CREEM! LIVE FROM THE RED CARPET

CREEM! LIVE FROM THE RED CARPET

CREEM GOES TO THE MOVIES ELEGANZA

Because rock stars never put us to sleep with their sartorial choices

Mandy Brownholtz

Jaan Uhelszki

Cher caused a stir because... gasp! You can see her belly button! Her 1986 Oscars look, like most of her looks, was designed by Bob Mackie, a fashion designer and costumier whose creations exemplified a certain brand of sequined camp. This feels quaint by today’s standards, and she looks like an overdressed circus performer, but we stan a risktaker, especially one bent on revenge: She wore the dress as a reaction to those who thought she was too overthe-top to be considered a serious actress. If she could turn back time, we bet she'd wear it again.

When it comes to Oscars fashion, we have only three words to sum it up: “Old Hollywood Drag.”

We unfortunately cannot take credit for the coining of this expression—we must attribute it to the hosts of our favorite fashion and pop culture podcast Every Outfit, Lauren Garroni and Chelsea Fairless. But we could have never articulated it so perfectly.

Whereas movie stars will sometimes take greater sartorial risks at lesser awards shows like the Golden Globes or the SAG Awards, the Oscars remain a sterile field of classic mermaid silhouettes and 1950s prom-gown styles. Snooze! Sometimes they mix it up, even within the scope of this otherwise “safe” category of dressing— Fairless and Garroni reference Carey Mulligan in a re-creation of a 1951 Balenciaga design at this year’s ceremony. She opted for a loose, casual bob, as opposed to a stiff updo, to balance out the retro Barbie-ness of the look itself; it made the whole thing less stuffy. But still, it was Old Hollywood Drag.

There must be something about the gravitas of the evening. The same way you or I might have a nightmare about standing in front of our high school class totally naked, we imagine the rich and famous may have similar terrors about sweating beneath that hot spotlight, the exit music playing to usher them off stage while the ghost of Mr. Blackwell— the original red-carpet bitch—points and laughs so loud that everyone in the auditorium can hear.

This is where our beloved rock stars come in. The looks at the Grammys or the MTV Video Music Awards blow the lid off the conservative Oscars red carpet—does anyone recall Lady Gaga’s meat dress at the 2010 VMAs?! Music is a world that encourages fearless individualism, whereas acting requires one to be a blank canvas upon which we can project any character or identity, and it shines through in the looks.

There is a grand irony to all of this. Let us devote our attention to the mavericks who grace the “Worst Dressed” list every year. Cher in Bob Mackie, a feathered headdress and bare midriff. Bjork’s swan dress. Celine Dion’s backwards tuxedo. They may have been the worst dressed at the time, but in the great annals of history, times change. They’re still the looks we’re talking about all these years later, when all those dusty mermaid dresses have fallen forgotten to the passage of time.

So consider this a celebration! We couldn’t go to the movies without hitting the red carpet first. Just call us the Joan and Melissa Rivers of CREEM’s red carpet. (Never mind who is who.) What follows is a selection of our favorite instances of rock stars taking on the Academy, fearlessly setting out to maintain their personal style in a hostile world of naysayers.

As everyone knows, H.E.R. is big on symbols, so when she wore this sheer hooded purple extravaganza to the 2021 Oscars when “Fight for You" from Judas and the Black Messiah was nominated for Best Original Song (and ultimately won), it wasn't because the royal ultramarine went so well with her skin tone. Although it did. Or that she’s a Renaissance Faire enthusiast. She’s not. The custom-made Dundas wide-legged jumpsuitand-cape ensemble was a homage to H.I.M., inspired by the royal purple druid getup Prince wore to the 1985 Oscars when his Purple Rain won for Original Song Score.

The face of a woman who knows she’s just been immortalized. At the time, Celine Dion’s 1999 Oscars look, consisting of a Dior by John Galliano tuxedo (worn backwards for an open-back moment) topped with a fedora and diamond-studded Ray-Bans, was considered a fashion disaster, but it’s withstood the test of time and is now widely recognized as pretty fucking fabulous.

Let a smile be your umbrella when Givenchy just isn’t enough. Cranky dreamboat Jared Leto paired stringy Jesus hair with a custommade Givenchy tuxedo the color of Jordan Almonds for the 87th Oscars back in 2015. But as you know, it’s all in the accessories. The eighthbest Joker added a pink Fred Leighton art deco floral brooch and blindingly bright white shoes, prompting Neil Patrick Harris to introduce the actor as “the man with the bluest tux and whitest shoes.” Never mind that Leto was wearing lavender.

The 2015 Oscars were the year of man brooches. The on-trend men included the aforementioned Jared Leto with his baby pink flower brooch, Common in a sleek black Prada tux with a floral diamond pin thing, and everybody’s favorite Root, Questlove, in a black velvet tuxedo jacket and a sweet red heart brooch, which he matched to his invigorating lipstick red kicks. Fashion wags (famous for their understanding of Black hair) complained about his “out-of-control ’fro” and “straggly beard,” but we think he looks...like himself.

While few remember the film Dancer in the Dark for which Björk was nominated (Best Original Song, “I’ve Seen It All”), EVERYONE remembers the Swan Dress from the 2001 awards-it even has its own Wiki page. Designed by Macedonian designer Marjan Pejoski, the dress was mercilessly mocked; Jay Carr of The Boston Globe wrote, “Björk’s wraparound swan frock made her look like a refugee from the more dogeared precincts of provincial ballet.” Well, so what? The dress has been immortalized in movies, television shows, and Halloween costumes, and was even featured in the Met’s Camp exhibition in 2019.

In our decidedly unexpert opinion (we’re editors at CREEM, not Vogue, after all), Chanel tends to be extra stuffy—something about all that tweed. tweed. Enter Billie Eilish at the 2020 Oscars. Given Given the innovative songbird’s knack for turning our our conception of “pop" music on its head, it’s no no surprise she was able to reinvent the classic Chanel Chanel suit. She’s already won TWO OSCARS by the the tender age of 22, and we’d give her a third for this look. 2

Perhaps unsure of whether they’d walk out with the Oscar, Three Three 6 Mafia opted to bring their own hardware when they were were nominated for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” at the 2006 2006 awards. Even upon winning, they were still treated with little little respect; Salma Hayek reportedly told DJ Paul, “You know know your brothers and sisters are dying over in Africa because of of all this jewelry you’re wearing." This confirms two things: (1) (1) She was jealous, and (2) it IS hard out here for a pimp.

For the Oscars, freed from the pressure to “borrow” from those she left behind in the LES in 2006, Lady Gaga tends to take the Old Hollywood Drag trope and flip it on its head. Here we see her in an Alaia gown that manages to be classic and avant-garde simultaneously, complete with what appears to be red dishwashing gloves (so she can seamlessly get back to her chores after the ceremony, perhaps?). We also wanted to include her custom pants gown from the 2016 Oscars, but our overlords wouldn’t allow us a whole page of Gaga looks.

It goes without saying— Rihanna is a fashion icon. This became all the more apparent with her maternity looks. The leather cutout Alaia gown she wore at the 2023 awards when nominated for Best Original Song (“Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) would be subversive even by regular Oscars standards but is made all the more so by stretching over her pregnant belly. Bow down to the queen.

When you think of Elton John’s sartorial style, you usually think extravagant, flamboyant, over-the-top. On (many) occasion(s), clownish. But at the 2020 Academy Awards, when he took home the award for Best Original Song along with his longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman, the biopic based on Sir Elton’s life, he was a little toned down in a purple Gucci tux with wide crystal-accented lapels and an orchidcolored shirt. Sure, he had a diamond and pink sapphire bow tie, and a zillion-carat diamond rocket lapel pin, but for him, it was a study in minimalism, even down to his mismatched trainers, no doubt a nod to Punky Brewster.

No, this was not a ’90s sequel to The Bodyguard, but a timeless artifact of the moment AFTER Whitney Houston presented Bruce Springsteen for the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1994 for “Streets of Philadelphia." What really caused an uproar wasn’t that the always elegant Whitney wore her own version of David Byrne’s Big Suit instead of a gown— but that she wore it with black shoes.