Red Carpet Sponsorships Have Gone Off the Rails

On Monday night’s Met Gala carpet, we found the answer to the question, “Who are you wearing?” Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Prada, etc. At least one of them may have been OxiClean, a laundry brand known for its antiquated products. Y2K infomercial.

This is what the makeup artist told reporters, according to the company’s press release. Jen Tioseco In case there’s mascara or blush on Manish Malhotra’s haute couture dress, actor Camila Mendes relies on the brand’s $6 stain pen to “remove tough stains in no time.”

This year’s Met Gala isn’t the first time I’ve been thinking, “Huh?” The post-Golden Globe press release, which featured a brand callback to the celebrity event, “Jeannie Mai drinks ARMRA colostrum while feeling glamorous,” appears to have reached its peak on Monday. Designer Alexander Wang stood next to his date Irina Shayk on the carpet to launch his new energy drink, Real:ly. (They didn’t, but they should have used a tagline like, “Wait, ReallyThe Tweezers published a big news release saying that Emma Chamberlain’s manicurist, Tom Bachik, used $8 nail clippers during her manicure in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and that the red carpet queen also styled her hair with a $200 La Bonne Bros. hairbrush.

Meanwhile, Nicole Kidman apparently required two separate Denman brushes to handle her butt-length extensions. Misty Copeland wore Cakes’ boob tape. Tate McRae For her hands, she stocked Voesh Pro’s $7 “collagen gloves” (think fingerless mittens made of aluminum foil). Gabrielle Union and Eileen Gu’s hair was scented with Parfum de Marly, while Tyra’s hair was sprinkled with Initio Parfum Prive. (Union and her husband also “chose to drink THC-infused beverages” from Cann while getting ready.) Paige Backers’ blonde is said to have been created courtesy of Madison Reed’s Collegiate Conic Blonde semi-permanent dye. And if Sarah Pidgeon, Ayo Edebiri, and Daisy Edgar-Jones looked particularly drained on Monday night, it was thanks to ORA Method’s LED gua sha. Welcome to the final boss level of red carpet economics. There, anything that equates to attention and can survive the waves of social media becomes a coveted asset.

I say last boss level because there was certainly a sponsorship level before that. Makeup brands like Chanel, Maybelline, Dior and L’Oréal Paris have long sponsored makeup artists for red carpet work. The same goes for hair brands from Garnier to Dyson. Red carpet beauty is all about the visuals of hair and makeup, so that makes sense, and we could live with that. These press releases didn’t make us scratch our heads or raise an eyebrow (as much as our beauty editors did).