Cate Blanchett: “Just Because Women Dress Sexy Doesn’t Mean We Want to Eff You”
[MUSIC] Cate Blanchett is a fashion risk-taker through and through, daring to wear dresses on the red carpet that would intimidate a less confident actress. The best part, she always pulls them off. Let's take a peek at five of her top looks. First place goes to the skin-tight custom black Atelier Versace gown that she wore to the Costume Designers Guild Awards. Constructed from chain mail with high side slits and a back cutout, this is Is definitely slinkier than her usual fare, but it looks fabulous, especially with that diamond big necklace from Tiffany and Co. Blanchette made made pink look unfathomably cool in Givenchy haute couture at the Golden Globes. She opted for simple accessories, letting the icy color and fun fringe steal the show. Next up, the aqua Giorgio Armani prive gown, embellished with flowers made from feathers and beads at the Academy Awards. Blanchett look like an absolute winner. Blanchett was a picture of old hollywood glamour mixed with modern sensuality in this powder blue floor length gown from Marc Jacobs at the palm springs international film festival awards gala. Leave it to Blanchett to bring an unexpected edginess to the Tony's red Red carpet in a deconstructed Vuitton number. A princess dress this was not, but it left us breathless at the same time. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]
Cate Blanchett knows fashion.
We know this because she’s a red carpet vet who has topped our annual 50 Best Dressed list multiple times. And we know this because on Monday, the actress took home the Style Icon Award at the InStyle Awards 2017.
Dressed in a red striped Givenchy number, the 48-year-old Australian star took the stage to thank designers as major as Nicolas Ghesquière, Claire Waight Keller, Stella McCartney, Sarah Burton, Riccardo Tisci, and Giorgio Armani. She explained that she always considered fashion costume, and didn’t become an actress to hit the red carpet.
“You get to inhabit these extraordinarily…beautifully constructed gowns by geniuses,” she said of her work, moving on to thank Armani, specifically, for dressing her countless times. “I really do have to thank Mr. Armani, who’s a style icon in and of himself and who’s been such a profound mentor for me.”
Gratitude aside, Blanchett continued to make one badass statement about women, and dedicate the award to those who are fearless in their style.
“For me, the true icons of style, and I think there’s a bit of a theme emerging here tonight, it’s that for me it’s always those women who’ve been utterly themselves without apology—whose physical presence and their aesthetic is really integrated in a non self-conscious way,” she said.
“Women who know how they look, it’s not all of who they are but just an extension of that, and it’s about women who feel free to wear what they want when they want and how they want to wear it,” Blanchett.
Of course, the star managed to make one bold statement, and things got a little political, too.
“Women like looking sexy, but it doesn’t mean we want to f— you. No one says to Steve Bannon, ‘you look like a bag of trash. Do you want me to throw you out?’ But the comments that get said about what women wear on the red carpet—I mean. If you troll through those trolls on the Internet, just don’t,” she concluded.
“I just say, ‘bring it on, ladies! Break it wide open. I think you’re all extraordinary.”
Can we get a standing ovation?