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At the Met Gala carpet on Monday night, the answers to “Who are you wearing?” included Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, and Prada. At least one could have also been OxiClean, the laundry brand famous for its corny Y2K infomercials.
That’s according to a press release from the company, which told journalists that makeup artist Jen Tioseco relied on the brand’s $6 stain pen to ensure she could “work instantly to remove a tough stain” from actor Camila Mendes, in case any mascara or blush smeared onto her Manish Malhotra couture gown.
This year’s Met Gala isn’t the first time “huh?” items are getting a branded callout tied to a celebrity event—“Jeannie Mai sips ARMRA Colostrum while getting glam” read a post-Golden Globes press release—but it seemed to peak on Monday. Designer Alexander Wang launched his new energy drink called Real:ly while standing next to his date, Irina Shayk, on the carpet. (Tagline they didn’t use but should have: “Wait, really?”) Tweezerman blasted out a news release about Emma Chamberlain’s nail artist Tom Bachik using its $8 nail clippers during her pre-Met manicure; the red carpet queen was also styled with a $200 La Bonne Brosse hairbrush.
Meanwhile, Nicole Kidman apparently required two separate Denman brushes to handle her butt-length extensions. Misty Copeland wore Cakes boob tape; Tate McRae prepped her hands in $7 “collagen gloves” (imagine fingerless mittens made of tinfoil) from Voesh Pro. Gabrielle Union and Eileen Gu had their hair scented by Parfums de Marly and Tyla’s was spritzed with Initio Parfums Privé. (Union and her husband also “opted to sip on a THC-infused beverage” from Cann while getting ready.) Paige Bueckers’ blonde was said to be courtesy of Madison Reed’s demi-permanent dye in UConnic Blonde. And if you thought Sarah Pidgeon, Ayo Edebiri, and Daisy Edgar-Jones looked particularly lymphatically drained on Monday night, well that was thanks to an LED gua sha from ORA Method. Welcome to the final-boss level of the red carpet economy, where attention equals value and anything that can surf a social media wave becomes a coveted asset.
I say final-boss level because there have certainly been levels of sponsorship that preceded it. Makeup brands like Chanel and Maybelline and Dior and L’Oreal Paris have long sponsored makeup artists for their red carpet work; ditto hair brands, from Garnier to Dyson. Red carpet beauty is all about the visual of the hair and makeup so that made sense, we could accept it. Those press releases never made us cock our heads and scrunch our brows (as much as beauty editors can).
Welcome to the final-boss level of the red carpet economy.
The curious case of red-carpet rando brands comes into focus when you look at the new squeeze on working makeup artists, especially those in Hollywood and New York. “After the Oscars and the Golden Globes, the Met Gala has the most potential to lock down a five-figure night for us,” says an A-list makeup artist who spoke on the condition of anonymity. (“I don’t want to be dumped by my clients and broke,” she texted me, which: fair.) A single makeup sponsorship used to bring in between $5,000 and $20,000 for gala and after-party looks, she said, depending on how much social media was required and whether the talent was a major movie star like Zendaya or a TV newbie like Rachel Sennott.
As the economy has flip-flopped and TikTok Shop has become a more dominant source of sales than celebrities, “those contracts might not be as lucrative” as they were pre-COVID, says the glam squad member. At the same time, movie studios that once spent big bucks on red-carpet stars have restructured their promotional budgets for all but the biggest flicks. (Think: The Devil Wears Prada 2, Wicked, Barbie.) Thanks to social media, even those mega-stars—and their beauty and fashion teams—are now required by movie studios to produce new looks for dozens of “spontaneous” moments. Skilled beauty artisans and fashion stylists are currently being paid less to do more work. They deserve funding that matches their talent and time.
Enter the stain pens and nail clippers and nutritional supplements and LED gua shas. These items help boost the bottom lines of artists and their agents, and sometimes even the talent themselves, depending on the agreement. “The deals generally go through the glam teams, but many times talent is also paid for cross-promotion,” an anonymous beauty publicist confirms. “There’s also a scenario wheretalent teams will ask the brand to pay for the beauty services in exchange for the access [to their celebrity client].” Cases like Paige Bueckers’ hair dye or Alexander Wang’s energy drink are a somewhat different corner of this phenomenon—Bueckers has a standing contract with Madison Reed, and Wang is the founder of this beverage brand (which my editor said must be a spoof but does in fact appear to be real).
We understand how capitalism works and have nothing against hard-working glam teams getting extra cash, but this does make the getting-ready ritual seem goofy at best and desperate at worst. Beauty consumers aren’t dumb; they know that Hailey Bieber flashes Rhode blush because it’s fantastic (really, it is)—and she also owns the company. They understand that if someone shouts out an energy drink on the red carpet, it’s not just because they’re hyped on fizzy ginseng. As for the hair perfumes… we can’t smell them through group chat screenshots. We have no idea. The emperor has no scented ponytail.
Still, this new wave of red-carpet randomness seems to be here for a long time, not a good time. Personal care brands love a stunt, and red carpets are like that scene in Finding Nemo where the little fish hitch a ride on the big turtles—every label wants to attach itself to a celebrity’s extended aura, which now includes glam squads that can be nearly as famous as the stars themselves. (Remember when Charlotte Tilbury was merely “Kate Moss’s makeup artist”? Now she has nearly seven times the model’s Instagram followers.) So when the Tony Awards roll around in June, it’s a good bet someone—please let it be Jane Krakowski—will carry a Judith Leiber clutch shaped like a thermos and sponsored by Throat Coat tea.
Can we be mad? Not really. In fact, it’s nice to know our favorite behind-the-scenes crews are finding new ways to stay solvent in uncertain times—and that, if we ever bump into their coffee cup in an elevator, they’ll have a stain pen on hand.
