3 months ago
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For actors, newsreaders and visiting international celebrities, walking the Logies red carpet can be a faster path to ridicule than joining 2011 guest Katy Perry for a rocket ride into space.
It’s an annual opportunity for Australia’s armchair critics to pause from yelling at football umpires and home renovators on The Block and channel their inner Anna Wintour. On Sunday evening, expect cries of “Taffeta? For the Logies? Groundbreaking,” to emerge from the depths of recliner chairs around the country.
Margot Robbie, Bec Cartwright Hewitt and Sophie Monk on past Logies red carpets.Credit: Getty Images
People in tracksuit pants with exhausted elastic waists still pour scorn on the asymmetrical ruffled dress worn by Neighbours starlet Margot Robbie in 2009, as though it were a crime against humanity. It’s time to stop.
That dress, inspired by Christian Dior, was made by Queensland designer Rebecca Cobbing, who worked on Robbie’s school formal dress a few years before the Logies.
“If the Met Gala had been two days before, and not two days after, the Logies, it might have been a different story,” says Cobbing, who has put down the sewing needle and moved into hospitality. “It’s interesting how fashion works.”
Former Home & Away actor Bec Hewitt’s motocross get-up from 2003 and Sophie Monk’s beret and tie combination from 2001 are other memorable moments that attract unnecessary derision.
Since 2009, stylists have steered the red carpet to a more widely acceptable view of glamour, fuelled by ballgowns from leading Australian couturiers Velani, J’Aton, Jason Grech and Con Ilio, but younger stars are ready to rewrite the Cinderella story.
“There’s often such a seriousness to it because there’s this one chance to wear that sparkly ball gown,” says stylist Tori Knowles, who this year is dressing Heartbreak High star Ayesha Madon and Home & Away actor Sophea Pennington.
“The Logies can feel over-polished. It’s all about bringing the glam of course, but not forgetting the joy we have in Australia. I like seeing looks that are bold and still fun. You want to see the person’s personality.”
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Knowles’s fresh approach won’t be altered by the mixed reviews of the Versace outfit she dressed Madon in for the 2023 Logies.
“The general audience don’t understand fashion in that sense,” Knowles says. “An outfit with quirky polka dots with ladybugs on it can be challenging when everyone is standing next to her in a ballgown.”
That general audience may be changing, with some spectators ready for a fashion remix. Bring back the ruffled dresses.
“If the Logies weren’t a bit daggy, they would lose some of their magic,” says content creator Elle Savage (not her real name), from the nostalgic Instagram page @Elleissavage. “Everyone feels like they could be there, you’re one trip to David Jones away from the Logies red carpet, rather than seven fittings away from the Met Gala.”
“The magic of the Logies to me has always been the fashion. You have bespoke designer gowns brushing up against Supré dresses, and Lovisa jewellery mingling with Cartier. It’s chaotic, and it feels very Australian.”
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