The fashion business behind the Oscars

The Academy Awards celebrate the best of film but at the same time is of great importance on the fashion calendar. Actresses and Hollywood starlets choose the best of couture and ready-to-wear gowns and behind the scenes the Oscars is a huge

business to both designers and high street alike.

An iconic gown is enduring, featured in magazine editorials and television, discussed on the entertainment shows, and industriously copied by high street chains to make the glamour accessible to consumers.

Hollywood stylist Rachel Zoe, who is paid by celebrities to style them for special events, interviews and outings, says: "The challenge is doing something new and interesting, something someone hasn't done before, something you haven't seen a million times before. You have to find that combination of accessibility and being fashion forward. And of course, it's the Oscars, so you have to be glamorous."

Zoe, who this week dressed Oscar winner Anne Hathaway in her pale pink Prada gown, added: "Your client has to be happy and feel beautiful. There are so many people scrutinizing the red carpet that it's about having fun and playing with something original, something couture, something interesting, but also giving people what they want: a glamorous Hollywood moment."

But dressing celebrities for the carpet is an enormous business. When a well-known celebrity wears a particular designer to a major event like the Oscars, the payoff is immense for the brand involved. And designers are savvy, hiring public relations firms to inundate media outlets with minute-by-minute announcements of who wore what on Oscar night.

But sometimes things go awry. Valentino this week sent an announcement to the press that Anne Hathaway was to wear his creation on the red carpet. Ms Hathaway changed her mind, it seems, and at the last minute wore a Prada gown instead. The reason: her stylist Rachel Zoe also dresses actress Rachel Adams who wore a similar type dress and she didn't want to look too similar.

Images: Oscars 2013