The number one tip for getting ready on the red carpet?” asks Cassandra Huysentruyt Grey, founder of LA beauty boutique Violet Grey: “Give yourself extra time to get comfortable in your look. You’re thrown into this high-pressure environment and if you don’t feel comfortable it will show in your body language and all over your face.”
There’s something inordinately stressful about preparing for formal occasions, even if it’s just the annual office shindig. So imagine the extra pressure stars face at the Golden Globes, next week’s Baftas, and the Oscars, when the imaginative detail that looked so good when rehearsed with the hairdresser has the potential to morph into a “red carpet fail”?
“Beauty on the red carpet is unique,” adds Grey, who has an insight into its challenges. Married to Paramount Pictures chairman and chief executive, Brad Grey, she has sat through countless speeches and walked innumerable red carpets. “The lighting is pretty bad,” she says, “and even the most confident woman suddenly finds herself in the uncomfortable position of being in what is essentially a petting zoo. Beauty — whether it’s lips or hair — can be an aide to get in character.”