While wearing neutral colours is often seen as playing it safe, it seems that the sartorially cautious are the ones who reap the rewards come Oscars time, if the number of winning actors who choose to wear white on the night is anything to go by. At the 87th Oscars, Julianne Moore was awarded the iconic statuette for her performance in Still Alice wearing an embellished white Chanel gown that was made by Karl Lagerfeld himself and needed 80,000 white hand-painted sequins to create it. She might have been playing it safe when it came to the colour of her gown, but nothing was going to stop her from taking home the much-coveted gong. This is, of course, a coincidence. It would be mad to suggest that Oscars are awarded to actors for anything other than the gravitas of a performance, but it remains a fact that the majority of the actors up for the Best Actress Oscar – Reese Witherspoon, Marion Cotillard, Julianne Moore and Felicity Jones – donned the iciest hues from their favourite designers. From Dior to Alexander McQueen, their choice of whites, silvers and icy blues definitely gave the impression that pale gowns were winners on the red carpet as well as on the stage.
It might well have been Rosamund Pike’s white Golden Globe dress that influenced the nod to the shades of white this time around. Rather than opt for white again, the Gone Girl nominee plumped for a bright red Givenchy dress. However, despite being a classic choice for award ceremonies, a bright red dress has never once been worn by an Oscar winner. Halle Berry’s embroidered gold, green and maroon number in 2002 is the only red dress that really comes close to have been worn by a winner.
So why do actors opt for certain colours at ceremonies? Red has always been a tricky colour to wear on the red carpet: it simply doesn’t do to blend into the background on an evening when you want to stand out. Actors tend to stick to a colour they know suits them (think Anne Hathaway in pastels, Jennifer Aniston in classic black) and those up for the Best Actress nomination have their pick of the best designers. For the big events they’re likely to go with a designer they know, so it was no shock to see Cotillard in Dior Couture, or Moore in Tom Ford.
Then there’s the question of the film being nominated. The big hitters at awards ceremonies tend to be at the more serious end of the entertainment scale: three-hour epics, weepies and serious dramas. In this context, a revealing hot pink cocktail dress feels out of place, no matter how perfect the shade is for the actor.
For a nominated actor, it’s no surprise that she might choose to play it safe when it comes to colour, as the Oscars is still an industry event (albeit a very public one). Turning up to accept an award in a garish colour is a bit like wearing a red suit to a job interview; it’ll get you attention but you might not be remembered for the right reasons.
And ultimately, being remembered for the right reasons is the point of the whole colourful circus. But it’s very likely that these talented actors would prefer if their films were remembered for far longer than a dress they wore to a party, even if the winning look did take 927 hours to make.
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