OSCARS: Dysfunction at the top?

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A week has gone by and the 2023 Oscars have come and gone. No, we’re not going to talk about the trivial fact that the colour of the carpet changed from red to champagne. But, we are going to talk about the fashion. The Oscars have been known for its extravagance from the time it started in the late 1920’s. Each year The Oscars take centre stage for being once of the most anticipated events of the year. Other than celebrating creativity in the film industry, the Oscars offer an opportunity the latest fashion designs to equally take centre stage.

Every year the customary tradition has been for celebrities to grace the carpet with brand new, custom-made garments. Even-though some of the pieces are jaw-dropping and at some points even breathtaking, they are equally surrounded with a dysfunction reality. Custom garments, call for custom fabrics, embroidery and embellishments.

All of this work for one garment that will only be worn once. Rumours through the fashion world say that some garments can cost between £1million to £3 million. With the history of excessive spending and an engrained culture of only wearing an outfit once, could this be the stem and driving force for the dysfunction we see in the fashion world today?

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There will always be a novelty to celebrating art and fashion but we think that the novelty has ran its course for one-time-wears, and some celebrities agree too. This year’s Oscar ceremony and after party event marked the first year where guests had a sustainable fashion guide. The guide was put together by RCGD. Founded in 2009, by Suzy Amis Cameron, RCGD stands for “Red Carpet, Green Dress”, and it is a global women-led, transformative organisation that is bringing environmental and social sustainability to the frontline of conversation and action across the fashion industry.

RCGD has an over-arching goal to “draw attention to the importance of more sustainable practices in the apparel and design world, and be part of bringing those solutions to the global market.” The tenacity and ambition of this organisation is seen by giving their goal centre stage on the world’s biggest red carpet event, where celebrities can be ambassadors and advocates for more meaningful change in the fashion industry.

This year we saw celebrities bringing back vintage garments from high fashion archives, and wearing garments from new sustainable fabrics. If anything, this year’s awards showed that sustainability should take centre stage on the red carpet and should be celebrated more often.

Now if a celebrity can do it for the lights and cameras, then we can too. We shouldn’t be afraid to rewear our clothing. This is a stressful and unrealistic standard that the fast fashion industry has taken advantage of, and you don’t have to take part in it. Swap, stitch, borrow and rewear. And just as Cate Blanchett has proven, one-time wear is so old fashioned, choose to rewear what you have now and bring the soul back to fashion.

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