Red carpet revelations: An insider’s guide to the stars’ most terrifying challenge

HOW long do stars really have to wait and what do they think about appearing in magazines? Our insider dishes secrets on the extreme pressures of the red carpet.

AS THE Venice Film Festival grinds to a halt and the spotlight moves to Toronto, a few celebs weigh in on some truths about the red carpet.

Even the most seasoned fashionistas are capable of putting a well manicured toe in the wrong place (even one clad in the latest strappy Louboutin).

MORE: Nicole shocks with gaunt red carpet appearance

You may remember the public outcry when Gwyneth went braless at the 2000 Oscars and was accordingly vilified. More recently, Angelina’s much-parodied leggy pose on the red carpet at the 2012 Oscars was the most talked about aspect of the evening.

Arguably, getting it right on the red carpet can be more important for a movie star’s career than the roles they choose (and is often more memorable).

Fashion icons Emma Stone and Emma Watson have an admirable knack for instinctively wearing what works for them, as do their glamorous counterparts Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron, whose genetics enable them to wear sample sizes straight off the runway on the odd occasion that their outfits are not custom-made.

But not all actresses are created equal. Jennifer Lawrence, a Dior ambassador, and Kristen Stewart, who opts for Chanel, take some risks that don’t always pay off. One senior stylist on the red carpet circuit, who prefers to go unnamed, says: “I think sometimes newer celebrities get caught up and excited about wearing the big designer names, but they aren’t always the best fit for their bodies.”

A red carpet event usually begins hours earlier than necessary with the appearance of a handful of C and D-listers, enthusiastic up-and-comers and jaded stragglers clinging to the dregs of a failing career.

Then there are the utterly shameless, who, upon reaching the end of the press gauntlet, will surreptitiously scurry back to the beginning to get more bang for their publicity buck. Walking at snail’s pace, they gaze expectantly at the shutterbugs on the sidelines, hoping their name might be called out. It’s a bit like watching a car accident, only much more fun.

Once a no-pressure affair, treading the red carpet used to be a brisk precursor to the main event, be it a film premiere, award ceremony or fashion runway show. These days it’s big business and, for many, their sole raison d’être.

It’s not about the event, it’s about branding. It’s a competitive platform where high-end products, fashion designers and jewellers peddle their goods on the same few feet of turf (the average size of a red carpet is 1m x 6m, although the pinnacle of red carpets, the Oscars, boasting a far more impressive 10.06m x 167.63m).

The longer the talent can tread water without being pushed along by event wranglers who need to free up space for higher-tiered celebs, the better your chances for a successful outcome.

The tension escalates during the day’s proceedings. Fans in the nosebleeds get louder in commensurate measure with the fame quotient of the celebrity arrival. The blinding flashbulbs of the paparazzi point towards a never-ending stream of starlets who strike their best pose (most have practiced with their stylist for weeks) in an effort to make their Zoolander-esque expression look natural.

Ever-present is the celebrity’s personal publicist, usually clad in a chic black suit with an all-access laminate round their neck. They will officiously direct said celebrity towards or away from the traffic of an awaiting press line, depending on the importance of the media outlet. At this point the atmosphere is circus-like. It’s not unusual for media in the press line to regress into a pushing and shoving match, all vying for the best spot on the carpet.

Still photographers push their way to the frontline in the hopes that they will take the money shot (i.e. the celebrity looking directly into their lens), which will be splashed across the internet and the tabloids. And God help you if you’re a pregnant reporter.

In 1995, Sharon Stone stunned the press line at the Academy Awards (she was nominated for Best Actress for Casino) when she demanded that the burly photogs with elbows akimbo “step aside and let the poor pregnant reporter to the front of the line.” That “poor woman” was me. Sadly, Ms Stone was not nominated the following year when I decided to return to the front lines wearing a faux pregnant belly. Unfortunately, this time my “condition” was overlooked.

Julianne Moore, who will walk the red carpet at the Toronto Film Festival this week for the film Maps to the Stars, demystifies the preamble to the event. “When you are going to the Golden Globes, your car pulls into this line, you are in this big dress, and then you wait for an hour because the traffic is so bad. And you are like, ‘This is crazy! Nuts!’ The funny thing about Hollywood is that there’s this juxtaposition of the regular stuff like sitting in a car, and then the supposed glamour of when you get out of the car, like, ‘Oh look at me, I’m not even like a real person!’ It’s weird. But the reality is that we are all sitting in cars waiting in line.”

It’s the beauty contest aspect that is perhaps the most frightening. Veep’s Julia Louis Dreyfus, who recently nabbed her fifth Emmy trophy, says, “In the last 10 to 15 years the red carpet is an aspect of the business that has taken on a life of its own. I remember the first time I went to the Emmys, in 1992, I bought my own dress. Today it’s a completely different deal and I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love playing dress-up, but that said, I am not a supermodel and it takes a lot of work to look good or even passable. It’s a very real pressure and it’s overwhelming.”

Fashion icon and actress Olivia Wilde offers: “I’ve never gone to a red carpet event thinking, ‘I’ve got to win Best Dressed!’ And I don’t know anyone who does. But you certainly realise that you’re going to be compared to other actresses, which is kind of a shame. I don’t think women like being put on a page next to each other.”

And even for seasoned red carpet-goers, it comes with a level of trepidation. Helen Mirren recalls her first red carpet memory. “It was not great,” she laughs. “And still, I find it intimidating and terrifying. Many years ago I went to the Cannes Film Festival for the first time. I had no idea what it was, other than a nice place by the seaside. I arrived and everyone looked at me and said: ‘You can’t walk around looking like that, you are a film actress!’ So I was bought a ‘movie star’ outfit. That was my first experience of paparazzi and flashing cameras. Frightening.”

It’s the very same carpet that scares the bejesus out of our own veteran glamour-puss, Nicole Kidman. “The Cannes Film Festival red carpet has all those stairs and I am so tall and I’ve fallen down stairs, which resulted a knee injury, so I have a fear of that one.” Hubby Keith Urban confessed sheepishly: “Nic gets ready much faster than I do. Honestly, you’ve never seen anyone get dressed as fast as her.”

For many, it’s the commercial aspect that is the most contentious. Anna Wintour said recently: “The red carpet in the United States has become too much of a business. It’s a fact that celebrities are paid to wear everything …”

But stylist Djuna Bel, who works with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Ryan Kwanten and Jared Leto says, “Getting a celebrity to represent your brand is one of the best advertisements a designer can ask for. Celebrities have taken the place of models so that celebrity has a contract to wear that brand to events. Stylists, PR and personal reps are pushed to try to persuade a celebrity to wear a certain brand. Sometimes it’s nice to know beforehand that you’re working with a brand who will work with me and my client to achieve a custom piece for an event.”

Case in point, Cate Blanchett, Giorgio Armani spokesman, says: “Dressing for the red carpet helps when you’re wearing a piece of Armani Couture that has been tailored to you; that’s just a pleasure and a privilege. But you can’t dress to please everybody and I don’t really try.”

Diane Keaton, who’s seen many red carpets in her career says: “In the Annie Hall days it was fashionable to stay out of the limelight but the idea of a celebrity being branded out now is much more prevalent. I say, ‘Fine. Embrace it. You did it.’ ”

But it’s not for the faint of heart. Anne Hathaway caused an enormous ruckus when she won Best Supporting actress, in 2013, for Les Miserables. At the last minute she changed gowns from the custom-made Valentino dress to Prada. It was rumoured but not confirmed that the reason for the switch was that her co-star Amanda Seyfried’s Alexander McQueen dress was too similar to Hathaway’s intended Valentino.

Olivia Wilde said of that famed drama: “Well, a lot of money goes into those decisions of what to wear because it’s advertising. I can’t imagine what it’s like on that Anne Hathaway level; I’ve never had an Oscar dress made for me so I’m assuming that’s a whole other ball game.”

Speaking of which, could the red carpet be the ultimate sporting event? Wilde says: “Well, it is most definitely a magic trick, I’ll tell you that.”

Originally published as Red carpet revelations: An insider’s guide to the stars’ most terrifying challenge