Oscars 2015: leading men do battle on the red carpet
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Version 0 of 1. As the countdown to Sunday night’s 87th Academy Awards gathers pace, Hollywood’s hotels are packed with armies of stylists wielding clothes steamers, needles and thread and a well-rehearsed range of fawning compliments. While their celebrity clients undergo last-minute hair styling, eyebrow shaping, facial massages and manicures, carefully selected accessories are laid out in their suites alongside their chosen ensemble for the night. And that’s just for the men preparing to walk the red carpet. While Eddie Redmayne, 33, is the bookies’ favourite to take home the best actor Oscar (he has already bagged a Bafta, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild gong) for his portrayal of a young Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, he is also hotly tipped to win all the style plaudits as he steps back into the sartorial spotlight. Labelled a “super dandy” by GQ.com, his look has been described by the American style site as “exactly what you want to see a young, up-and-coming actor to be wearing”. He even – allegedly – travels with his own grooming guru, Johnnie Sapong, who attends to that famously squiffy quiff. He’s up against stiff competition as Hollywood’s leading men enter into wardrobe wars. For while they undoubtedly aspire to peer recognition for their contribution to their craft, this year it is the male nominees who are receiving unprecedented attention in the runup to do battle on the world’s highest profile catwalk in front of a global TV audience of around one billion people. “From a style perspective, Eddie Redmayne is definitely the most influential man on the red carpet at the moment,” said Damien Paul, head of menswear at designer boutique Matches. “He epitomises that quintessential English look in a very modern way, wearing beautiful velvets and dapper dinner suits, by Burberry Prorsum, Prada and Gucci, in an effortlessly youthful manner.” Other best actor nominees Bradley Cooper (for American Sniper), Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) and Michael Keaton (Birdman) will also have the critical eyes of the world’s fashion press watching as they parade their own interpretation of red-carpet attire. As the number of showbusiness awards ceremonies has exploded in recent years, coinciding with the rise and power of social media and a global obsession with style-watching, it was perhaps inevitable that the “what are you wearing?” red-carpet reporting phenomena would make the transition to the men as much as the women. It is big business for the international fashion houses, which have developed highly sophisticated, big budget VIP client departments to dress their high profile brand ambassadors. “It’s a powerful way to get noticed,” said Anda Rowland, vice-chairman of Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard, which dresses the Prince of Wales and actor Jason Statham. “When our clients are asked what they are wearing, they generally say ‘my tailor’, because they are genuine customers and there’s no endorsement contract. But when they’re paid big bucks by the big international labels, they’re obliged to say ‘I’m wearing Prada or Tom Ford or Burberry’, or whichever brand is writing the cheque.” Rowland said: “It is a commercial arrangement, but it’s just not the same as looking at those beautiful photographs from the 1930s and 1940s when the stars dressed themselves and looked at ease in their finery. Time and time again, I turn to those images of Clark Gable or Gary Cooper in a perfect white shirt, tuxedo and black tie, and he is impeccably turned out in iconic style, but he was totally comfortable and relaxed in even the most formal attire. That was the golden era of black-tie dressing.” Looking ahead, we can expect a number of Hollywood stars to turn out in a classic midnight-blue wool barathea dinner suit, led by the likes of George Clooney and Cumberbatch. But the style-conscious stars who elect to experiment with more flamboyant eveningwear are proving exciting for the fashion industry. At last month’s Golden Globes, Carell looked suave in Berluti and David Oyelowo donned a deep-blue Dolce & Gabbana dinner suit, while at the SAG Awards Lenny Kravitz opted for cool black St Laurent and Ethan Hawke chose an unusual olive-hued dinner jacket, while Douglas Booth wore green velvet at the recent Baftas. And of course Jamie Dornan – a former Calvin Klein underwear model turned Fifty Shades of Grey leading man – is attracting attention just for putting his clothes on. Sam Kershaw, eveningwear buyer at the online designer menswear boutique Mr Porter, said: “I like Alessandro Nivola’s take on red-carpet dressing as he often wears suiting in dark but interesting fabrications. When black tie is required, the classic tuxedo never looks dated but it is open to interpretation. Look at Jared Leto at last year’s Oscars in his white tuxedo jacket, and Miles Teller is certainly working a younger, quirkier take on event dressing.” So powerful is the potential for Oscar glory for fashion brands that Tom Ford withdrew from his London fashion week catwalk presentation last week to focus his attention on dressing the stars at the Dolby Theatre “He was angry that the two events clashed,” says Catherine Hayward, fashion director at Esquire magazine. “So he made a strategic decision not to show his collection because he would also miss out on crucial press coverage – in media terms, nothing can compete with the Oscars now.” |