BrainStuff Classics: What Happens to Red Carpet Dresses?

After celebrities wear a gown to a glitzy award show or festival, it's often archived, but sometimes sold, reproduced, or even stolen. Learn the life story of red carpet fashion in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://lifestyle.howstuffworks.com/style/fashion/celebrity/red-carpet-dresses-celebrities-wear-them.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi
brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vogel Bom and this is another
classic from our archives. In this episode, we delve into
the fabulous world of celebrity fashion, specifically the dresses the
performers and other famous folks wear on the red carpet.
What happens to those dresses after that big night? Hey,

(00:25):
brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. The popularity of award show
fashion has practically eclipsed the award shows themselves. For example,
the E Network now devotes an entire broadcast day to
the Oscars Red Carpet, starting with a morning pre pre
show followed by hours long live coverage. For designers, the
red carpet is one of the most visible and buzzed

(00:48):
about ways to promote their brands. Some top designers will
pay a list, actresses, and musicians big bucks to wear
their dresses or jewelry between one hundred thousand and two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, depending on the star hour
of the given celebrity. Other celebrities are allowed to borrow
a designer dress, handbag, or jewel studded necklace for the
night for free of course, in order to get the

(01:09):
designer's name into the highly clickable red carpet photo slide shows.
But what happens to that very expensive dress when the
red carpet is rolled up and the TV cameras move
on to the next event. Is the gown stuffed into
a closet never to be worn again? Or does the
designer take it down to the dry cleaner and try
to sell it on Craigslist. We reached out to Ariana Wisener,

(01:30):
a Hollywood stylist, for some answers. Wisener, who dresses celebrities
for award shows, press tours, and magazine spreads, says that
one of the dresses loaned out for awards shows go
right back to the designer or okay, like nine nine.
Weisner said, on rare occasions, the designer will gift the
celebrity the gown. One famous example the ethereal and deeply

(01:52):
plunging green Versaci dress that Jennifer Lopez wore to the
Grammys in the year two thousand. Wisner said Versaci gifted
her the dress because it was such an iconic moment,
and indeed it was. According to a blog post by
Google CEO Eric Schmidt, The dress was the direct inspiration
for creating Google image search. The really big design houses

(02:13):
like Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel will take back a
red carpet dress and keep it in their archives, says Wisner.
You won't see a statement gown from the Oscars resold
to the public, dry cleaned or not. But that's not
the case for lower tier designers. Wisner cites the rise
of fashion rental companies in Los Angeles and New York
for this trend. Less conspicuous red carpet dresses from whatever

(02:35):
designers Wisener's term could very well end up on the
racks of shops like Our Miriam or rent the runway
a few years after a big event. Sample sales are
another place where you might stumble upon address that a
celebrity war for one big night. When a designer's warehouse
becomes overstuffed with leftovers from events, last year's line, and
sample sized dresses that were tried on repeatedly in the store,

(02:57):
they hold a sample sale, frequently involving deep discounts. Even
if you can't get the very same dress that a
celeb war on the red carpet, you might be able
to buy an exact replica. Every once in a while,
says Wisener, a dress that really pops at an award
show is picked up for mass production, one recent example
being a pleaded silver gown that Kate Hudson wore to

(03:18):
the Vanity Fair Oscars post party. The designer sells the
same dress online for only three thousand, three hundred and
twenty five dollars. Really luxurious dresses not only grabbed the
attention of fashion fans but also thieves. At the Oscars,
actress Lupida and Youngo wore a white gown by Calvin
Klein studded with six thousand pearls worth an estimated hundred

(03:40):
and fifty thousand dollars. The gown was reported stolen from
Yongo's Los Angeles hotel the day after the Oscars, but
was then mysteriously returned by the thief. According to TMZ,
after the dress burglars snatched the gown, they removed two
pearls and took them down to the garment district there
were fakes. The thief dumped the worthless us in a
bathroom back at Nyango's hotel and tipped off TMZ to

(04:03):
its location. Today's episode is based on the article what
Happens to Red Carpet Dresses after Celebrities wear them? On
how stuff works dot Com, written by Dave Roose. Brain
Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with
how stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang.
For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,

(04:25):
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