We’re only at the beginning of awards season but have we already seen this year’s most surprising red carpet hit? Last night at the Critics’ Choice Awards, Zendaya cemented her status as a style superhero in a glossy Tom Ford breastplate. Yes, really.
A valiant, don’t-mess-with-me alternative to those princess gowns other ingenues often veer towards, the piece (A cool $15,000 if you’re interested) is part of Ford’s SS20 collection which was presented during New York Fashion Week in September. Held in a decommissioned subway station, the show was steeped in the kind of sultry sexiness that Ford is the undisputed master of. And no piece exemplifies that mood quite like Zendaya’s sculptural plastic corset: fabulous, fierce and formidable in equal measure.
Working alongside ‘image architect’ Law Roach, Zendaya has established herself as one of the most fearless red carpet dressers of the moment. But she’s not the only one to get the armour memo. Gwyneth Paltrow can currently be seen looking like a West Coast Wonder Woman, wearing the same style on the cover of the February issue of American Harper’s Bazaar (‘Thank God I can say I have something in common with Zendaya,’ the actress commented on a @manrepeller Instagram post of the Euphoria star). At the Golden Globes last week, Cate Blanchett’s Mary Katrantzou dress had a harness-like metal bralet. And also at the Critics’ Choice Awards, Lupita Nyong’o opted for a structured leather bodice by Michael Kors, that radiated the same sense of swagger as Ford’s.
Other A-listers wanting to get in on the action are in luck. A Boudicca-meets-Barbarella mood is SS20’s surprising, slow-burn hit: from Givenchy’s leather bustiers to JW Anderson’s crystal bras. Looking for a less literal take? Paco Rabanne’s chainmail is a winner for when you’re invading King’s Landing at seven, but off to Studio 54 at eight.
We’ve long suspected that the red carpet might be a scary place. And this awards season, expect to see even the most confident A-listers preparing for battle.