Oscars 2021: What this year’s red carpet means for fashion designers

Fashion designers breathed a sigh of relief when the Oscars 2021 producer announces there would be a red carpet this year’s Oscars 2021 show. 

Here is Why Oscar’s red carpet is most important because it is a crossing point of arts and commerce. Where the achievement of a dress is the deciding moment for a designers creativity.

“What is really important here is that we’re gonna be paying attention to those few dresses,” says Alex Badia, Style Director for WWD, “and those few dresses are definitely going to be way more powerful than they were before.” However, that increases the pressure on designers like Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia from Oscar de la Renta, There are fewer celebrities going to carpets. It’s a lot more competitive to be able to get a moment.”

The working method of designers has changed due to pandemic. “We have virtual fittings which are how we’ve been conducting a lot of our fittings in the last year.” It’s become routine for stars and their stylists. Says Garcia, “We send a gown to them. They fit it. We have a conversation about it online and we decide what to do next.”

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We’re ready. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/bw2nwywrYf

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 25, 2021

Fitting a dress virtually does have its limitations. “We don’t have as many person-to-person conversations so perhaps don’t connect with the celebrity as much as you did the year prior, but the process is still the same.” But, that hasn’t cramped their style, which was so evident when Scarlett Johannson wore their dress to last year’s Oscars. Kim says with a smile, “when she walked out we had champagne ready to go. We didn’t know is she was gonna wear it or not, but I was just so happy for my team that worked on it.”

A return to some semblance of normal is what we need right now, says WWD’s Badia “I mean the fashion world cannot wait for a red carpet: a real red carpet. I cannot wait to see an Oscar night that really takes us away from all of this that really is about that moment in time that is basically a dream sequence.”

A dream that offers hope our nightmare may soon be ending. “Things are going to be safe, but in person,” says Oscar nominee Amanda Seyfried (“Mank”) “but in person! And, we can celebrate as a collective again.”