dune: Part Two – namely Austin Butler, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Zendaya, among others – are set to appear at the Academy Awards ceremony or at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Perez and Roberts Rassi bet that Zendaya will maintain the “modieval” style of method dressing to which she has adhered recently promoting Denis Villeneuve’s masterly crafted sci-fi epic.

The term was coined by Jacqueline West – the costume designer of the multipart film franchise (who is also Oscar-nominated for her handiwork on Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon) – to describe “medieval fashion with a modern twist” which guided her handcrafting some of the 4,000 pieces which factored into the film’s wardrobe and also filtered through to Zendaya’s press tour looks curated by Law Roach.

Flamboyant Roach – Zendaya’s self-described “image architect….” – joins Robbie’s stylist, Mukamal, along with Wayman Bannerman and Micah McDonald or, “Wayman + Micah,” who work as “lifestyle connoisseurs…” for Rustin’s Best Actor Oscar nominee, Colman Domingo – and the mastermind of Past Lives star, Greta Lee’s red carpet wardrobe, Danielle Goldberg, as part of a new wave of stylists who are being lauded this year for not only invigorating awards season by deftly utilizing superlative European couture workrooms to craft originals channelling Hollywood theatricality but also by introducing new designers to the red carpet including Loewe, Thom Browne and Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry.

Awards Season 2024 has been more muted for men, with the exception of Domingo who has achieved fashion icon status by forsaking the traditional dark tuxedos favoured this year by his competitors at awards shows for a formal wardrobe enlivened by deliciously spicy hues (think paprika and saffron), duster coats, swishy, voluminous trousers, sharp footwear and dazzling jewellery.

He’s one of Louis Vuitton’s A-list brand ambassadors, so he’ll be certain to wow in something spectacular by current menswear designer Pharrell Williams who during his own time as a Hollywood player – and Oscar nominee – has consistently made news with his getups that incorporated shorts, hats and Chanel jewels.

As for the finishing touch – beauty – according to Roberts Rassi, the drama generated by method dressing may be balanced by actress nominees opting for classic, understated makeup and hair. “I’ve lost count of the amount of stylists who have said to me that this season marks a return to Old Hollywood beauty trends,” reveals the presenter who is also the co-founder of Milk Makeup. “So, a clean eye and a pop of colour on the lip. When it comes to hair, you’ll see the return of bouncy locks, big waves, and a part at the side. Put Veronica Lake and Grace Kelly on a mood board and everyone’s happy.”

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