No wonder the carpet wasn’t red, award show fashion has become beige

Even the Oscars organisers have given up on the red carpet, this year replacing the crimson runway with a strip dubbed Champagne that more closely resembled the dregs of a dubious sparkling wine from California.

Once a highlight of the international fashion calendar, where armchair critics were treated to outrageous and extravagant expressions of ego in sequins, satin and swan suits, the pre-show preening for the Academy Awards has become as predictable as an episode of Is It Cake?

Memorable outfits from Oscars past, such as Celine Dion’s backwards white Dior tuxedo in 1999, worn with a jaunty fedora, Gwyneth Paltrow’s ill-fitting pink Ralph Lauren prom dress, also from 1999 and Nicole Kidman’s mink-trimmed chartreuse silk dress from John Galliano for Christian Dior in 1997, once inspired water cooler conversations, high street knock offs and inventive Halloween costumes.

Cher in a towering Bob Mackie headdress and bare midriff in 1986, designed to grab attention following her nomination snub by the Academy for Mask, and a sheer Mackie when she picked up the statuette for Moonstruck two years later, continues to inspire designers, drag queens and Kardashians.

This year it’s already difficult to recall the details of the polite outfits worn by Jennifer Connelly, Cate Blanchett, Ana de Armas and Ava DuVernay, all decked out in Louis Vuitton, like inoffensive advertisements for the French luxury brand.

The black and white era of cinema returned in tasteful dresses that mostly eschewed technicolour, apart from Salma Hayek in copper sequins and sightings of pale pink Prada dresses.

It’s easy to blame the luxury houses for red carpet fatigue, having latched on to the Academy Awards as the perfect advertising opportunity now that the pages of fashion magazines are receding like a Miu Miu miniskirt. After a quick scan of the Oscars arrivals it looks like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Versace and Armani recruit starlets the moment their names are recognisable enough to appear in a Google alert, offering them access to outfits guaranteed to be fawned over by publications indebted to their advertising dollars.

This makes it harder for contemporary brands such as Area, The Blonds and Dion Lee to get their headline-grabbing attire in front of the event’s dwindling viewing audience. De Armas in a pair of Lee’s motocross-inspired pants, recently worn by former US First Lady Michelle Obama, is more likely to grab free space in your memory bank than another Marilyn Monroe style dress.