Riskiest Choice: Women’s Gowns

The most powerful red-carpet fashion statement at the Globes occurred in 2018 when almost all the women showed up in black gowns and tuxedo suits in solidarity with Time’s Up and #MeToo. So the fact that this year’s ceremony took place the night before the start of the trial of Harvey Weinstein, the man who arguably gave rise to the movement, added a certain scrutiny to what everyone wore.

Would they continue what they had started, and make their clothes about more than just a pretty dress? Or would they return to the status quo, when fashion choices were more about marketing and best-dressed lists? In the end, the most striking looks were gloriously, sometimes ridiculously, risky. (Sometimes they were also just ridiculous, but that was O.K.)

They included Joey King doing her best impression of living sound waves; Cate Blanchett in gold pleats and crystal bra looking like a cross between an archangel and a pole-dancing Valkyrie; and Charlize Theron in Jolly Green Giant goddess drapes over a peekaboo black corset.

And then there was Gwyneth Paltrow in a sheer high-necked ruffled mud brown tulle … knit? It was hard to tell, but the Fendi gown revealed everything from her undies to her abs and may well get her on all sorts of worst-dressed lists.