{"id":2294480,"date":"2026-02-22T23:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2294480"},"modified":"2026-02-22T23:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:05:08","slug":"hollywood-please-stop-method-dressing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/hollywood-please-stop-method-dressing\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood, please stop method dressing!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n For the past few years now, movie stars have publicized their films in promotional drag called \u201cmethod dressing.\u201d Picking up on the themes or cliches of their films, they appear on the red carpet in looks that function as goofy in-jokes \u2013 corsets on Margot Robbie for the bodice- ripping update on \u201cWuthering Heights,\u201d and ensembles that telegraph \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cevil\u201d for Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo\u2019s \u201cWicked\u201d two-parter.\n <\/p>\n

\n Increasingly, they look less like movie stars than guests at a very expensive costume ball.\n <\/p>\n

\n No star is a more committed method dresser than Robbie. Working with stylist Andrew Mukamal, Robbie adopted a wardrobe of Barbie-inspired ensembles<\/a> to promote the 2023 blockbuster, sometimes tasking designers with recreating an exact Barbie costume. It was hokey and over-the-top, but so is the doll herself, director Greta Gerwig gently reminded us, and the sight of Robbie in hot pink skirt suits, minidresses and gowns set the tone of the film as finely drawn pop cultural froth.\n <\/p>\n

\n Robbie\u2019s methodology has continued with red carpet appearances for her starring role in Emerald Fennell\u2019s sudsy adaptation of \u201cWuthering Heights.\u201d<\/a> There are corsets, puffed sleeves and little old timey trinkets that speak of her and co-star Jacob Elordi\u2019s bond. This has been far less effective than her Barbie-girl, Barbie-world looks, in part because the movie is more serious (allegedly a bookish romance \u2013 allegedly!) and because the universe of the Emily Bront\u00eb book isn\u2019t known for its extravagant clothes, unlike that of Marie Antoinette\u2019s or Regency-era set \u201cBridgerton.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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\n \"Margot\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n \"Margot\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n It is unclear what Robbie\u2019s ensembles are meant to tell us, except that she is promoting a period drama \u2013 which period, the clothes do not say. In one moment, Robbie wore a look that puts a spotlight on an emerging designer, Dilara Findikoglu<\/a>, who created a dress braided with synthetic hair, for the film\u2019s London premiere. At another moment, she wore one of the ugliest Chanel dresses in recent memory (see above).\n <\/p>\n

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\n \"Timoth\u00e9e\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n \"A\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n \"Cynthia\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Hollywood is desperate to get audiences back in movie theater chairs, and you can\u2019t blame actors for doing anything to drum up excitement, whether that\u2019s Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet summitting the Sphere, which was transformed into a giant ping pong ball, in Las Vegas to promote \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d or wearing a hideous Chrome Hearts suit in orange homage to his titular character<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Chalamet also went full method dress for his Bob Dylan biopic, \u201cA Complete Unknown,\u201d<\/a> recreating hilariously deep-cut Dylan looks, like a goatee and scarf appearance at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. And Erivo and Grande could have relied on their strange but touching bond to get us to see the \u201cWicked\u201d movies. But their coordinating overt looks \u2014 ONE is evil and the OTHER is \u201cgood\u201d and you know because of the COLORS they\u2019re wearing! \u2013 showed us just how much they wanted us there. For \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d \u201cA Complete Unknown\u201d and \u201cWicked,\u201d the marketing desperation paid off: all were bonafide box office hits.\n <\/p>\n

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\n \"Here,\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Method dressing has been popularized by Law Roach, the self-styled image architect who made vintage into the ultimate celebrity fashion flex back when big name brands refused to lend clothing to him. Roach is an expert at using clothes to tell a story, though his yarns tend to be subtler \u2013 that Lindsey Lohan is ready to be taken<\/a> seriously as an adult, or Celine Dion may be a grand diva, but she has a sense of humor<\/a>. He put Zendaya, his most famous client, in a vintage robot suit for \u201cDune\u201d and little tennis ball heels for the erotic tennis thriller \u201cChallengers,\u201d enhancing her image as a dedicated actress who will throw herself into any kind of part, whether it\u2019s the big blockbuster or the weird indie.\n <\/p>\n

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\n \"Zendaya\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n \"One\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n But now it\u2019s clear this sartorial trick is a marketing gimmick, and it feels less like style or fashion and simply like costume. It can still feel elegant: look at Chalamet at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January, where he wore a tailored Givenchy suit in keeping with his character and midcentury fashion, which has garnered a cult following among menswear fanatics. The look tells us where style might go next \u2013 a more nuanced conversation.\n <\/p>\n

\n For the most part, though, method dressing looks dated but we are thankfully entering an era less about performative dressing and more about dressing with some dignity. Actors who look more of the moment are Ayo Edebiri, Teyana Taylor and Jennifer Lawrence \u2013 who see dressing for a film premiere or awards show less about creating an outrageous look, and more about asserting their artistry and originality.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s hard not to look at those loose, louche red carpets of the 1990s, when Julia Roberts could wear an oversized men\u2019s suit to accept a Golden Globe and Sharon Stone could stuff a Gap button-up into a ruched satin skirt and land on the best-dressed list. But there is too much money on the field (or on the carpet, as it were) for stars ever to return to that freedom \u2013 even method dressing is often the result of high stakes brand deals, which are necessary in leaner times for entertainment. We have been praising too many actors for wearing clothes that are simply ugly. Don\u2019t we deserve some beauty?\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n