Thursday, March 01, 2007
That's two Vogue covers for Oscar
Even in a year when the Academy Awards were more contested than ever in recent memory, fashion was discussed at least as widely as the films themselves. When Ryan Seacrest, the sycophantic host of Fox's American Idol and that evening's E! Network red carpet correspondent, asked Meryl Streep, "So, that's 14 nominations for you?" She replied, "Yes, and I'm a size 14, so it all matches." To see all the coverage of the red carpet, not just by mainstream celebrity gossip mongers like E! and MTV's Chris Connelly for ABC, but by the mainstream fashion press, you would think there was a fashion story there. But of course there isn't, as that same fashion press has been squawking about for some time. Real haute couture no longer appears on the red carpet--it's all pretty column gowns in conservative colors favored by middle America. The extravagant, if risky gowns by costume designers like Bob Mackie and Edith Head are a thing of the past. But if that's true, what was Andre Leon Talley doing there? And why did not one but two Oscar winners appear on the cover of Vogue this year?
Fashion journalism at the major award shows is no longer relegated to the tabloids and celebrity gossip magazines. Premiere fashion publications are covering red carpet fashion in a serious way, even as that fashion becomes less creative, less interesting from an editorial perspective and more about placement on the best dressed lists. Haute couture may not be showing up on the red carpet much, but suddenly journalists who once covered only the runways, trunk shows and society parties where haute couture fashion appears are lending column inches to America's biggest red carpet event. Perhaps this is the natural progression of the move away from models towards celebrities for the cover shots at even the most serious high fashion publications that has occurred over the last ten years. Covering the red carpet allows Vogue (and Elle, et al) to get a slice of the celebrity pie that People, Star, US Weekly and InStyle have had wrapped up for so long. Make no mistake--there was not one single item of clothing in the Oscar telecast that would have garnered even a split second of Anna Wintour's attention in any other setting, up to and including the runway, with the possible exception of Jennifer Hudson's much maligned python bolero, which Ms. Wintour placed there herself. And yet there was Andre Leon Talley, Vogue’s editor-at-large, a man with an impeccable eye, decades of experience in the fashion industry and perhaps the most wooden teleprompter reading in the history of television (seriously, it was like watching one of the “be a fashion reporter” challenges on America’s Next Top Model. And not the winner) chatting away with Cate Blanchett in Armani Prive, Jada Pinkett Smith in Carolina Herrera.
Now about those two covers. This month’s issue featuring Jennifer Hudson was a much touted, obvious tie-in. Ingenue, nominated for all these awards for her very first film, is guided through her fashion selections by the man with the last word on dressing bright young things for fabulous parties. As if anyone straight off the bus from Omaha couldn’t have thought to stop in at Oscar de la Renta and Manolo Blahnik. But the point was that Ms. Hudson was seen to be taking her fashion responsibilities seriously, and Vogue was able to capitalize on the only sure winner this Oscar season. Never mind that the move backfired for the young star, placing her in the line of fire instead of the front rows of the spring shows. I wonder whether she doesn’t wish she had followed Halle Berry’s example, who took a major risk in a year she was heavily favored to win the gold statue by wearing a rather risqué gown by then largely unknown designer Elie Saab. That dress now routinely makes the list of the best Oscar dresses ever. Ms. Hudson's bland and unflattering de la Renta won't.
But the Jennifer Hudson cover was the second for an eventual Oscar winner this year. The first was for the costumes of Sofia Coppola's dreadful Marie Antoinette. The film was ridiculous, but for Vogue it created a perfect storm of beautiful (if by definition uncreative) historical clothes, a young star with currency in the fashion world (it was Ms. Dunst's second Vogue cover in a year, a feat in itself) and a film that, because it had not yet opened, still had considerable hype. The Oscar win for Milena Canonero's design validates the choice of cover story for Vogue, and the cover story may well have influenced the Academy voters, most of whom pay little enough attention to costume design to be easily swayed, and who are pre-disposed to period pieces in this category to begin with.
The relationship between the fashion press and the Academy Awards is stronger than ever, but it looks like a race to the bland.
Fashion journalism at the major award shows is no longer relegated to the tabloids and celebrity gossip magazines. Premiere fashion publications are covering red carpet fashion in a serious way, even as that fashion becomes less creative, less interesting from an editorial perspective and more about placement on the best dressed lists. Haute couture may not be showing up on the red carpet much, but suddenly journalists who once covered only the runways, trunk shows and society parties where haute couture fashion appears are lending column inches to America's biggest red carpet event. Perhaps this is the natural progression of the move away from models towards celebrities for the cover shots at even the most serious high fashion publications that has occurred over the last ten years. Covering the red carpet allows Vogue (and Elle, et al) to get a slice of the celebrity pie that People, Star, US Weekly and InStyle have had wrapped up for so long. Make no mistake--there was not one single item of clothing in the Oscar telecast that would have garnered even a split second of Anna Wintour's attention in any other setting, up to and including the runway, with the possible exception of Jennifer Hudson's much maligned python bolero, which Ms. Wintour placed there herself. And yet there was Andre Leon Talley, Vogue’s editor-at-large, a man with an impeccable eye, decades of experience in the fashion industry and perhaps the most wooden teleprompter reading in the history of television (seriously, it was like watching one of the “be a fashion reporter” challenges on America’s Next Top Model. And not the winner) chatting away with Cate Blanchett in Armani Prive, Jada Pinkett Smith in Carolina Herrera.
Now about those two covers. This month’s issue featuring Jennifer Hudson was a much touted, obvious tie-in. Ingenue, nominated for all these awards for her very first film, is guided through her fashion selections by the man with the last word on dressing bright young things for fabulous parties. As if anyone straight off the bus from Omaha couldn’t have thought to stop in at Oscar de la Renta and Manolo Blahnik. But the point was that Ms. Hudson was seen to be taking her fashion responsibilities seriously, and Vogue was able to capitalize on the only sure winner this Oscar season. Never mind that the move backfired for the young star, placing her in the line of fire instead of the front rows of the spring shows. I wonder whether she doesn’t wish she had followed Halle Berry’s example, who took a major risk in a year she was heavily favored to win the gold statue by wearing a rather risqué gown by then largely unknown designer Elie Saab. That dress now routinely makes the list of the best Oscar dresses ever. Ms. Hudson's bland and unflattering de la Renta won't.
But the Jennifer Hudson cover was the second for an eventual Oscar winner this year. The first was for the costumes of Sofia Coppola's dreadful Marie Antoinette. The film was ridiculous, but for Vogue it created a perfect storm of beautiful (if by definition uncreative) historical clothes, a young star with currency in the fashion world (it was Ms. Dunst's second Vogue cover in a year, a feat in itself) and a film that, because it had not yet opened, still had considerable hype. The Oscar win for Milena Canonero's design validates the choice of cover story for Vogue, and the cover story may well have influenced the Academy voters, most of whom pay little enough attention to costume design to be easily swayed, and who are pre-disposed to period pieces in this category to begin with.
The relationship between the fashion press and the Academy Awards is stronger than ever, but it looks like a race to the bland.
