The SAG awards style: A sneak peek at the Oscars red carpet
The Screen Actor’s Guild Awards were an Oscars warm-up, roughly predicting who will leave next week’s Academy Awards ceremony carrying a statuette. They also determined what will be worn on the red carpet.
For nearly 30 years, the SAG awards winner for best actor has gone on to win the Oscar 76 per cent of the time, with the best actress having a 72 per cent success rate. Following Sunday night’s SAGs ceremony in Los Angeles – and the application of fashion maths – it’s 99 per certain that you will see black dresses, vintage haute couture and looks wilder than Timothée Chalamet’s lime shirt at the Oscars.
Old is new again
It’s no longer enough to snatch the latest Chanel gown off the runway for an awards ceremony – a feat made more difficult with Paris Fashion Week’s dates being pushed back until after the Oscars this year for the first time since 2020.
Cynthia Erivo in vintage Givenchy, Keke Palmer in vintage Chanel and Bronwyn Newport in vintage Christian Dior at the 31st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Credit: AP
In a silver Givenchy haute couture gown from 1997, with fringing at the collar and sleeves, Cynthia Erivo demonstrated the winning strategy of wearing vintage at the SAGs. The Wicked star’s stylist, Jason Bolden, must have taken notes when supermodel Kaia Gerber wore a dress from the same collection by Alexander McQueen to the Academy Museum Gala in October.
Actor Keke Palmer in a Chanel gown, last worn on the runway by model-turned-designer Ines de la Fressange in 1985, and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast member Bronwyn Newport in a pear-coloured Christian Dior dress from 1968, also successfully raided camphor-lined closets.
Princesses reign supreme
Princess is in: Kaitlyn Dever in Elie Saab and Alycia Debnam-Carey in Dior at the SAG awards on Sunday. Prince Charming is out: Nicole Kidman in Saint Laurent at the Critics Choice Awards on February 7. Credit: AP
While the Critics Choice Awards held on February 7 offer an opportunity for experimentation, such as Nicole Kidman in a masculine Saint Laurent suit, gender expression becomes more binary the closer we get to the Oscars.
At the SAGs, Apple Cider Vinegar actors Kaitlyn Dever, in an embellished strapless peach gown from Elie Saab, and Alycia Debnam-Carey, in a fitted ivory halter-neck Christian Dior gown, exuded traditional princess energy. The ultra-feminine looks were more in line with Monaco’s House of Grimaldi than the United Kingdom’s House of Windsor but had the aspirational whiff of Hollywood royalty.
Not basic black
Black is the baseline for risk-adverse actors wishing to appear sophisticated without drawing the attention of fashion critics. It takes the careful addition of a subtle detail to move black from boring and keep it a safe distance from daring.
The peplum on Elle Fanning’s strapless Loewe gown, the capital V-neck of Cristin Milioti’s Christian Dior dress, and the leather bodice of Demi Moore’s Loewe gown were stylish without upstaging the talent wearing them.
There will always be a Bjork
At the Oscars, some stars will ditch black to follow the look-at-me lead of Danielle Deadwyler’s Louis Vuitton red dress with a ’70s lampshade silhouette, Drew Starkey’s spotted Valentino scarf masquerading as a tie and Chalamet’s lime shirt at the SAGs.
It’s been 24 years since Bjork’s swan dress, so it’s time for the crazy to take flight.
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