I think another reason why the Oscars Red Carpet feels so anticlimactic is because nowadays, every movie premiere, festival appearance, etc. is treated like another Oscars Red Carpet. When we were growing up in the 1990s, it was basically just the Globes and the Oscars. Everything else was an industry event, with decidedly unglamorous red carpets that weren't posted everywhere on the Internet. Now everything -- from a premiere to a South x Southwest panel -- requires a borrowed (often custom made) designer outfit. It makes the Oscars less special.
Wintour's genius with the Met Gala is that she's turned it into a costume party. In a way, the Oscars have become a costume party too (celebs don't wear their own clothes anymore, etc.), but at the Oscars the costume is a heightened version of themselves or the character they play, a kind of brand extension. The Met Gala encourages them to go beyond that, to wear really fantastical (if tacky or ridiculous) get-ups, to pay homage to FASHION as opposed to themselves.
I think another reason why the Oscars Red Carpet feels so anticlimactic is because nowadays, every movie premiere, festival appearance, etc. is treated like another Oscars Red Carpet. When we were growing up in the 1990s, it was basically just the Globes and the Oscars. Everything else was an industry event, with decidedly unglamorous red carpets that weren't posted everywhere on the Internet. Now everything -- from a premiere to a South x Southwest panel -- requires a borrowed (often custom made) designer outfit. It makes the Oscars less special.
Wintour's genius with the Met Gala is that she's turned it into a costume party. In a way, the Oscars have become a costume party too (celebs don't wear their own clothes anymore, etc.), but at the Oscars the costume is a heightened version of themselves or the character they play, a kind of brand extension. The Met Gala encourages them to go beyond that, to wear really fantastical (if tacky or ridiculous) get-ups, to pay homage to FASHION as opposed to themselves.
Great article, particularly the Little Mermaid reference.