Book review of Red Carpet Oscars by Dijanna Mulhearn

As we enter Oscars season, right here’s an opportunity to take a deep, luxurious dive into the historical past of purple carpet trend and fame. Dijanna Mulhearn’s Red Carpet Oscars chronicles the most important movie star occasion of the 12 months from its beginnings in 1929, “a quiet black-tie dinner,” to the 94th version in 2022, when the slap seen ’around the world overshadowed the clothes by a protracted shot. (That mentioned, Mulhearn retains her gaze regular and makes no point out of the debacle.)

Photographs supply an unimaginable parade of silver-screen expertise all through. Modern viewers could discover the numerous black-and-white candids from the primary three a long time of Hollywood particularly intriguing; I personally love the Nineteen Seventies protection, too. Mulhearn’s textual content helps inform the couture story, offering social context and a style of every night’s drama and the actors’ personalities. “[Joan] Fontaine’s black midi-length dress,” she writes, “felt mournful, possibly reflecting Fontaine’s mood as she imagined watching [Olivia] de Havilland snare the Oscar.” In sum, what we have now here’s a fascinating, specific angle on American tradition.