Gazette Journalist Rebecca Skilton cuts through the glitz and glamour of the Brownlow Medal, revealing the truth behind the AFL’s night of nights.
The 2017 Brownlow was my fifth.
Yet no matter how many times I set foot on that red carpet, no matter how many times I witness another player announced the league’s best and fairest, the night continuously leaves me in a state of shock.
My feelings have nothing to do with the sportsmen in the room, their beautiful wives or partners or the celebrities and politicians that attend the night as guests.
Instead my irritation is continuously spurred by the general public and the viciousness that so many deem acceptable.
I will be the first to admit the Brownlow is an overrated night. Yet I have always attended for the same reason that many of the other women in the room attend – to support their loved ones which, in my case, was my grandfather who is a past player of the South Melbourne Football Club.
Yet for many of those women, myself included, supporting and accompanying their date and loved one is more than often belittled and publicly blasted.
What many people may not realise is that the guests of the Brownlow watch Channel 7’s red carpet arrivals as the program is broadcast.
It’s no secret that the program shows a minuscule amount of the evening’s arrivals – they wouldn’t have enough time to dedicate half the program to their hosts otherwise – but those who are shown have more than often been dressed by a designer, promoted throughout the week leading up to the evening, and had a stylist to guide them through their outfit choices.
They’re not just WAGs, they’re the elite of WAGs.
But the problem with this is that it has created the perception that every woman on the carpet is the same.
It is thought that we have all been professionally dressed and had our wardrobe picked out for us – that we all have the same standing and style opportunities as the Rebecca Judds of the Brownlow world.
But the reality is that we do not and that becomes painstakingly obvious as we sit in Crown’s Palladium watching the red carpet.
Every single year I have looked around that room and asked myself ‘why wasn’t that woman shown on TV? Her dress is spectacular, she looks stunning’.
And more than often those are the women who have picked and financed every single aspect of their outfits themselves.
While you sit in that room among friends you can almost forget that outside the media and tabloids are running amok with the images and footage they’ve been able to get their hands on.
And it’s not until the next day that your Brownlow night can turn from being an event to remember to one you would rather forget.
2015 was the first year I dressed for myself. I wore a gown that resembled who I was at the time, with an elaborate hairstyle and a darker lipstick that none of my friends would have been surprised to see me in. I picked every item I wore myself.
And for that I got slammed in the media and by the general public.
The perceptions of those who do not know me – and are willing to comment on something as superficial as my appearance – means little to me, but for those who do not have thick skin, the hurtful words tossed around can do a phenomenal amount of damage.
When someone berates an outfit, especially at an event like the Brownlow, the majority of the time they are not attacking the work of a designer, they aren’t belittling the make-up artist or the hairdresser.
Instead, they are criticising the individual choices and character of the woman who chose that outfit because she loved it.
This is the same woman who is not a model. A woman who may not be an elite WAG. A woman who has a career outside of standing next to her partner who was lucky enough to participate in a sport that we deem godly. A woman who is so much more than the dress she is wearing.
Social media is littered with more articles on the red carpet than Dustin Martin’s Brownlow Medal win.
A quick search reveals the headlines ‘who nailed it, who failed it’ as well as ‘the best and worst dressed’.
Comments on the AFL’s Facebook site reveal posts such as: “Whoever is dressing these ladies? What the hell were you thinking!!! These dresses are gawd awful. The worst I’ve ever seen. The girls at our local high school wore nicer dresses to the school ball!” and “Disgusting outfit in all respects,” as well as “I don’t want to be rude but this dress is shocking in all levels”.
For most of the women in attendance the Brownlow is a one off. They will look at the photos online and they will see the comments posted.
This year I escaped unharmed but that doesn’t make this issue hurt any less.
The critics don’t understand that these are people I have come to call both friends and acquaintances and are so much more than the outfits they wore to accompany and support their date.
There is not one thing that is achieved from voicing a negative opinion on an individual who is no different to yourself.
You, too, wake up in the morning and select your outfit, make-up and hairstyle because you liked it, because you felt it looked good.
But the difference? No-one berated you for your choices.
So the next time you’re scrolling through red carpet photos just remember that the people standing there did not get dressed for you.
They got dressed for themselves.
