The Designer Red Carpet

For many viewers, the night of the Oscars is not just about the awards, but a chance to see one of the best catwalk shows in the world. Hollywood’s crème of the crop gathers on the red carpet, serving themselves up for the sartorially savvy pundits to applaud or malign. Who can forget Bjork’s swan dress of 2001? (The singer later claimed it was meant to be a joke).

For designers, the Oscars can give a flagging career a stratospheric boost, and for artists, a great gown can catapult them into the limelight. Had you heard of Liz Hurley before she wore that Versace safety pin gown?

So who are the red carpet favourites? We’ve had a look back over the past five years to see which designers are the most popular on Oscar night, and some names just kept cropping up. There are of course the grand old dames of fashion, the big names everybody knows, the most popular of which seem to be Armani, Valentino, Versace, Vera Wang, Givenchy, Dior, Carolina Herrera, Dolce and Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Galliano, and Chanel. But the two names which came up over and over again are two relative new-comers to the fashion industry (to give you some perspective, Chanel was founded in 1909, Dior in 1946, Givenchy in 1952, Armani in 1975, and Versace in 1978).

Elie Saab, a self-taught Lebanese fashion designer, catapulted to fashion fame after becoming the first Lebanese designer to dress an Oscar winner. Halle Berry wore a burgundy gown by Saab to the 2002 Academy Awards when she won for Best Actress. Other actresses to don his delicate designs include Bérénice Bejo, Milla Jovovich, Mila Kunis, Anna Hendricks, Rachel McAdams and Angelina Jolie. Halle Berry also wore one of his designs to the 2003 Oscars.

Marchesa is another late arrival to the designer part. Established in 2004 by Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig, the brand has been worn by several Hollywood actresses on the red carpet including: Penélope Cruz, Blake Lively, Jennifer Lopez, Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz, Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester, Rihanna, Eva Longoria, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Wilde, Kristen Stewart, Nikki Reed and Hailee Steinfeld. Most importantly, Sandra Bullock wore Marchesa at the 2010 Academy Awards when she won the Best Actress award.

A lot of work goes into red carpet fashion, not just from the artists and their stylists, but from the designers themselves. A designer might invest a lot of time, effort and money into creating a unique dress for a celebrity, only for the star to wear someone else at the last minute. High-profile celebrities are often loaned dresses by several different designers for the Oscars, in the hopes that they might get chosen, but this means the designer won’t know until the night whether their gamble has paid off. In addition, they run the risk of never getting the dress back. But it is worth the risk, as designer Ben de Lisi said: "Kate [Winslet] wearing my red dress to the Oscars was incredible for business…I can't possibly quantify how much publicity I got from that or how much money I made. And now, every time anyone writes about her they use the picture of her in the dress and so it just goes on and on."

Now, bring on Oscar night, and let's see what will be gracing the red carpets this year.