Rebecca Selva, creative director for jewelry houses Kwiat and Fred Leighton, remembers texting one of her company’s execs on Oscar night, saying, “ ‘Stay awake until the end’ — because I knew if Oppenheimer won best picture, that would be a great opportunity for us,” she tells THR.
Minutes later, Selva celebrated the moment she’d been hoping for: Producer Emma Thomas accepted the trophy for Oppenheimer’s best picture victory wearing a dazzling pair of Kwiat earrings, which featured two Colombian emeralds weighing nine carats each. The final category of the 96th Oscars contributed $47,000 to Kwiat’s 2024 awards season total of $504,000 in earned media exposure, a value that luxury labels increasingly rely upon when determining the quantitative impact of their red carpet placements.
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For major fashion and luxury brands, red carpets are big business. With such stars as Billie Eilish generating $1.63 million in media value for Chanel by donning a couture schoolgirl fit to the Oscars, knowing which stars and which carpets drive the most publicity for their dresses, tuxedos and gems is of critical importance.
With that in mind, this awards season THR partnered with data company Launchmetrics to measure the exposure across the six top awards shows of 2024 — the Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys, Emmys, Critics’ Choice and SAG Awards. Our first Red Carpet Power Rankings highlight the brands and stars that packed the biggest punch in both legacy and social media this awards season.
To tabulate the results, Launchmetrics employed a proprietary Media Impact Value (MIV) algorithm that determined the performers across five categories: women, men, fashion, watches and jewelry, and accessories. We also ranked the awards shows themselves in terms of how much value they deliver for brands.
The results are, in many cases, simply stunning. The 96th Academy Awards once again confirmed its status as the Super Bowl of red carpets, garnering an astounding $1.1 billion in MIV.
Sitting atop the list of women whose red carpet looks generated the most impact is Taylor Swift — her Schiaparelli dress for the Grammys was a major topic of online conversation — while Ryan Gosling (a Gucci ambassador) won the competition among men. As gender pay inequity continues to be an industry conversation, Hollywood’s women unfailingly outearned men in media impact value throughout the season.
The Red Carpet Power Rankings also highlight how important it is for fashion brands to align themselves with stars whose style and social media are the most likely to set the internet alight.
Dior’s top position in the fashion category, with $59.2 million in MIV, is partly due to house ambassador Jenna Ortega tagging the brand in her Emmys red carpet Instagram post, which drew 3.6 million likes and more than 16,200 comments. Among watch and jewelry brands, Tiffany & Co. ranked No. 1, while Christian Louboutin took the winning spot for accessories brands. Tiffany & Co.’s high-profile placements throughout the season included Dua Lipa at the Grammy Awards and Ariana Grande at the Oscars, while Louboutin’s placements ranged from Selena Gomez at the Golden Globes to Colman Domingo at the Emmys.
“Red carpets always have been about being empowered and feeling fabulous,” Louboutin tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s such an important moment, a moment where you are watched from head to toe, and you can’t risk not being at ease. Over the last few years, I’ve been very concerned about designing comfortable shoes when it comes to heels, even high heels. It became a primary thing that I’m looking after because a red carpet is almost like a wedding; in some countries you have to attend ceremonies where you stand for hours on your feet, so it is important to give extra attention to the comfort of a style, while it still needs to look great and elongate the entire silhouette.”
The surprise amid the accessories rankings is Oliver Peoples at No. 5, with a media-impact value of $1.3 million. Being favored by stars like Robert Downey, Jr., Ke Huy Quan and Ayo Edebiri throughout the season undeniably propelled the eyewear brand into the top five. “Almost every pair Robert wore this season was customed at [stylist Erica Cloud’s] direction,” reports Jessica Craig, vice president of brand marketing for Oliver Peoples. “We believe in being very accommodating with that level of customization, but it’s also always authentic; we’ve worked with Robert and his team for years, while last year we forged an incredible relationship with Ke Huy Quan. We’re also in this moment in which men are taking more chances on red carpets, and eyewear becomes another element of that.”
For up and coming brands, meanwhile, one placement can be a game changer. Marina Larroudé launched her eponymous shoe label in 2020, and while the brand didn’t make the top five in the awards season’s overall results, it placed well at the Grammy Awards, thanks to one viral moment: when Blue Ivy Carter appeared onstage alongside her father Jay Z as he received the Dre Global Impact Award, she wore a Vivienne Westwood dress paired with Larroudé’s Dolly boot in white.
“Blue Ivy’s impact at the Grammy Awards in Larroudé was beyond what I imagined,” Marina Larroundé tells THR. “We have dressed major celebrities so far, but the response to Blue Ivy was one of a kind. The social media posts had an engagement of likes, shares and comments we hadn’t experienced before. I’m Brazilian-born, and the country went wild with the news.”
Who wore what when ultimately is not only a red carpet trope; it also has become its own attention economy. “In an ever-changing consumer landscape inundated with new touchpoints and social media players, brand entertainment is taking center stage,” notes Launchmetrics CEO Michael Jaïs. “This has allowed brands to not only reshape their image but also capture new audiences.”
This story first appeared in the March 27 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
