What will awards season look like in Hollywood now that many powerful men are facing allegations of sexual assault, abuse, and misconduct stretching back decades? Fittingly enough, a funeral.
According to Us Weekly, many women attending the Golden Globes in January will be clad in black “as a sign of protest against sexual harassment and assault in the entertainment industry.” The idea to do so originated with a small group of women, but word spread and now 30 women are planning on participating in this sartorial protest.
“This movement is spreading rampantly and pretty much all the nominated women and others attending are participating,” a source told Us Weekly. Stylists who have already dealt with their clients’s requests and fittings for dresses are reportedly scrambling to find black dresses. I’m envisioning people screaming into iPhones and Brad Goreski weeping at the feet of Rachel Zoe while clutching yards and yards of black organza and jet beading—frantic perparations for a very chic funeral.
The arresting visual image of women stalking the red carpet in couture widow’s weeds will certainly be impactful, along the lines of the House Democratic Women’s Working Group’s decision to wear suffragette white to President Donald Trump’s speech to the joint members of Congress in February or the rallying cry of the pussy hat at the Women’s March in January. Is protesting via fashion anything other than an empty gesture? Maybe not. If actresses have to go to the Golden Globes to smile big for the cameras and speak to Giuliana Rancic about who they’re wearing, answering the question of why they’re wearing what they are could prove to be much more interesting.
“The heat is now on to pull black dresses or hustle to get new onyx frocks made!” crows Us Weekly, painting an accurate reflection of the frenzy that has certainly seized Hollywood in light of this recent decision. It is strange to read about something of this seriousness in the bubbly and slightly deranged tone of Us Weekly, but good on them for getting this exclusive on a passive but effective form of resistance for women in Hollywood during the gauntlet of fake smiles and Spanx that is awards season!