With streamers such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and newcomer Apple TV Plus bringing top talent into the Globes race, this year’s red carpet is looking starrier than ever — and more vibrant. Two years after the Globes fashion “blackout,” contenders are wearing clothes as bold and groundbreaking as the characters they portray.
“If Harriet [Tubman] had a moment to present herself, this is how I would want to see Harriet,” says Cynthia Erivo’s stylist Jason Bolden. “With the great integrity, the color, the fierceness and the strength that come in all of the looks Cynthia has worn.”
Bolden, who also dresses Ava DuVernay, Janet Mock and Taraji P. Henson, wanted Erivo’s “Harriet” attire to have “this really fantastic, colorful, happy vibration.”
“We can be as big and beautiful and bold as Harriet was,” he says.
Erivo arrived at the Los Angeles premiere in an explosive feathered Marc Jacobs gown, and at the Governors Awards, she “owned” a green Valentino Couture look with a dramatic train.
Erivo accessorizes with multiple earrings and distinctive jewelry, 70% of which is her own.
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“She has a lot of tiny piercings and we build off that,” says Bolden, who stars on Netflix series “Styling Hollywood” with his husband, interior designer Adair Curtis. “It’s not what you typically see on a carpet, so I think that’s why everybody is very intrigued.” She’s also spontaneously worn spikes on her head, or dyed her hair lilac or green. “That’s part of her personality: She goes to the beat of her own drum and she’s not trying to conform. She’s haute couture and avant-garde — she loves all of it.”
This awards season, Bolden is “taking the happy back.” “Coming off the Emmys, we saw a lot of color,” he says. “So I hope there’s color, volume, really cool texture. I want to take it back to a time where people were having fun.”
One star having fun with fashion is “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s” Rachel Brosnahan, who’s been donning outfits worthy of her clotheshorse character. “She likes color and structure,” say her stylists Jill Lincoln and Jordan Johnson, who answered together, and who also outfit Constance Wu, Kathryn Hahn and Margaret Qualley.
Brosnahan sparkled at the Emmys in a blue sequin Elie Saab dress with matching eye makeup, a beauty trend. For “Maisel’s” Season 3 premiere, she rocked a metallic pink suit — something Lincoln and Johnson consider a safe Globes bet.
“Usually there will be some statement takes on suiting and major jewelry pieces as the focal point of outfits,” they say. Don’t discount a surprise: “For the Emmys, three actresses showed up in combo pink-red dresses, a random design choice that turned into a major trend story.”
Stylist Michael Fisher, whose clients include Adam Driver, Sam Rockwell and “Succession’s” Kieran Culkin and Nicholas Braun, says men’s fashion will be less erratic.
“There are so many heavy-hitter actors, and very seasoned, well-respected guys on the carpet this year,” he says. “Because of the seriousness of the movies, I think it’s going to be a bit more classic and traditional. … People like DiCaprio and De Niro and Pacino will stay pretty true to what they’ve always looked like. Last year, because it was the first year out of the #MeToo movement, a lot of guys were still walking this line of ‘I’m going to be appropriate and tasteful.’ There was a lot of black and white; I think you’ll see that. There will definitely be embellishments, more colors.”
With Driver, he keeps things “clean and formulaic.” “He’s like a Pacino or Anthony Hopkins; he’s such a classic, strong actor, that we’re going to stay really classic and stick to black silhouettes, white shirting, classic bow ties.”
The more daring dresser, Rockwell, nominated for his portrayal of legendary choreographer-director Bob Fosse in “Fosse/Verdon,” likes to move around, so Fisher wants clothes to be “fluid.”
“We don’t do a lot of straight ties, because he’s not that buttoned-up as a person,” he says. “We do embellished things — he loves his crazy socks. We’re going to do something really special for the Globes and I’m also taking into consideration Fosse, that kind of stage presence and showmanship.”
Fisher hopes Emmy trends including velvet and brown tuxedos fizzle, and credits Timothée Chalamet and Cody Fern, among others, for reinterpreting black-tie formalwear.
“The majority of actors are going to go more classic, and then there will be that younger Hollywood, that Billy Porter, these more over-the-top fashion guys, that are definitely going to do it.”
Stylist Sam Ratelle says his client Porter, who plays fashion icon Pray Tell on FX’s “Pose,” carries himself “like royalty.”
“He really wants to walk tall and represent where he comes from,” he says. “To me, he’s this royal human being.”
That was the impetus for Porter’s 2019 Globes look, a floral-embroidered jacket and pink-lined “emperor-like” cape by Randi Rahm. “That day put us on the map in a way we never could have imagined,” Ratelle says.
Then came the Oscars. “We knew it was going to be something, but I don’t think we understood the impact it would have on humanity,” he says of Porter’s tuxedo gown. “To sit in a room with Christian [Siriano, the designer] and just tell somebody, ‘Hey, I want to wear a ball gown at the Oscars,’ and have that person not look at you like you’re crazy was such a wonderful feeling. … We created this magical moment that was foundationally about authenticity: That is exactly who he is, he has always wanted to wear a ball gown at the Oscars and that’s exactly what he did.”
Ratelle considers the tuxedo a quintessential wardrobe staple — “whether it’s a female or male energy.” “Victoria Beckham did an incredible collection for spring 2020 where she featured the tuxedo and what it means,” he says. “I’m excited to see what men do with their tuxes, and also what women do in regards to mixing up the gender conversation.”
On the gender-bending front, Porter’s been an inspiration to all — Ratelle included.
“Even looking at my own sense of fashion, I guess I never put heels on because nobody ever allowed me to feel safe doing that,” he says. “I think he allows us to be a little bit less afraid.”