This One Picture Captures Everything Wrong With Hollywood’s Sexist Standards

Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, and Kevin James at the Transylvania 2 photo call. Photo: Getty Images

Selena Gomez recently wore a sexy red ensemble promoting her new movie, Transylvania 2. Designed by Katie Ermilio, the silk two-piece set consisted of a bandeau top and a skirt with a thigh-high slit and oversized bow fastened to the waistline. Her co-stars, Adam Sandler and Kevin James, on the other hand, showed up to the Cancun, Mexico photo call in sweatpants and shorts.

Besides the fact that the 22-year-old seemed to be uneasy flanked by two 40-something men, it appears that her red carpet ensemble left her feeling similarly  uncomfortable. The former Disney star was photographed grasping at the dress’s wide seam, using her arms as skin shields. Perhaps it’s because she’s wildly overdressed, at least in comparison to Sandler and James.

But what if Gomez showed up to the event dressed in the same vein as her male counterparts? Unless the actress wore fancy short shorts that put her long legs on display, the fashion police would most likely ridicule Gomez for her too-casual outfit choice. But the young multi-hyphenate who’s been in the biz for over a decade knows the name of the game: look good, get your picture taken, make a best dressed list, get lots of press, rake in money.

Adam Sandler in burgundy corduroys, orange button-down, and track jacket, with his wife, Jackie, in an LBD. Photo: Getty Images

There’s a double standard in Hollywood fashion, and this photo — men, looking as if they’ve rolled out of bed or come from the gym, with their female co-star putting effort (and hours of it) into her appearance — encapsulates it. Sure, Sandler’s got a reputation for being a slob, often throwing a middle finger up in the face of assumed dressing standards and having an apathetic attitude towards the bright lights big city culture, but that doesn’t discount him from the sexist issue at the heart of it all.

Part of the problem is how individuals devour, and professionals publish, media. Whenever someone wears something — good, bad, or ugly — it’s a headline, tweet, Instagram, Facebook, Vine, or any other. Best and worst dressed lists abound and the fashion industry breeds a culture that not only has readers coming back for more information, but one that also has audiences striving to emulate the ensembles their celebrity idols step out in.

Part of the reason why women put so much effort into cultivating manicured red carpet sartorial personas — like Gomez, for example — is that they get paid to do so. Oftentimes, designers pay celebrities and their stylists. "It’s prevalent across the board,“ Jessica Paster, who dresses Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Sandra Bullock, and Rachel McAdams, among many others, recently revealed on a panel at the Vulture Festival. "Jewelry people are paying, shoe people are paying, tampon companies are paying, everyone is paying!” She added, "It could be just paying the stylist and we get anywhere between $30,000 to $50,0000. Or it’s paying the actress something between $100,000 and $250,000.“

So there’s an obvious perk to the excessive amount of time spent in a makeup chair and in dressing rooms with a personal stylist. But men’s fashion has never been as popular. The annual sales aren’t as large and and endorsements are hard to come by. (Unlike Kylie Jenner, for example, who can promote something as inane as colored hair extensions for the cool price of a Malibu mansion.) Kit Harrington for Jimmy Choo, Eddie Redmayne for Burberry, and David Beckham for H&M are a few examples (oddly, all Brits); but it’s not as if oxfords and tuxedos have the same market impact as a couture gown or a diamond necklace.

This past Awards Season, despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars in hush money women can potentially receive, there was a revolt on the red carpet. Jennifer Aniston, Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett, and others refused to show off their nails for the mani cam. Moore didn’t even tell reporters what designer she was wearing, letting the public relations representatives send out an email with the details instead.

But should fashion, an act of expression for so many, really be so politicized, and publicized, for that matter? Probably not. At the recent Cannes Film Festival, women were turned away from a premiere for not complying with the strict dress code that called for women to wear high heels. “Everyone should wear flats, to be honest. We shouldn’t wear high heels,” Emily Blunt said. “That’s very disappointing, just when you kind of think there are these new waves of equality.” To her point, women should be free to wear whatever they want, when they want, without external pressures that force them to conform to a specific archetype.

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