While gender inequality has long been a hot topic in Hollywood, the issue is most prominent when it comes to the red carpet.
While it’s customary for both actors and actresses to be asked “who are you wearing?” the subject is usually dropped in favor of more serious questions for actors while their female counterparts are stuck answering countless queries about their outfit and hair choices.
What stars choose to wear at public appearances has been a popular subject of tabloids for decades. However, the focus escalated in 1994 when comedian Joan Rivers debuted an early version of
Fashion Police, a TV special where she and a number of other D-list celebrities would make catty remarks about what actresses wore on the red carpet during awards season.
Though demeaning, the show became a massive success thanks to Rivers’ humorous witticisms that audiences couldn’t get enough of. Since then countless other networks have jumped on board with their own versions of the show, often placing reporters on the carpet to interview the stars in real time. Entering the Academy Awards used to consist of a few short meters between your car and the door. This past Sunday at the 87
th Academy Awards, the carpet is 500 feet long (153 meters) and packed with hundreds of journalists and photographers all ready to pose the same question: “Who are you wearing?”
Some of the maneuvers actresses have to go through include E! Networks’ Glam Cam, which consists of women standing on a tiny platform while a camera circles around them to give viewers a full 360° view. Another one of their gimmicks is the Mani Cam, a tiny runway constructed in front of a camera so that stars can walk their fingers down it to show off their nails and jewelry. Recently two A-list actresses, Julianne Moore and Reese Witherspoon, made headlines by refusing to take part in the Mani Cam at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. While neither actress made a direct statement about it, they’ve both spoken on behalf of the discrimination towards women in Hollywood over the course of their respective careers.
It’s no wonder that women have a hard time being taken seriously when all they are asked about with the color of their nails. It’s fair to be asked the name of the designer who made their dress once or twice, but do they have to dwell on it? What the industry needs is respected women who are willing to take a stand against conventional notions of being a female in Hollywood. While it’s harmless and fun to dress up for a big event, if they make their image the focus of their careers, then they will continue to be unfairly represented as more superficial then their male equivalents.
