Each year in January the so-called “awards season” kicks off with a series of ceremonies celebrating the best known names in entertainment. While it’s exciting to see who will be awarded for their performances, those of us that love color and fashion are often even more thrilled to see the beautiful gowns that stride down the red carpet. In fact, arrivals are an event in themselves! Award season is still going strong, with a number of big ceremonies yet to take place in February. Still, January alone gave us a good round of colorful red carpet eye candy. Let’s take a look at the big themes in color for the awards circuit so far.
Bright Whites
This color is sometimes thought of as taboo, because women don’t want to look like brides. This year, however, white has been fully embraced as a great hue for evening wear. Even gowns made specifically for the bridal market are fair game. Winona Ryder, seen below 3rd from the left, wore a dress from Alberta Ferreti’s Spring 2011 Bridal collection to the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards. It was a daring move, but with the trend toward white on the carpet, she was able to pull it off nicely.
Barely-There Colors
Those that didn’t want to go as stark as white chose paler than pale versions of soft colors. Variations on yellow, peach, cream, silver, and gray turned up in their most hushed forms. To avoid looking washed out by these, at times flesh-toned, colors many actress used bold and dark eye makeup, which was often pair with a nude lip. Below, to the far right, actress Rosario Dawson adds a little extra spark with a pair of bright green earrings. The pale colors trend had an especially large presence at the Golden Globe Awards.
Red & Orange
Another theme that has appeared in its beginning stages is the presence of orange. This bright color has such a “notice me” factor that you really don’t need much of it to grab attention. Likewise, their weren’t many orange gowns on the red carpet, but there were enough to identify a growing trend. Though it’s a pretty and happy color, orange isn’t traditionally seen a lot in formal wear. So the presence of several orange gowns means celebs (and their stylists) are picking up a blossoming preference for orange in fashion.
Like white, red is color that sometimes gets placed on the red carpet taboo list. You don’t want to blend in to the background, after all! But so far, the 2011 award show circuit seems to like red gowns. They’ve been seen from deep cherry shades to lighter shades that make you look twice to make sure it’s not orange.
Black, Black… & More Black!
In previous seasons wearing black has been considered playing it safe. This year, though, there’s been a huge resurgence of basic – but incredibly chic – black appearing on the red carpet. When choosing black, ladies necessarily pay even closer attention to the silhouette and embellishments of the gown. Surprisingly, black gowns can be among the most exciting, as the color is able to take on so many shapes and textures without looking over the top.
Several ladies added drama to their basic black with big, voluminous skirts and trains. Others spiced up the color with a touch of skin, by way of high slits and higher hemlines. Cocktail dresses were especially prevalent at the comparatively casual ceremonies for People’s Choice and Critic’s Choice Awards.
About Mary
Fashion editor Mary Egbula uses the shapes, motion, and most of all the color of apparel as her primary artist’s medium. Also publishing as Eighty Jane, much of her work seeks to go beyond aesthetics and discuss the social and cultural impact of fashion. She’s currently working on her first book, which was inspired by her blog, The Fashion Cult. Find out more at www.EightyJane.com.
