The Oscars' Dress Code Is "A Fusion of Inspiration and Aspirational"

published 26 April 2021

The 93rd Academy Awards airs Sunday, April 25 on ABC at 8 p.m. ET. With the pandemic still going strong, awards season has been a little jarring, but the show must go on. While the Grammys opted for a socially distanced in-person event, the Golden Globes overwhelmingly chose the Zoom route with few honorees attending. The most thrilling moment of the night was a frustrated Daniel Kaluuya, who attempted to give a speech whilst being on mute after winning the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Film. Combine Kaluuya’s misfortune with Jason Sudeikis’ cameo as the most divorced man on the planet during his own acceptance speech for best actor in a comedy series—I mean, he appeared in a tie-dye sweatshirt with bloodshot eyes, poor guy—and it’s not like this awards season has been without small pleasures.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for their part, have decided to move forward with an in-person event and red carpet with limited attendees, guests, and presenters. According to an email sent by the Oscars producers to the Academy, there will not be “an option to Zoom into the show,” USA Today reported.

There is also a ban on casual wear, ostensibly to avoid a Sudeikis Situation. The producers have set the dress code as “a fusion of Inspiration and Aspirational,” which means “formal is totally cool if you want to go there, but casual is really not,” the producers said in the email.

How can I watch the Oscars?

The Oscars will air Sunday, April 25 at 8pm ET on ABC from the Dolby Theater in Hollywood and Los Angeles’ Union Station. The red carpet will be broadcast at 6:30pm ET. You can also watch the ceremony from ABC’s website and the ABC app with your cable login.

If you’re a cordcutter, you can stream the ceremony from YouTube TV, Sling TV, Hulu Live TV, Fubu or however you stream live TV. Not to worry if you don’t have a subscription to any of these services or don’t want to pay–they all offer a free trial, so long as you remember to cancel before the trial period ends, you won’t be charged.

Will the Oscars be virtual or in-person?

The Oscars will be in-person, albeit in smaller, socially distanced, numbers. Director Steven Soderbergh and collaborator Stacey Sher will produce the show, together with the visionary behind this pandemic’s Grammys and Super Bowl Halftime Show, Jesse Collins. The trio recently spoke with Vanity Fair and discussed their desire to create a cinematic awards show. “The most exciting thing about this show is that it is going to feel like a film, in the sense that, at the end, we hope it’ll feel like you watched a movie,” said Soderbergh.

“Everybody will be a character: Every nominee, every person that gives an award, will feel like characters in a film. And in the end, you’ll know who everybody was and what they wanted. You’ll have a connection to everyone in this show. What we want to do is have this three-hour movie in which some awards are given out.” Apparently, even the graphics will “have a very cinematic aspect to them, so we’re going to have this opening that we think is going to be….”

Although the producer didn’t spill the beans about the graphics, they did say that there will be European outposts for nominees who are unable to travel due to the pandemic–although that doesn’t accommodate Korean nominee Youn Yuh-Jung, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Minari and may have to zoom in from Korea when she wins the award she deserves (she didn’t win yet, I just think she’ll be robbed if she doesn’t).

For live musical performances, the team hasn’t yet publicly announced their plans. Questlove is set to oversee the musical acts and has even written original music for the trailer. There will be no host.

Where can I watch the Best Picture Nominees?

Most of the best picture nominees are available to rent or stream on various platforms.

The Father –Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu
Judas and the Black Messiah – In theaters only.
Mank – Netflix
Minari – Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube
Nomadland – Hulu
Promising Young Woman – Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu, and YouTube
Sound of Metal – Amazon Prime Video
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Netflix

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Zoe Guy is the digital fellow at Marie Claire, where she covers pop culture, hot celebrity gossip, movies and TV. She’s obsessed with Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of The Age of Innocence, anything written by Jesmyn Ward and stan Twitter.