On Sunday, March 10, the 96th Academy Awards will honor the best in film, orient our pop culture around newly-minted winners and provide the biggest fashion showcase of the year. The Oscars red carpet is the most-watched runway in the world, and it takes more than a wing and a prayer for the stars to look like, well, stars.
Ahead of this year's ceremony, Wide Open Country asked three celebrity stylists to explain how they create picture-perfect awards show looks, from the design phase and fittings to hair, makeup and last-minute touches that make all the difference.
Mark Avery, who's styled 2024 Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling ("Barbie") for the past 10 years, takes us inside the actor's custom Gucci looks that have defined "Kenergy" this awards season. Avery is also the author of one of Oscar's most iconic fashion moments: Gosling's white ruffled Anto shirt at the 2017 ceremony.
"I don't think the public really understands the challenges a stylist goes through."
Krista Roser, stylist to some of country music's biggest stars, recently dressed Jelly Roll at the 2024 Grammys. She's keen to do some myth-busting around red carpet fashion. "I don't think the public really understands the challenges a stylist goes through," Roser says. "It's easy to say, 'These are my favorites' or 'We don't know what happened here.' People don't always know what the story is behind those looks."
And Candice Lambert McAndrews, award-winning stylist to Kelly Clarkson, opens up about the pressures of the job and the sartorial shift she's expecting at this year's Oscars red carpet.
Hollywood glamour, we learned, is sometimes hard-won. Here's a look into the standard process by which the stars get red-carpet ready.
Designing an Awards Show Look
Timelines vary for every awards look. Custom outfits can take months to nail down, beginning in sketches and progressing through multiple fittings. Outside of bespoke looks, let's just say awards hopefuls aren't in danger of jinxing their nomination by picking a dress too soon.
"People have this vision of a room with, like, 20 assistants and five tailors."
"Generally, we don't start more than a month out. Sometimes clients find out last-minute that they're attending an awards show, and I only have a few days," says Krista Roser. She adds, with a laugh: "I have some clients who don't even know what they're wearing until they show up."
Every star has a different level of involvement. Some leave their fashion fate entirely in the stylist's hands, rolling up to the fitting blind. Others provide a wish list of colors, fabrics and silhouettes and narrow it down from there. And then there's Ryan Gosling.
"My joke is always that Ryan styles Ryan, and I just help," says Mark Avery, who's styled Gosling for a decade now. "Ryan has such a strong vision for what he wants that it's really just he and I and the label."
Together with Gucci, they've pulled out immaculate menswear this awards season — classic silhouettes that pay homage to the candy-colored excess of "Barbie." There was the powder blue suit with doll-like white trim on the lapels at SAG, or the dusty lilac number at the Oscars Nominee Luncheon. Each look began with a simple conversation about color, fabric and fit, was honed through sketches and finalized at surprisingly low-key fittings.
"I think people have this vision of, like, a room with 20 assistants and five tailors and it's all very glamorous. But, really, it's that old saying: 'You put on the pants one leg at a time.'"
Doesn't mean the process isn't stressful. Awards season is months of back-to-back red carpets and press junkets with precious little breathing room. Candice Lambert McAndrews says, "In my industry, everything is last-minute. So you have to hustle."
Preparedness and flexibility are common virtues among our surveyed stylists. Red carpets aren't the perfectly-controlled environments we imagine them to be. Variations in lighting, carpet color and backdrop patterns can make even the most well-planned outfit photograph differently. When the world's eyes are on you, you provide for every contingency — including that most relatable disaster: Shipping delays.
"To be honest, custom is sometimes a stylist's worst nightmare," Roser says. "We don't talk about that often, but you really don't know what you're going to get until it comes in. So it's good to have lots of backups because, seriously, sometimes we're getting the items the day before an event.
How the Stars Get Ready on the Day of the Ceremony
In recent years, the stars have opened up their satin hotel curtains to Instagram and shown us how they get red-carpet ready, one beauty blender at a time. But it's not all plush robes and mimosas before a ceremony.
"Believe it or not, there are a lot of things clients have to attend the day of an awards show," says Roser, who's used to her musicians bopping around town before hitting the Grammys, the CMAs or the ACMs. "It's not like they get a lot of zen moments. They're playing shows, doing radio, doing interviews — or multiples of that. And we're just having to fit glam time in. In our industry, you have to be quick on your feet."
McAndrews adds that when the dress or the suit doesn't arrive on-time, glam feels the pinch: "There are instances where we have to fit the wardrobe on the day of the event without any tailoring, putting makeup and hair under pressure to adapt quickly."
"Seriously, we're sometimes getting the items a day before the event."
Best-case scenario? At least two hours is set aside for the hair and makeup team to work its magic. It's common for one artist to do both hair and makeup on the Nashville music scene, but at awards shows in New York and L.A., two sets of hands is the norm.
Glam discussions begin at the fitting stage. Stylists might show up with a mood board of examples; designers sometimes send along hair and makeup guidelines for the star to follow, and the stylist relays those to the glam team.
When all is running smoothly on the day, says Avery, some of the best looks are the result of last-minute additions. A shoe choice, a sock choice, Ryan Gosling's "E" necklace in the "Barbie" font honoring his wife, Eva Mendes — those memorable little touches "can vary up to moments before we walk out the door."
When all is said and done—when they've walked the red carpet, performed or presented onstage, graciously won or lost a statuette—awards show after-parties are a chance for the stars to kick off their shoes (literally) and ditch the dress code.
"At that point, we generally make the shoes pretty comfortable because they're on their feet all day long," says Roser.
2024 Oscars Trend-Watch
What makes a perfect Oscars look? We might turn to Roser's pick, Lauren Hutton's pastel 1975 Halston dress with a plunging, Greek-goddess style neckline. "It's one of my all-time favorites. It's just easy and stunning. She looks gorgeous, but relaxed. It doesn't feel forced."
It's also stood the test of time. For Avery, the essence of great style is timelessness. Following a fashion, a trend or an aesthetic may not do you any favors. "Not throwing any shade on anyone, but it's become very stylish to not wear a shirt underneath your suit. Some guys pull it off, they look amazing. But I think sometimes when you look like you're the coolest guy in the room, you might regret it. You might look back and think, 'Oh, I look a little pinned to that specific time.'"
"Whereas some of these timeless photos of guys at the Oscars just wearing a beautiful shawl collar, a tuxedo that's well-tailored... you think, 'Oh my god. I could look like that right now.'"
As for women's wear at the 2024 Oscars, Roser and McAndrews are both expecting a comedown from recent, ultra-sexy apparel.
"It's been more pushing-the-envelope sexy for the last several years and, generally, everything's a one-eighty. There have been less super sexy, sheer, see-through things lately. I think you're going to see more Old Hollywood glamour," says Roser. In any case, her money's on the men at the 2024 Oscars:
"Menswear is the most interesting on all the carpets so far. I feel like a lot of the women's looks lately have been a little more safe. Men are trying things. There are no rules or barriers in menswear right now."
At the end of it all, though, the key to nailing Oscars fashion is honoring your film while staying true to your own sartorial sensibilities. Expressing a sentiment shared by all three stylists, McAndrews sums up red carpet fashion like this: "What matters most is ensuring the client feels their best and can authentically express themselves through their attire. Ultimately, it's about honoring their vision."
The 96th Academy Awards air live on Sunday, March 10 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC and stream next-day on Hulu.
