Thus does the promise of red-carpet change that hovered over the Golden Globes only a year ago — when women took back their wardrobes for the night — get squandered.

The co-host Sandra Oh, in an emotional moment during the opening set of the awards show on Sunday, said she could see “change” by looking around the ballroom. But during the dress parade that is the celebrity entrances, it was mostly back to business on the fashion front. And I mean that literally.

The red carpet is a marketing machine, pairing stars and brands to optimum mutually beneficial effect. Last year, the collective decision by women to wear black in honor of the Time’s Up movement, which aims to address systemic inequality and injustice in the workplace, changed the equation if not the players. It had power because it felt personal, a quality that has been largely leeched from the contemporary red carpet, where what to wear — that most close-to-the-body decision — has generally been transformed into a business arrangement. It raised the stakes beyond advertising to advocacy, suggesting the moment could be used for more than just moneymaking. Yet 12 months later, it’s still a promise, not a reality.