Tonight, on the Golden Globes red carpet, all eyes were on one star – Lily Collins. She is gorgeous and currently wearing one of the best red carpet looks of all time, in my opinion, but she is so much more than just that.
She is nominated for Best Actress for her role as Marla Mabrey in “Rules Don’t Apply,” but people are more focused on her princess-esque Zuhair Murad Couture gown than they are on the movie that got her nominated. However, when you type “Andrew Garfield” and “Casey Affleck” – who are both nominated for Best Actor – into Google, the Golden Globes are mentioned in the top five search results. I can barely find a picture of what they’re wearing, let alone whole search pages of articles dedicated to an outfit.
I wish all the actors and actresses the best of luck for all the hard work and time they’ve put into these movies, but here’s the harsh reality: if Andrew Garfield wins Best Actor for his role in “Hacksaw Ridge,” people will want to talk about how fantastic his acting was; it wouldn’t matter if he’d shown up in a trash bag, his achievements and award would be the focal point of any interview or article. On the other end, if Lily Collins were to win Best Actress, the focus would still be on the dress. She could win every award being given out tonight, but who cares because, the red lipstick she’s sporting is bang on-trend!
This shallow perception of a woman’s value is not just a problem tonight – this is a universal problem. 93 of the FTSE 100 CEOs are male, whereas every single one of the 20 highest-paid models in the world are female. We value men for their skills and intelligence, we see a woman’s body and rarely get past that. As Blythe Baird so rightfully said, “Give me one achievement of Mary’s that didn’t involve her vagina.” This misrepresentation of women must end now.
But, why? David Beckham, Alan Sugar and Steve Jobs – highly successful businessmen and athletes – are among the most popular role models for boys, whereas in the XX pond, idols such as Sylvia Plath, Amy Winehouse and Effy Stonem – people and characters who abused drugs, watched their lives fall apart and committed suicide – are much more common, because God forbid a women be famous for anything other than vulnerability (outside of her handbag choices).
We allow girls to grow up feeling worthless because they haven’t got the type of silhouette that (society says) people are supposed to fall in love with. Ask yourself why girls feel pretty in a dress, but powerful in a suit. Why are our non-physical qualities invaluable to society when we model ourselves off men? Our accomplishments must amount to more than the amount of likes we get on Facebook.
Lily Collins is an actress and model. She studied broadcast journalism at the University of Southern California; she wrote for Elle Girl, Seventeen and Teen Vogue. She has appeared in 12 films in the last 8 years. She is an anti-bullying advocate and a fantastic activist for Bystander Revolution. Lily Collins has achieved so much in just 27 years and it angers me that all this can be overlooked because she walks down a strip of red carpet looking “hot.”
Lily, I apologize on behalf of the rest of the world. You are so much more than the sum of your physical parts. Magical dress or no magical dress, you deserve to be recognized for your acting and other great works. I hope your talents and achievements will one day be valued by the media in higher stead than your impeccable fashion sense. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world – you’re a real star on the screen.
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