From token tributes to gowns without haute ideas, the Emmys night showed fashion bending under the burden of global anxieties 

There is really no happy place in the world at the moment and fashion seems to be responding with a sigh. The 77th edition of Emmy Awards held in Los Angeles on September 14, were proof and witness. That fashion is not immune to global warming, its fires, floods, shifting temperatures and landslides. There are Ukraine’s mounting losses and the tragedies of Gaza that has turned 2025 into a year that will be remembered for genocide and death by starvation. Befuddling geopolitics is ripping apart old diplomatic ties across the world; and then there is reckless gun violence in the US. 

The global red carpet’s fatigued glamour has been its own statement in the last few years. The Met Gala, on the other hand, tries so very hard in paradoxical aggression with over-styled appearances that fall off the cliff for other reasons. But there comes, as we now know, a moment, in the life of fashion when it hits a plateau. When even fashion finds it hard to pick itself up and get on with leading its high-pressure job of looking fabulous come rain or shine. It wasn’t happening at the 2025 Emmys at least. It was raining dullness in attire. World weariness was the only thing shining through gowns and tuxedos, braids and coat tails. 

If you were to go by the formulaic math of the red carpet, that spectators and critics learn to cotton on, over time, all elements of the formula were there. There was fashion as protest—Javier Bardem wore a keffiyeh and made a “Free Palestine” statement on the red carpet. Emmy-winner Hannah Einbinder, Aimee Lou Wall and some others wore #ArtistsForCeasefire pins. Megan Stalter arrived in a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt carrying a bag that said Cease Fire. There were the customary homages too. This time, deservedly, to the “King” of red-carpet fashion—Giorgio Armani, with Cate Blanchett, Calista Flockhart, Molly Gordon and Keri Russell wearing Armani Privè. There were the “Very Reds”—most notably Selena Gomez in Louis Vuitton and Sydney Sweeney in a red, strapless flowy Oscar de la Renta. There were women with muscles (not just metaphorically)—Catherine Zeta-Jones and Katherine LaNasa—the philosophically cool, unflappable emergency room manager from The Pitt, would totally qualify. There were baubles, plaits, suits and smiles. But nothing could really cut the duh vibe. 

On the other hand, there was so much going on in the name of heedless, careless, dispirited clothes, thrown together without the right kind of stylists or makeup and hair wizards, that it cast a fatigue, certainly on the spectators. Charlotte Le Bon in her steely Courrèges gown—more steel buttons turned inside out—looked like she wanted to drive everyone miles away from her. Justine Lupe’s silver and hardware Carolina Herrera looked equally unwelcoming and cold. Gwendoline Christie wore an ivory suit—more suited to a New York restaurant dinner than a red carpet. Abby Eliott could have just gone to the park in her floral, dance with the ducks, diaphanous sweet-cute dress, while Sarah Paulson with her brown-feathered gown needs a lesson in not imaging endangered birds. 

We feel rather let down by Colman Domingo in a bespoke Valentino suit, with funny-looking silver motifs like dangling earrings stuck on on his grey silk jacket which was paired with a silken silver scarf, its tassels too long and blingy. If anyone knew how to wear bling and be bejewelled, it was Jenna Ortega in Givenchy. 

Let’s close with the best move and the best Armani, shall we? Derek Hough, the judge from Dancing with The Stars broke into an elegant dance move on the red carpet. Who cares what he wore, right? Whereas Cate Blanchett’s Armani Privè velvet jumpsuit reminded us of Mr Giorgio Armani’s extraordinary coolth as a fashion creator, now lost forever to the haute stars of the mortal world.