Come January, as celebrities begin to descend upon the red carpet for awards season, our eyes will, once again, be on what they are wearing. But this time, something might be different.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "actresses, including both nominees and presenters will wear black to protest gender inequality and acknowledge the flood of sexual abuse allegations” at the 75th annual Golden Globes, set to take place on Sunday, January 7, 2018. The initiative follows the Screen Actors Guild’s announcement that all of the presenters at the awards show next month will be women.
The latest step in creating more visibility around the industry's ongoing sexual abuse scandals, the move is meant to show solidarity with the survivors of the #MeToo movement, which includes some of Hollywood's biggest leading ladies, like Lupita Nyong'o, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Salma Hayek. It will also be used as an opportunity to give actresses more of a voice on the red carpet; according to The Hollywood Reporter, a recent meeting at the Creative Artists Agency, the world's leading talent agency, discussed how interviewers can push beyond simply asking women "What are you wearing" a conversation that has been in the zeitgeist since the birth of the #AskHerMore Twitter campaign following the 2014 Emmys.
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Since then, women have began using the red carpet, and the style-minded discussions that inevitably come with it, to segue into other topics. This past year, Evan Rachel Wood wore a series of custom suits that were meant to show young girls that they "don't have to wear [a dress] if [they] don't want to." At the Oscars in February, a countless number of stars added a blue ribbon to their formal attire in support of the ACLU.
If The Hollywood Reporter's reports are correct and these women (of which there are said to be over 30) to decide to wear black to protest the rampant sexual harassment in Hollywood, asking about their appearance could be the gateway to an important but hard conversation, not just in the film and television, but in fashion as well. Reminder: Never underestimate the power of clothing.