On Sunday, January 7th, Hollywood’s elite came out for the annual Golden Globes Award Ceremony. Typically a celebration of cinema and accomplishments within the industry, this year’s Golden Globes brought attention to a different subject.

   Even the fashion was less “golden.”

   In order to show support of the #MeToo and #Time’s Up movements, celebrities put aside differences (fashion senses included) and wore all black ensembles.

   The Time’s Up movement was created to raise awareness for sexual harassment and assault. According to POPSUGAR, three hundred celebrities banded together to create the movement.

   #MeToo, a movement encouraging women to stand together and show solidarity, started in 2006. Tarana Burke, a female activist, was the first to speak out, but the movement became popular in 2017 when Alyssa Milano using it to support her friend, who was allegedly harassed by Harvey Weinstein.

   Fashion has a voice and when it wants to, it will scream. It has been used as a form of peaceful protest since 1941, when the Academy Awards were set to take place during World War II. Stars came together to wear muted colors and use minimal fabric to show support of the war. At the 2017 Academy Awards, stars adorned a small blue ribbon to raise awareness for the ACLU.

   Stylistically, the stars were able to show more of their individual styles and creativity, since they were all in a uniform color.

   “Everyone looks good in black,” said Maanasi Natarajan ’19.

   Taking it one step farther, people walking the carpet, like Emma Watson, took activists as their dates. Watson took Marai Larasi, who is the director of a feminist organization in the UK that deals with stopping violence against black, minority ethnic, and refugee women.

   Another celeb who decided to be daring and take an activist as their date was Amy Poehler. She had Saru Jayaraman by her side, who is a workplace justice advocate.

   However, not everyone followed the preset trend. Barbara Meier was one of the celebs that did not wear black on the carpet.

   She said that although she supports the movement, they will not get the point across by wearing all black. The women walking the carpet should show off their individuality by wearing what makes them feel confident and sexy.

  Let’s be honest: when watching any award show, people at home tend to watch for the fashion or anticipation of whether their favorite movie will win, rather than to show support of a campaign.

  Many people argue that the idea behind the movement needs attention, but it is being abused. Instead of using it to raise awareness for sexual harassment, it is being turned into a scapegoat for people who made a mistake or regret certain actions.

    Reese Witherspoon, who is a strong supporter of the movements, united the actresses by using social media as an outlet to promote her pledge to wear all black at the Globes.

   She even encouraged the people who would be watching the Globes at home to get involved and wear all black. Again utilizing social media, she told people the send in pictures of themselves watching at home and wearing all black.

   “It just became clear that with all of the news that’s been coming out that it couldn’t just be business as normal. We wanted to stand up and do something for all people to say time’s up on discrimination, harassment and abuse in the workplace,” said Witherspoon to Harpers Bizarre magazine.

   With the messages behind their dates and dresses set aside, some of the best dressed on the red carpet were Lily James (Valentino), Nicole Kidman (Givenchy Couture) and Millie Bobby Brown (Calvin Klein). Their dresses were simplistic yet playful as they all incorporated ruffles to lighten the more serious mood of the carpet.

   Raising awareness for any cause will lead to critics, praise, and controversy. Its success depends on how the people raising awareness relay the message to the public and if they are willing to, much like fashion, make it their own.