Any latex designer worth their shiny stuff would know it can as much be the model, make-up, the location, the outfit and surely the lighting that can make or break a hoped-to-be great latex red-carpet reveal. Luckily in our history we have had all of these facets working in harmony when we have sent a model down a red carpet or runway, shown our wares in a magazine layout, or dressed some modern-diva’s backing dancers. And of course, we have found the World of Wearable Art presents their events as professionally as possible, showing off all the outfits in the best ‘light.’ So, what anyone would expect then from something as high-end and culturally important as the Vanity Fair Oscar After-Party was at the very least…that best light.
But reports this week seem to indicate such was not the case.
Not to belabor the Academy Awards too much (although our last blog was exactly on after-party Oscar couture, we admit), this story is especially interesting as it does not have to do within the clothes worn…but surely how they looked on who wore them. According to this Hollywood Reporter article, with VR moving their A-list celebration from its usual location at the Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the after-party became, as the article above claims, a ‘light-mare.’
Plainly put, Vanity Fair seemed to have overdone the brightness of their red-carpet lights. And with photos of the event being blasted across social media pretty much as they were taken, the critique about all that brightness came fast and furious. There was also much made of the red carpet being replaced by a light gray shag.
Of course, Emma Chamberlain’s structured lace-up bodice gown looked great, as did Zoe Kravitz in her sheer, backless gown with its bun-revealing cutout. And both Tate Mcrae and Sidney Sweeney’s shimmered metallics and crystals were ablaze. And we were thrilled to catch Olivia Rodrigo’s stunning black latex gown reflecting all that the light. But with an event as highly publicized as this event was, might there be something to the fact that the brightest part of the Vanity Fair after-party might not have just been the celebrities in attendance?
