In a year in which a visually and conceptually bold sci-fi film won best picture, why was menswear at the Oscars so drab?
After a few years of boundary-pushing styles, 2023 on the red carpet (sorry, champagne) felt like a return to basics. The good taste was almost overwhelming. The drops and splashes of color on display — Dwayne Johnson’s double-breasted salmon tuxedo jacket from Dolce & Gabbana, Riz Ahmed’s splash of Prada pink on his ever-growing collar — seemed like miscalculations or half measures. . Black tie, with an emphasis on “black.” That was the assignment at this year’s Academy Awards. Even fashion icons like Michael B. Jordan were playing right into the medium. If the Oscars are any indicator of where fashion is headed, all the signs on Sunday night were saying less is more.
Red carpets generally signal the upcoming addition of a particular style. Interestingly, the trend that seemed to have overtaken menswear, wide-leg pants flirting with bell-bottom status, was almost nowhere to be found. Except for Paul Mescal (in louche Gucci, no less), the great wave of pants that has dominated pants was conspicuously absent. Pedro Pascal, with his obscenely sloppy ripping that appeared almost hemless, can be accused of trying to make a statement in his pants. But was that statement “don’t go to a tailor”? Perhaps we will never know. If Austin Butler, who often appeared in the press in ’70s-inspired Gucci, could make do with Saint Laurent’s slim cuts, perhaps we’ve finally come to the end of the big-pants era.
It’s hard to know for sure. But as gender fluid cuts continue to dominate Hollywood, our pants were giving way. Diane Keaton’s reality in the regular. Wide leg pants and outrageously long ankle slits were a staple at the Grammys and Emmys. Last year’s Oscars may have been the pinnacle of the movement, thanks to Tim Chalamets and donalds gloves of the world. Glover wore a roomy yellow double-breasted shirt from King & Tuckfield with matching trousers. King and Tuckfield’s site touts his hyper-modern style as “inspired by the 1950s”, which is not as outrageous as it sounds at first.
Pedro Pascal (right), with his obscenely unkempt rip that appeared almost hemless, can be accused of trying to make a statement with his pants. But was that statement “don’t go to a tailor”? Perhaps we will never know.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Except for Paul Mescal, the great wave of pants that has dominated pants was conspicuously absent.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
eBay is full of “50’s styletrousers with two generous gathers, wide legs and a high waist. Brands like Bill Blass and Brioni dressed the male stars of the time in pants that rested around the navel, with hem widths that were normally nine and a half inches. The modern American thinking about high waists and wide hems is that it might make someone look heavier. If you’re like me and have some extra room around the waist, pulling up your pants might seem like a huge risk of buttons flying off, but a 50s-style pant can actually elongate a body and make you look more slender. Maybe not as trim as Eddie Redmayne, but that’s what we call an “unrealistic body image” in the business these days.
Redmayne was the king of big pants of 2023 on the red carpet. He blew out the doors at the BAFTAs with a Alexander McQueen jumpsuit this would not have been possible without the contributions of LaKeith Stanfield’s st laurent cut from the 2021 Oscars. Redmayne’s most memorable look of the year might still be hers. Saint Laurent suit from the SAG Awards – what could normally be called a women’s blouse with a bow on top and another set of wide-leg pants. This is pretty far down the wardrobe spectrum and Redmayne now has a reputation for being one of the boldest dresses on the carpet. Someone should think of a concise name for the guys who are always trying to outdo each other at award shows: Chalamet, Redmayne, Glover, Harry Styles, Chris Pine. The tie pack? I don’t know, I’m doing my best!
Those names were all but absent from this year’s Oscar telecast. Perhaps that is why everything seemed so monotonous, so clean, so “chic”. The insatiable need for fantasy costumes that break the internet with their extravagance might finally be gone and our trendiest icons might be turning the corner towards real clothes. Brilliant Harper’s Bazaar writer Rachel Tashjian said during this year’s New York Fashion Week: “The wardrobe is back.” Perhaps the only one who pushed his look towards an over-the-top costume was Jonathan Majors, dressed in a vest and rain pants that made him look a bit like Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories. (He said that Frederick Douglass inspired the style.) Fortunately, brought his cup of coffee.
Perhaps the only one who pushed his eye toward an over-the-top costume was Jonathan Majors, dressed in a raincoat and rain pants that made him look a bit like Professor Moriarity from the Sherlock Holmes stories.
(Arthur Holmes/Getty Images)
But the big surprise of the night was Butler, who seemed poised to win as lead actor, but came up short. For most of awards season, he wore the more accessible version of this in Gucci from head to toe. Those pants are wide, but also long. The tears in the pants were getting closer and closer to the ground. Every other pair of pants I saw on the most recent grammy awards he looked in danger of being ruined by the backs of his pants dragging on the concrete. Harry Styles, the band Maneskin, and even legendary producer Nile Rodgers harked back to the flared style popularized in the 1970s. Sure, these pants have been hemmed to perfection and won’t get damaged, but seeing humans roaming the world outside in long pants makes me feel like I’m watching the tightrope act from the movie “Man on Wire.” I instantly want to throw up.
The most notable menswear at this year’s Oscars was Armani, which once again hosted a pre-Oscar party at its Rodeo Drive flagship store. This year, the event celebrated the nomination (and eventual win) of Michelle Yeoh. Armani is so pure and clean, so elegant and sumptuous. It is tailoring made not to be retweeted but to be worn. At the event, the pleats and roomy waists we all love were there. At the ceremony, however, Armani represented herself in the attire of winning lead actor Brendan Fraser, supporting actor Ke Huy Quan, Yeoh and others. She commanded the kind of modern Hollywood glamor that Armani almost invented. This was undoubtedly the Armani Oscars. She captured the moment and set the tone. As the era of Gucci’s extravagant fluidity seems to end, at least we know we’re in good hands with Giorgio.
Still, the big pants moment isn’t quite gone. It would be a bit cheeky to declare him completely dead. Just in a little parenthesis. Men will continue to explore silhouettes that defy the norm. Of course, the more men play around with these silhouettes, the more we need to pay homage to where it all started: womenswear. It should come as no surprise that the most exciting costume at this year’s Oscars was that of adapted screenplay winner Sarah Polley, in her Austin Powers-esque ruffled shirt. Women found a way to squeeze more life out of the red carpet: Nicole Kidman’s witchy gown from (of course) Armani Prive, Hong Chau’s mandarin-collar Prada pink number, and Rihanna’s chic Alaia leather gown. for pregnant women that seemed to have been destroyed by Glutton. Womenswear is still, by far, the star of the show, but hope remains that that gap will narrow.
Brian Tyree Henry was one of the many attendees who called up the night’s buzz narrative.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The distinctions between men’s and women’s tailoring are slowly but surely fading. At least they’re in show business. They are certainly on the screen. 2023 gave us the iconic moment of Lydia Tar “rich face lounging” look — thanks to brands that play with unisex garments like Lemaire, Studio Nicholson and The Row. You may have despised her character, but Cate Blanchett sent thousands of people on a mad dash to discover the perfect, most affordable model. Wide pant. The costumes for “Tár” had to communicate very quickly that the main character was wealthy, impenetrable, and deeply concerned with his meticulously cultivated image.
The pants on the pivot juilliard scene offer a considered bohemian informality that nods to Keaton’s Annie Hall, but in Tár, they become forceful, muted and monotonous. Where Annie Hall was whimsical and played on masculinity, Tár’s outfit is the sartorial equivalent of brutalist architecture in the character’s hometown of Berlin. It is meant to appear impenetrable, and the goal of the film is to dig down to the bitter core that Tár has been hiding for decades.
The extravagance we’ve come to expect at the Oscars of the past decade was bound to usher in a revival of “flavor.” Just ask Barry Keoghan (right).
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The extravagance we’ve come to expect at the Oscars of the past decade was bound to usher in a revival of “flavor.” While award shows like the Grammys invite more and more aesthetic variations, the Oscars seem to have a bias toward whatever Hollywood’s rich version of austerity. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” directing duo Daniels made their color-coordinated outfits a statement remembering crucial moments in his award-winning film. It was fitting that we were treated to some of the most playful style moments of the night. His film made us all reconsider what an Oscar-worthy film could be. It could be bold, dense, action-packed, and more than a little quirky. He reminded audiences that movies are a conduit into the unknown, the personal, or the painful. Shouldn’t our clothes do the same?
