Some of the ‘worst’ red carpet looks of all time, it turns out, were really just ahead of their time.
There I was at ‘The Tree of Life’ premiere, holding hands with Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. That walk down the red carpet was a real rite of passage for me. Suddenly, journalists began asking, ‘Who’s this actress?’
If Munshi Premchand or Harivansh Rai Bachchan come from U.P., I am ready to put out a red carpet for them, but not for the goons of Azamgarh and Pratapgarh.
I don’t work with a stylist, I don’t work with a glam squad to get me together for the red carpet, I really enjoy the time it takes to do it myself, to choose my clothes and do my own makeup and my own hair.
I don’t really resent being on the red carpet as much as I do having to deal with the paparazzi.
I lean into all things that are a little off. I will always wear overalls. At this point, I find a way in most of my life to wear a jumpsuit or an overall, anything that’s sort of like an all-in-one situation. I do that on the red carpet a lot.
Let it be said that the makeup artist at ‘90210’ made me look better for the fake red carpet than I’ve ever looked on an actual red carpet.
I can certainly be part of the socialite group and walk those carpets every day, but I choose not to because I prefer to be grounded. You can’t be at home and on the red carpet.
I like to be other people, not me. And when you’re on the red carpet, it’s like, ‘Here’s Tom Hardy.’ I don’t want to be me. That’s why I play other people.
On the red carpet, one tip is to suck in your cheekbones – apparently it looks better on camera. I don’t know, though; I think a nice smile is best.
I think always what happens when you ask men questions on the red carpet, it’s always based on what projects they’re working on, whatever they’re about, rather than this, ‘Give us little tips for all of us women’… because we’re all the same. Questions should just be more individual.
Elle Fanning is my official stylist. If I’m buying a pair of sneakers or a suit, I just do what she tells me to do. She’s my red carpet expert.
I don’t get much out of doing a red carpet.
You never want to be caught off guard on the red carpet.
I’m trying to get an internship at the ESPYS. I’d like to do interviews on the red carpet.
I love getting dressed up for red carpet events and having my hair and makeup done professionally – that definitely helps with nerves of going down the red carpet.
As a woman, and as somebody in the public eye, we always have to be ready for the red carpet and have the nicest outfit, work with the best makeup artist. While all that’s nice, we’re also human beings.
I do like a red carpet. Unfortunately I’m always under-prepared when it comes to outfits. I’m so busy running around I don’t get time to do fittings.
It’s strange for my friends when they see me on TV and in magazines, because the person that they see doing interviews and pictures on the red carpet is not the person that they know.
I can’t promise to love someone for ever. I can’t imagine anyone could promise to love me for ever. I mean, it sounds like a lovely day, but I go to red carpet events all the time and I’m the centre of attention so it’s not like I’m looking for that!
My collections are full of adaptable pieces: within the energetic lifestyle of L.A., they are able to take you from the beach in Malibu to the red carpet in Hollywood.
But if an actress asks me my opinion, I would tell her there are a million different designers who make faux fur. If you like that look, wear faux fur. If you’re doing it on the red carpet, you’re doing it for how it looks. Faux fur and real fur look the same on camera.
I want you to be able to go to Aquazzura and find a shoe for every occasion, whether that’s a red carpet ball or picking up your kids from school.
I love bringing the colors and textures of other cultures. If I wear a dress that I bought from a street vendor in Bali on a red carpet, it’s a way of bringing my travels with me.
I’ve been that celebrity on the red carpet, and I appreciate that something hasn’t got to just look good from the front, from the back, it’s got to look good at all angles.
Ask yourself why a red carpet is red. It could be any colour.
There are two words I hate and despise and don’t want to hear: red carpet and iconic.
If you’re at the Oscars, there’s not a man on that red carpet who is not wearing make-up. Most straight actors I know get quite used to it. Even when they go out in real life they grab some sort of bronzer and they throw it on. They dye their eyebrows, they dye their lashes – they know the tricks.
The bottom line is that red carpet helps us broaden the appeal of the brand. Calvin Klein used to be about a very specific woman, but we’ve dressed so many different women at awards.
I live a dual life. On the red carpet, it’s complete glam. But at home, I’m a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl. Simple can be beautiful.
Posing on the red carpet feels like you’re selling something that has nothing to do with you. If you do it with someone else, it’s like we’re saying, ‘Oh! We come as a pair! Would you like to buy both of us? We’re available for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs!’
I love watching Zendaya or Victoria Beckham hit the red carpet, but my real style icons are the women that I see walking around every day.
Anytime I stepped out on the red carpet in anything pink, I don’t know what I was thinking.
We built Bonobos, with more than a few dozen customers and counting, and the industry we were disrupting didn’t seem to care. Then we ‘sold out’ to Walmart. Abracadabra. The red carpet rolled open.
They never ask the celebrities why they don’t wear their own clothes on the red carpet.
I get embarrassed on the red carpet at awards ceremonies. The whole celebrity thing is embarrassing.
I just became less rebellious with clothes, and today, I can slip into appropriate attire according to what the occasion requires, but off the red carpet, I am not that particular about what I wear, and comfort is my main priority.
I guess I get to make films and I love what I do, but there’s also the downside of having to be constantly present and do a lot of press, and go to festivals and do the red carpet. And that’s something that’s more and more part of an actor’s job.
I go to auditions even now and people say, ‘Oh, she’s too pretty,’ or ‘She doesn’t look like a small-town girl or a girl in high school who would get bullied.’ But that’s the whole point of being an actress – you can look glamorous when you’re on the red carpet, and then bring it all down and be raw onscreen.
It sounds cliche, but I’m mostly androgynous in what I wear. I’ll wear a lot of tomboy clothes but still dress glam if I have a red carpet event. It’s a bit of a mix, but mostly androgynous.
While red carpets always existed, the importance given to fashionable appearances wasn’t that much in the mainstream music space. And now, even though everyone walks the red carpet, singers are expected to just walk down without waiting to be clicked or celebrated.
I think, for us, as an evening wear line, anytime someone on the red carpet wears our dress, it’s an endorsement.
I don’t wear a lot of makeup, but I live by Benefit’s They’re Real! mascara. I wear it on the red carpet because it doesn’t smudge – and I always smudge!
I live my life outside of the glitz and glamour of the red carpet events, and so you’ll never see me there. I’m never at parties.
I exercise to stay strong, healthy, and stage-ready. I never prepare for a red carpet – I just go with the flow.
I see all the red carpet paparazzi stuff and I’m like, ‘Really? Do I have to?!’ I like to work and I know that’s part of the job. But you kind of take it in stride.
I get terrified the first day I’m on a film set. I get nervous walking down a red carpet. I find making speeches the most terrifying thing in the world.
When I am with my family, then I can just sort of switch off. It’s kind of weird, because I go back and I go into this bedroom that I have had since I was a teenager. It is like this parallel universe, because one minute I am on the red carpet and then the next I am hiding out in this room I have had since I was 15.
Whenever I go on the red carpet and I’m a bit nervous, I just say to myself the mantra, ‘Come on Barbara, you gotta get those pictures posted on Instagram!’ That’s all I have in my mind, like, ‘Look serious now, maybe give a little smile, but a cheeky one,’ but in the end, it’s never how it looks.
I’ve braved the red carpet when I didn’t feel comfortable, and when I look at the pictures, it always shows!
When I’m on the red carpet, most people say, ‘Who the hell is that?’ It’s downright embarrassing.
I can see why people love the idea of a big white wedding – it is a day when they are the centre of attention and get to wear a beautiful dress. But that sounds awful to me because that is like getting ready to walk down the red carpet.
If the powers that be really knew how much time I spent thinking about and researching celebrities, they probably wouldn’t let me anywhere near the red carpet. But, please promise not to tell them. I’m harmless, I swear.
Whether you are a stay-at-home mum, or on the red carpet, or in Afghanistan, the better you feel, the better you do your job.
