Red Carpet events are known to either highly praise or blatantly ridicule every piece of clothing and accessory to walk across it. However, it’s usually the women who are in the spotlight. It’s rare to hear Giuliana Rancic talk about the top five worst tuxedos of the night, because everyone is talking about the best and worst dresses. Women even have the “mani cam,” a separate camera specifically meant to show off their manicures.
Men generally wear dark colored tuxes, put some gel in their hair and maybe add the special flair of a fancy watch. Women spend hours choosing the dress that’s the right color, length and fit, only then to decide what accessories go best and what to do with their hair and makeup.
In addition, men get away with much more than women in the sense of fashion. At the 56 annual Grammys on Jan. 26, Paris Hilton was wearing a dress that appeared to be much too long for her, and she did not get let off easy. But the members of Daft Punk showed up in helmets, hiding their faces entirely and were considered trendy. Macklemore’s dark blue velvet tux was commended, while Lorde’s white collared shirt and black pants were nearly considered a travesty. Madonna arrived in a Ralph Lauren black suit with her son, which was looked at as a fashion faux pas. Katy Perry’s Valentino gown was covered in music notes and was said to be one of the worst dresses of the night.
However, the roles were also switched. Beyoncè was highly praised for her white-laced Michael Costello floor-length dress, and Taylor Swift’s Gucci dress was considered one of the best on the Red Carpet.
But, the fact that women were generally more ridiculed than the men before the Grammys doesn’t take away from the fact that they were in the spotlight far more than the men were.
There were even doppelgängers created for some of the celebrities that walked the Red Carpet that night. Most of these doppelgängers were made for the women. Giuliana Rancic, Katy Perry, Madonna and even Taylor Swift had toddler doppelgängers who wore extremely similar dresses and had the same hair style.
The camera is usually on the women and the gossip is always about the dresses of the night, whether they are amazingly beautiful or just plain "out there." The ladies simply tend to get a lot more attention than the men do when it comes to fashion on the Red Carpet.
While this disparity exists, it is important to recognize that all of these women are being honored for their achievements — just like the men. It seems as though the double standard is real when it comes to appreciating and obsessing over these women's clothing choices over their professional accomplishments.
Reach the reporter at danielle.kernkamp@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @danikernkamp
