The Best of the Red Carpet from the SAG Awards 2018

The SAG Awards on Sunday saw the return to color on the red carpet after the all-black attire at the Golden Globes. What style lessons can we learn from the evening’s standout looks? Our first observation is that #MeToo fashion can take many forms, in many colors. What seemed to unite the sartorial choices for the evening was a sense of ease and confidence, and a lack of coquettishness. Women of all ages, sizes, ethnicities and colors radiated a cool, assured and sometimes regal presence, and very few seemed to be concerned with pleasing the male eye. These women collectively looked elegant, interesting, graceful, fierce, smart, fresh and happy, and that said it all. Circa 2018, the way to own the red carpet is by owning your own space.

Here’s what stayed in our minds the morning after the awards in terms of lessons we’ll file away for future use when we have to pull ourselves together for a swanky night out:

1. Monochromatic white can be spectacular on the red carpet. The 180 degree reversal from the noir Golden Globes was a surprisingly refreshing wave of white dresses with pure lines. None of them were virginal, or styled to convey helplessness or guilelessness. This was white for the powerful girls, and it looked stunning. Love the feathers, love the sheerness, love it all.

2. You can do amazing things even within the constraints of an all-black dress code. As we noted in our summary of the Golden Globes fashions, the myriad ways to wear black are a style lesson for all of us urban dwellers who live in it and sometimes run out of ideas about how to make the look our own. Here are some gorgeous choices that showed personality, playfulness and élan.

3. Metallics rock. There were gorgeous shades of bronze, copper, gold and silver on display, conveying serious glamour. We note that some of the women who won big awards – Allison Janney and Nicole Kidman – were wearing metallic gowns, and it left us with the impression that they came that night to win. Nothing says you’re at the top of your game more than a gown that sparkles as brightly as your trophy.

4. Bold color choices are an excellent idea, day or night. These standout looks were dazzling, but not overwhelming. No one looked as if the dress was wearing them. And we have to give a shout-out to Marsai Martin: girl, you look fantastic!

5. Night blooms don’t have to be frail. We found three floral gowns that deserve a look-see — they were romantic, lush, femme and beautiful – and didn’t reduce anyone to a shrinking violet.

Interestingly, very few women seemed to be wearing pants or tuxedos at these awards. We loved that look at the Golden Globes, and hope it comes back for the next big awards night.

There you have it – our Style Council’s take on lessons learned from a brilliant night in Hollywood. Get some rest. We’ll see you after the Grammy’s.

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