Drew Barrymore in a rumpled shirt with her G-string peeking out of her trousers (2000); Julia Roberts at the Golden Globes in a man’s suit and tie (1990); Jane Birkin in a loosely tucked pyjama top (1992). Not outfits you’d be likely to see at an awards ceremony or premiere today – because in the last 20 years, red-carpet dressinghas evolved beyond all recognition.
We live at a time in which all-powerful stylists present celebrities with gowns carefully selected to project the right message: this actor is intellectual, this actor is adorable, this actor is a bombshell. But back then, if you were invited to a red-carpet event, you went shopping – or just pulled something out of your wardrobe. You didn’t rehearse photos in different lights to make sure your dress wasn’t see-through; you probably didn’t have someone on hand to arrange your train or jump in if your bra strap slipped. ‘In those days it was a lot more simple – you just turned up and you could get away with a lot less,’ says actor, producer and fashion designer Sadie Frost.
Few people are better placed to reflect on the difference than Sadie, who was red-carpet mainstay in the late ’90s and early noughties. ‘I was just running around, being a mum and working,’ she says. ‘I didn’t have a stylist – I always wanted to express a personal flair. It’s great wearing designer clothes, but I liked going to vintage shops and throwing things together. I probably got some things right and some things wrong.’ While a misfire then might have made the papers the next day, it didn’t hang around online in the way that it does now – and it wasn’t considered such a key part of an actor’s job. ‘Back then, your agent wouldn’t even ask you what you were planning to wear,’ she recalls. ‘No one really talked about it. It was just a great thing you were going.’
A high point for her was the 2000 Oscars, which she attended with her then-husband Jude Law, who was nominated for The Talented Mr Ripley. ‘It just felt like we were a couple of Brits out of place, and we were like, “What are we doing here?” there were loads of laughs back then, and we were all growing up and very naive. We just turned up and let things happen.’
The Oscars is a different animal now. ‘People have their managers prepping them, they have mood boards, they are media-trained and advised on every single move they make. There’s lots more politics involved now, and you’re power dressing. Everything’s about selling and marketing and fashion is a hugely serious business,’ she says. ‘But the anxiety that comes with it must be huge. Sometimes I do miss the naivety of those days where people could just be themselves, and it felt more real.’
Although Sadie continues to act – we’ll see her this year alongside Anjelica Huston in Waiting For Anya – when she walks red carpets now, it’s often in a business capacity for her film company, Blonde to Black, and she wears a trouser suit. Most recently, she produced the well-received drama Two For Joy, starring Samantha Morton and Billie Piper. ‘I’m quite happy to be under the radar,’ she says. ‘I’m really glad, in a way, that I’m not doing it now. I find it difficult enough just getting ready to go out for dinner.’
‘Two For Joy’ is available on digital download from 25 February
Sadie Frost Red Carpet Looks - Grazia
1 of 7Cannes, 1997
Sadie: 'The BFI flew actors from the young British film scene over to Cannes, and so I was with Rachel Weisz, Rufus Sewell, Jude [Law], Ewan [McGregor], Jonny [Lee Miller] and Sean Pertwee. It was all very exciting. I think this dress is Dolce & Gabbana. I didn't want to be completely feminine – in a killer stiletto, I think I would have felt more submissive – so I wore a chunky little heel. I didn't like my toes, so I always wore socks. I never really dressed to be fashionable or to conform. I was the one who was dressing more to shock – but I felt comfortable and I liked what I was wearing. I remember feeling very confident.'
2 of 7Wilde Premiere, 1997
Sadie: ' 'I loved having this little bob but I didn't want it to be boring, so I found a necklace in my bag and just pinned it on my head in a 1920s style. Then I thought, "I don't have another necklace to put round my neck – OK, let me draw a necklace on." I would do these things spur of the moment. When you're young you can get away with quite a lot, but I think in those days you also weren't scrutinised as much. The reds were clashing, but it all seems to work, because I look comfortable with it, don't I?'
3 of 7Oscars, 2000
Sadie: 'This was such a lovely, exciting time – I had a young family, my husband was doing well and we were going to the Oscars. A lot of stylists had approached me to dress me but I went to thrift store One of a Kind in Notting Hill and found that dress. I didn't feel like I was actually wearing anything – it was like putting a dress on but still being naked. I didn't realise how see-through it was, but when the pictures came back, people were like "How could she not wear a bra?" If there was ever a moment in my life that I wanted not to wear a bra, it was at the Oscars.'
4 of 7Rent, 1998
Sadie: 'Even though I like dressing in a feminine way, I wanted to be sassy. I can't remember who designed this dress – maybe Matthew Williamson – but I used to wear it a lot. A lot of the time I would show my shoulders and my arms and my boobs, but I would throw on a cardigan to play the whole thing down. I jazzed my hair up with bright hair clips and the white sunglasses, and I just rocked up like I didn't have a care in the world.'
5 of 7AI Premiere, 2001
Sadie: 'I'd been living in LA and had my third child, and I wanted to go for a different look with the pixie cut. I'd seen something like this dress in a Marilyn Monroe film, so I got it made. The chain goes round the waist and loops over the shoulder. I think I was maybe enjoying my sexuality, wanting to dress up a bit more. I was in Hollywood and I felt like exuding glamour.'
6 of 7Royal Television Awards, 2001
Sadie: 'This is with my sister Holly. I can see from this picture that I'd lost a lot of weight – my personal life was slighty less settled, and I was juggling being a mum and my career. I've put on another see-through dress – I can't imagine wearing something see-through now, but this is a really beautiful antique dress that I found in a thrift store. I was definitely feeling more mature here. It's funny how you evolve as a person and whether you've become a mother, or whatever's going on in your life, you still have to turn up and project an image of yourself. Sometimes during the hardest moments, you have to lie through your teeth about what image you're projecting.'
7 of 7Two For Joy, 2018
Sadie: 'This was at the premiere for Two For Joy, which I made with Billie Piper and Samantha Morton. So often these days, I will wear a trouser suit on the red carpet – because I'm going there for business, ready to talk to lots of my co-producers or film investors. In the next few years my company Blonde to Black will be making quite a few films. The red carpet is about my role behind the camera now – it's work.'