Red Carpet to Reality
Los Angeles designer Eletra Casadei took up the challenge once again to reinterpret some of the gowns seen on the red carpet at the Golden Globe awards—and unveil her creations in three days.
This year, Casadei selected dresses worn by actresses Nicole Kidman, Kim Catrall, Kristin Davis, Anne Hathaway, Catherine Dent and Beyonce Knowles at the awards ceremony on Jan. 19. Casadei unveiled her version of the gowns on KTLA’s “Morning Show” on Jan. 22.
The designer changes each of the dresses to make them a little more salable, a little more wearable off the red carpet. For example, the Yves Saint-Laurent dress worn by Kidman was re-colored in iridescent black taffeta and black silk.
But it was Knowles’ dress that underwent the biggest revision. Casadei re-colored the dress in a rich chocolate brown and reworked it into a two-piece ensemble. The strapless, embroidered corset top works back to a suiting group in Casadei’s namesake contemporary collection.
This is the second year the designer has taken on this quick-turn project for the Golden Globes gowns. She started with an Academy Award–inspired group three years ago and plans to take on the Oscar gowns again this year.
But what started as a fun side project has taken on a life of its own—“even though this is a small part of my collection,” Casadei said.
Retailers are still reordering dresses from her 2002 Oscar-inspired and Golden Globe–inspired collections.
Casadei said the no. 1 reorder is a reinterpretation of the Valentino dress worn by Halle Berry last year at the Golden Globes. The sheer, beaded dress started out in brown but has since been re-colored in ivory with pearls.
“I don’t think they even think of it as that dress,” she said. —Alison A. Nieder
