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Will Birdman defeat Boyhood? Will Keaton clobber Redmayne? Can anything trump last year's pizza-party-turned-selfie-fest? Sunday's Hollywood prom will settle many burning questions, not the least of which is whether the E! network will roll out the mani-cam – the shoe-box-sized diorama that allows for close-up camera shots of manicures and finger bling. The device debuted in 2012, but has lately become a thorn in some pretty powerful sides. On the red carpet at the recent Screen Actors' Guild Awards, Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston all refused to submit their digits to the dog and pony show. Their message: that this final straw of female objectification is not something they want to be part of.
For awards season 2015, it seems subversion is the new black. Before hosting this year's Golden Globes, Amy Poehler threw her voice behind the #AskHerMore campaign, which encourages interviewers to ask female celebrities about subjects beyond their appearance. A month later, there was the mani-cam drama at the SAGs. Most recently, Ryan Seacrest asked Nicole Kidman at the Grammys about her dress and she glared back stonily. Seacrest pressed on until the actress finally responded with, "I don't know what to say." It's a puzzling sentiment coming from a fashion-world veteran such as Kidman, but it may also have been somewhat of a cry for help, since the politics of the red carpet have reached perplexing new levels of late.
It's great to see influential celebs taking a stand against sexism – and there is no question that the #AskHerMore movement highlights a disturbing imbalance: Female celebrities are routinely subjected to superficial lines of questioning that rarely get lobbed at male stars, a point that Scarlett Johansson highlighted during an Iron Man 2 press conference when she asked why her co-star Robert Downey Jr. got "really interesting, existential questions" while she was asked about her diet. Last month, international human-rights lawyer Amal Clooney shot down a reporter who asked her about fashion preferences while she was still wearing legal robes. The red carpet, of course, is not a post-screening press conference or a courtroom, but the year's most widely observed fashion show. And while female celebrities may reject the mani-cam, few would reject the six and seven figure pay cheques that go along with their fashion-plate status.
"Celebrities aren't rejecting fashion, they're protecting their personal brands," says Jo Piazza, author of the 2011 book Celebrity Inc.: How Famous People Make Money. "It's no longer enough to say I'm wearing Calvin Klein, Prada, Oscar – everyone is." Feigning to be above it all, she says, can be way to stand out from the crowd and establish superiority.
It's interesting that the "Who Are You Wearing?" culture has come under fire in the first year that its creator is no longer here to defend it. Before Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa started their shtick in the mid-1990s, the red carpet was a silent catwalk. Over the top and unapologetic, the mother/daughter duo gave celebrities a chance to discuss (read: plug) their fashion statements in front of a massive audience – for many viewers, the red carpet became not just the preshow but the show and an economy grew up around it.
"Celebrities have become the poster children for the big fashion houses – it's an opportunity for them to make even more money," says Canadian gown designer Mikael Derderian, who has dressed Britney Spears and Ariana Grande. Derderian explains that some actresses have major contracts with specific labels (Keira Knightley and Chanel, for example) and many more make deals on a sort of red-carpet black market. "It's all under the table," he says.
"To suggest that [fashion] isn't an important part of the red carpet is just absurd," adds CTV's Ben Mulroney, who will anchor ETALK's Oscar-night coverage. It's not a personal passion for fashion, he says, that results in the requisite outfit inquiries: "If it were up to me, we'd skip to questions about the work. I ask that question about the dress because the celebrities ask for it. In many cases, their representation will insist."
Canadian actress Sarah Gadon isn't surprised by the recent red-carpet backlash: "At [the Toronto International Film Festival] last year, the red carpet was so long; it was like doing a second film junket." Answering 10 questions about your dress is one thing, but answering 100 can make the most patient individual feel like a dancing monkey. Nonetheless, Gadon, who recently signed a contract as the new face of Armani, says that discussing wardrobe is part of the deal for actresses lucky enough to work with a particular fashion label. Still, she says there is a way to celebrate fashion without subjugating women. "There is a fundamental difference between being asked about your dress and being asked to go and stand on a platform like a piece of meat and being subjected to the 360 camera. Maybe it's a fine line, but it's an important one."