The Invisible Man and the Defiant Woman go to the Oscars

Who knew everybody would wear nude? The level of red carpet commentary before the 90th Academy Awards seemed straight out of the hot tub time machine — as, increasingly, does the event itself. The Oscars have been caught flat-footed by the persistent demurral of stars unwilling to participate in the once-obligatory step-and-strut, the designer name-checking, the preshow interviews, the scrutiny of the relentless likes of Joan Rivers that left on-air talent floundering.

Nude hasn’t signified Caucasian at least since Crayola crayons changed Flesh to Peach in 1962. (Memo to E!’s Brad Goreski.) Particularly in a year when the conversation shifted importantly from what women in entertainment are wearing to what’s on their minds, a year in which diversity, inclusion and pay parity became inevitable conversations in Hollywood, there was something bracing in what appeared to be an unspoken consensus among women in the business to bypass the quid pro quo of fashion in pursuit of other ideals.

The Oscars come at the end of a monthslong slog for many in the industry, campaigns pursued with military rigor and zeal. Starting with the Toronto Film Festival in September, many of those in pursuit of a gold statuette, or even the next project, have traditionally relied on designers to keep them in free duds and jewelers (which provide the most lucrative endorsements) to pay the bills. The payoff is obvious.

“Look, it’s not working in the rice fields, but it is work,” said the stylist Elizabeth Saltzman, who dressed Saoirse Ronan in a Calvin Klein gown. The light pink frock was designed by the Belgian-born Raf Simons, newly an immigrant to the United States, who summoned up the considerable skills developed during his tenure at Dior to create a couture-quality gown for a label best known for producing American sportswear and underpants.