Fashion Police's Melissa Rivers Thinks Award Shows Red Carpets Are Dead

Melissa Rivers is opening up about how the once must-watch red carpet shows aren’t all that any longer.

The former Fashion Police host chatted with Page Six ahead of the 2021 Golden Globes tonight and said that most of the award shows red carpet events have been dying a slow death, and not just because of the effects of COVID-19.

“I think the red carpet has been on life support for quite a while, sadly,” Melissa said, adding that movements like #MeToo and #AskHerMore are part of why there has been a “big seismic shift” in red carpet coverage.

She did add that asking that question of “Who Are You Wearing” supports the designers, stylists and assistants who keep the fashion industry going.

“Most of you are being paid to wear this, so show me in your contract where it says you don’t have to mention who it is. They deserve the credit,” Melissa says. “You’re a walking billboard!”

Melissa also said that red carpet fashion started to decline the day everything got picture perfect.

“Everybody was being paid by designers to wear their clothes or their jewelry, and you lost a lot of personality. That’s not what it should be about! You want to see that people have actually picked their clothes,” she says.

Now with the pandemic and more events going the virtual route, it will be even more controlled.

“With virtual, you’re not gonna have any mishaps, any malfunctions … Which sadly takes a lot of the fun out of it. [Now,] everybody’s gonna be at home with their wind machines, I suppose, making themselves look great. You might as well be looking at a magazine.”

Melissa goes on, “I would certainly hope with the Globes, and leading up to the Oscars, that they say, ‘You need to dress up.’ If you are not shoved into a pair of Spanx that are a size too small and spend half the night uncomfortable, it’s not an awards show.”

If you didn’t see, check out JustJared’s Top 20 Red Carpet Moments from the Golden Globes here.

Stay tuned for all the 2021 Golden Globes coverage tonight!