This blog talks a lot about fashion. In the teeth of award season, since we look at a lot of flashy clothing, it seems a good time to stop and explain the terms…
Fashion is a construct. To paraphrase the author Malcolm Barnard, it both reproduces and challenges identity. Being able to recognize and understand the identity reproduced is crucial to being able to take part in identities and culture. “What people wear has always constructed and indicated social and cultural status and what people wear now is part of a postmodern and globalizing economy in which the relation of identity to consumption is readily or functionally understood by almost everyone.”*
This multiplicity of identities and cultural references makes a comparison of 3 recent red carpet performances especially interesting: the Golden Globes (for movies and television shows), the Grammys (for popular music), and the premiere for the movie Black Panther.
Performers used lots of visual cues to signal political themes, beginning with the women at the Golden Globes who wore black to honor the #metoo movement.
At the Grammys, women carried white roses in honor of the same. But the music award shows always have a bit more glitz and this was no exception.
Grammy goers worked a completely different aesthetic from the Golden Globe participants. More was more, as seen in these candids.
At the Golden Globes, Stars Show Their Support for Victims of Inequality and Sexual Assault
But the Black Panther premier let loose a level of colorful dressing not seen even at the Grammys. And what spectacular clothes they were!
NY Times coverage of the Black Panther red carpet
Just in case you’re curious about the next awards show timing:
Award show TV schedule 2018, 2019: Emmys, Oscars and more
We can watch and comment together!
*Barnard, Malcolm. “Looking Sharp: Fashion Studies” in the “Handbook of Visual Culture”, ed. by Ian Heywood and Barry Sandywell, Berg 2012.
FIT Databases. Accessed 2/2/2018