Sunday marks the biggest awards ceremony yet under the new crop of creative directors. Here’s what to expect, and why it matters.
The most important thing about this year’s Oscars — at least for fashion — is the timing. Sunday evening’s ceremony falls almost two weeks later than past years, meaning that the Paris and Milan fashion week shows have all wrapped — and luxury houses can focus on the awards.
Already, designers are flocking to Los Angeles post-shows, in order to be on the ground this weekend, attend events, and work more closely with the talent they’re dressing, says Keith Baptista, co-founder of creative agency Prodject. For many of these designers, it’s their first Oscars at the helm of their current houses. That’s because it’s the first Academy Awards ceremony since September’s flurry of creative director debuts that kicked off an industry-wide reset. Many of the most prominent houses on the Oscars carpet — Chanel, Dior, Valentino, Gucci — have different creative directors than they did last year. Demna, for instance, will attend the Sunday afterparty Gucci is co-hosting with Guy Oseary. “For so many new creative directors, this is their moment to really show the world — not just the fashion community and the people at the shows — their new direction and make a statement,” says luxury consultant Robert Burke. It’ll be a litmus test of sorts. “It is an important inflection point that will test the audience’s receptivity to the creative director’s new narrative around a brand’s name,” says Thomaï Serdari, professor of marketing and director of the Luxury and Retail MBA at New York University. Agents and stylists are relieved by both the scheduling shift and the designer shuffle slowdown. Over the last couple of years, archival pulls have dominated red carpets. Hailed as a flex by those with an eye for deep cuts, this move was in part due to a lack of clothes, says UTA agent Taylor Rahmani. Last awards season, newly appointed designers took the opportunity to tease their takes on their new houses. Sarah Burton soft launched her Givenchy with a men’s teaser on Timothée Chalamet, and an archival remake on Elle Fanning. But beyond the select few teasers, custom looks were harder to wrangle in 2025, as brands prepared for their creative director debuts in the latter half of the year. So the biggest difference from this year to last, Rahmani says, is that there are clothes at the ready — and they’re not hinged on the past. “There is the capacity to do customs, whereas last year there was a lot of limbo and studios really couldn’t do what they wanted to do.” For fashion, awards show stakes have changed dramatically. The opportunity for a red carpet moment has ballooned from the Academy Awards to an entire awards season. There are millions of dollars on the line in brand deals, and hundreds of millions in media impact value . For luxury fashion’s new guard, this weekend’s stakes are high, and brand control is low. “There is no major interference in a fashion show. There is a ton of interference in the Oscars ceremony,” Serdari says. “That’s the real test, because it happens live — not six months later and after the intermediaries have worked their magic to reinforce the message of the brand as it hits retail shelves.” Biggest reach yet Red carpets tend to have a wider reach than a fashion show, and the Oscars’s is the biggest of the season, causing a bigger spike in earned media value than other awards moments. The Oscars generated $101 million in MIV in 2025, according to Launchmetrics. “You can’t reach that many people in hardly any other way,” Burke says. Lefty estimates that, in the US, over a third of a brand’s EMV for a given year will be driven by VIP talents, and most of the top posts will be from the red carpet. The Oscars is what the agency calls the “peak”. The data backs it up: last year, Ariana Grande’s Schiaparelli Oscars look alone drove an MIV worth just over a third of what the brand generated from its entire 2025 haute couture show, per Launchmetrics . Brand impact goes well beyond the carpet. Launchmetrics estimates that 77% of a celebrity ambassador’s impact is generated by third-party amplification across reposts, editorial coverage, influencer discussion, and social conversation, says CMO Alison Bringé. “The right appearance doesn’t remain a single image; it becomes a cultural message that travels across channels and audiences.” Burton’s Givenchy tease last year, for instance, was effective in making noise and building anticipation for the brand. Givenchy was ranked the seventh top earning label of the 2025 awards season, generating $22.7 million in MIV, per Launchmetrics. The performance of these early appearances is significant, not just for the MIV, but for the direction that the brand will then opt for in the talent they work with. “If that dress lands, that brooch, or that necklace, or whatever the piece is that they really want to push — if that lands, the reps should follow,” UTA’s Rahmani says. “It’s kind of make or break for our year ahead.” A red carpet moment also resonates with consumers in 2026, Laura Rocha, head of insights at Lefty, says. “An actor winning an Oscar in a custom gown feels like a souvenir of a moment, whereas a campaign feels like a sales pitch. Of course, custom gowns may not be accessible for the public, yet it still brand awareness during a milestone in the actor’s career.” Burke agrees, noting that, while a brand can place a celebrity in a national ad, it doesn’t have the same spontaneity and excitement — nor reach — as a red carpet moment. Serdari anticipates a mix of approaches — and reactions. “Some of it will succeed and some of it will provoke,” she says. “But even provocation is a great media stunt that can garner great earned media value for brands in a highly competitive industry.” Crafting clothes and image We’ve already seen the custom moments from newly minted creative directors roll in this awards season, from Selena Gomez in custom Chanel, courtesy of Blazy, at the Golden Globes to Elle Fanning in custom Gucci by Demna. Jonathan Anderson, after debuting last June during Paris Fashion Week Men’s, ahead of many in his peers, has led the charge, with custom looks for a plethora of talent including Greta Lee, Mia Goth, and Ejae. Sunday night, though, will be this new crop of designers’ biggest platform yet. Brands are keen to create big moments, Rahmani says, particularly after the surge in archival looks. “There’s a departure from last year to this year in how production is being offered and the eagerness to make these moments great,” she says. There will, of course, be lots of Blazy’s Chanel and Anderson’s Dior. Burke wouldn’t even be surprised to see a Versace teaser from Pieter Mulier, whose appointment was announced just last month. “It’s custom and it’s quick, so it very well could be,” Burke says. “The world knows Versace, but it doesn’t know this version of Versace.” The red carpet is a powerful tool for brands to send a message. “Brands use platforms like the Academy Awards to be able to engage top-tier talent and showcase their work,” he says. “These are original pieces that are created for this talent, so it’s really about the brand’s DNA and relationships.” Burke anticipates that brands will be selective about who they’re dressing beyond already enlisted ambassadors, as designers cultivate their brand worlds. “It’s as much about the personality and the image of the celebrity or actor as it is the design,” he reasons. Serdari agrees, noting the pressure for creative directors to work with the most ‘culturally relevant’ talent . “It is the ambassador or creative talent that is more of an extension to the brand, rather than the other way around,” Serdari says. “This also means that the wrong type of affiliation might turn the brand’s resonance flat, forgettable, unimportant. The stakes are higher than with an advertising campaign precisely because the public may forgive commercial missteps more easily. Cultural missteps are memorable and sticky.” For those who brands have chosen to partner with, there’s potential for some major moments that will push these brand narratives forward. “Last year, there were a lot of remakes of archival gowns, or archival gowns themselves,” Rahmani says. “I don’t think we’re going to be seeing that this year, because we’re in the early stages of reidentifying what that brand is standing for, so it doesn’t make sense to go backward. We all want to go forward. The actors want to go forward, too.” More from this author: Hollywood Agents Break Down the Dealmaking Behind the Oscars’ Red Carpet The New Brand Playbook for Unpredictable Times The Business of Street Style
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