This awards season was a significant one for fashion, marketing the first flurry of splashy red carpet moments since September’s big creative reset. From the Grammys to the Oscars, recently appointed creative directors flexed their design chops with straight-off-the-runway and custom looks for the recently minted brand ambassadors and rising stars with whom they’re keen to align as they establish their brands’ evolving aesthetics.
These red carpet appearances offered designers the chance to show the world — not just the fashion community and show attendees — their new direction and make a statement, luxury consultant Robert Burke told Vogue Business ahead of the Oscars. The most important audience here isn’t just those who tune into the ceremonies; Oscars viewership was down 9% to 17.9 million this year. The social media echo that ensues as film and fashion fans dissect talents’ looks, is more significant for brands, which are named, tagged and analyzed on socials, generating millions of dollars worth of engagement.
This season, the Golden Globes had the biggest reach (4 billion), followed by the Oscars (2.2 billion), and the Grammys (2.1 billion), according to WeArisma. The number of users reached, however, doesn’t necessarily correlate with the earned media value (EMV) generated for a brand by a red carpet. The top three events have flipped for 2026: the Grammys generated the highest EMV of $915.7 million, followed by the Oscars ($741.6 million), then the Globes ($636.2 million), per WeArisma. (EMV measures the impact generated by press, influencers, and celebrities, and requires the talent or brand to post or be tagged.)
Throughout the 2026 season, Chanel came out on top, according to Launchmetrics, which calculated top media impact value (MIV) across five of awards season’s biggest ceremonies: the Grammys, the Actor Awards, the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, and, of course, the Oscars. Chanel generated a total of $47.3 million in MIV throughout awards season, including $28.5 million at the Oscars alone for new creative director Matthieu Blazy’s looks on Teyana Taylor, Jessie Buckley, and Nicole Kidman. At the Golden Globes, Chanel generated $12 million in MIV, $7.1 million of which came from Selena Gomez’s custom gown. Rose Byrne, Ayo Edebiri, and Maya Rudolph also wore the brand. Chanel then generated $6.8 million in MIV at the Grammys, with $4.7 million driven by best new artist winner Olivia Dean. (Launchmetrics calculates MIV by assigning monetary value to engagement with social content, taking followers, comments, likes, and shares all into account.)
