Grammys vs. Golden Globes vs. Black Panther

DJ Khaled, son Jared and back of Julia Michaels on the Grammys red carpet
DJ Khaled, son Jared and back of Julia Michaels on the Grammys red carpet. Photo by Andrew Kelly, Reuters

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.

Celebrity women in black dresses award show #METOO
Photo by Frazer Harrison for Getty images

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.

Janelle Monae in a fab suit
Janelle Monae in a fab suit. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for NARAS

 

 

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.

 

Elton John and Miley Cyrus
Elton John always brings the bling. Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for NARUS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grammy goers worked a completely different aesthetic from the Golden Globe participants. More was more, as seen in these candids.

 

 

John Legend and wife
Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS

 

At the Golden Globes, Stars Show Their Support for Victims of Inequality and Sexual Assault

Grammys

Can the Gammys Be Fixed?

But the Black Panther premier let loose a level of colorful dressing not seen even at the Grammys. And what spectacular clothes they were!

gorgeous celebrity purple flowy dress purple carpet
Photo by Chelsea Lauren for REX/Shutterstock
Orange suit celebrity Black Panther
Photo by Jen Lowery for SilverHub/REX/Shutterstock

 

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!

 

Black Panther Red Carpet woman pink dress stunning
Photo by Valerie Macon/AFP

 

 

 

*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