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Anthony & his Red Carpet by Alex Arreola
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Saturday, March 11, 2023
The Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of 🎥
I feel there is no substitute for going out to the movies. There is nothing like it.
Steven Spielberg
I've been covering the Oscar's, and uncovering the Oscar nominee's for over a decade now. Although my interest in the show, and award shows in general, has waned over the years, I still love visually celebrating the Academy Awards.
Even though my interest in the show has diminished, I still get excited during the week that they air. Even on the year's I didn't watch, I was sure to follow on Twitter and catch the highlights on-line. My love the Oscar's goes back to when I was a kid and used to beg my parents to let me stay up and watch until the end. Usually they said no, and for many years I was only able to watch the first hour or so.
When I got old enough to actually watch the show until the end, like so many, I made it an event. I planned my snacks, my drinks, and even decorated a few times. Although I have attended Oscar's parties, I never actually had one myself. I did have friends come over to join me to watch, but I actually think I enjoy watching alone.
Like most, my love of the Oscar's is connected to my love of the movies. I used to love going to the movies, starting with parents, then with my older brother, with friends, on dates, and I've even gone a few times by myself. I've had so many monumental moments while sitting in the dark in a movie theatre.
There are so many defining moments confirming who I was as a person, especially many scenes and movies that cemented and confirmed by sexuality. I can't even count times I tried to hide an erection, or my excitement over seeing scenes of male skin on the big screen. Many of these moments occurred when I was on a date with a girl, and I was always worried the redness on my face, or all the shuffling I was doing in my seat, wasn't giving anything away.
I've celebrated so many of those memorable scenes on the site over the years, and love stripping down the careers of nominee's. I also love featuring 'movie' related shoots, including this one featuring Alex and Kince from Jim from Studio1x. Jim shot these exclusively for FH back in 2001, (HERE:) and there were so many great shots, I went back into the folder to choose some extra shots to use this year.
Check out this year's nominee's in the nude
Brendan Fraser: Return Engagement
'I’m still not done proving myself yet. And to do that, I need bigger and greater challenges.'
According to much of the press, this is actor Brendan Fraser's year of 'The Comeback'. Except for the similarly named television show, which I loved, I'm not really a big fan of the term. In showbusiness, it's usually used to describe an actor who's stopped working or disappeared from our movie and television screens. That's certainly not Brendan Fraser.
Fraser has worked steadily since he began working in the early 1990's. His acting resume in fact, includes acting roles in every year. The only year he wasn't visible on film or tv was 2005, but he did do some voice work that year, including a stint voicing characters on King of the Hill.
What changed for Fraser was his level of fame. He hit big in 1992 with School Ties, and was one of the 'it' actors working in big budget films, as well as lower budget films, with some of the industries biggest starts. Movies like School Ties, Encino Man, With Honors, The Mummy and George of Jungle kept Fraser on the cover of magazines, and on the Hollywood 'it' list.
By the late 2000's, The Mummy franchise ended and Fraser continued to work in movies, and more so in television. Even in the last few years, Fraser had regular roles on HBO's The Affair and in DC's Doom Patrol. Neither role however, pushed up back up the fame ladder like his role in his Oscar nominated role in The Whale. This year's Oscar themed posts seemed the perfect time to look back on Fraser's career, his skin career that is, with a spotlight in my latest Actors & SKIN. Check out Brendan's bare bio HERE: & HERE:
John Mar Photo: Memorable
Billy Crystal
One of the things Academy Award watchers look for is those incredible memorable moments and visuals. Even decades later, whenever the Oscar's are written about, someone mentions Robert Opel, the man who streaked behind David Niven at the 1974 awards. Also brought up is Sacheen Littlefeather, the woman actor Marlon Brando chose to publicly decline the best actor Oscar he received for The Godfather. Instead, he asked her to take the opportunity to call out Hollywood's mistreatment of Indigenous people
Even as recently as last year, the awards had a few memorable and viral moments. Emotional moments like actor Troy Kotsur's win for Coda, and more infamous moments like the slap heard round the world. When it comes to photography, the goal is very much the same, creating visuals and moments the viewers will not soon forget. That's exactly what happened last December when I featured photographer John Mar and his work with model Dawn Tang.
The piece, (Ornamental) began as a simple Christmas piece. I'd seen some holiday shots on John's Instagram page, and contacted him about featuring them on the site. When John sent on the images, I was so visually struck by the unique fashion and jewelry John utilized in the shoot. Sure, Dawn was draped in holiday glass balls, but also flowers, unique fashion and the most visually stunning pair of body chains.
I thought of those body chains often, and wanted to feature more of John's images with the erotically unique body accessory. When I was thinking about my Academy Award posts for this year, I kept going back to those images, and those body chains. Over the years, the Oscar's have become almost as much about fashion and jewelry, as they are about the awards themselves. I kept thinking of how stunning and glamourous those body chains were, and how incredible they look on the red carpet.
John liked the idea, but encouraged me to get in contact with photographer and designer Alex Arreola. It was Alex, under his brand Coco Arreola, who created and designed the pieces that Dawn had worn in John's images.
John had met Alex after both artists were invited to participate in a photography project. After working side by side for a couple of months, their creative working relationship developed into a friendship. John shared that Alex had many more photographs of his designs and thought he might be up for participating in the theme. Thankfully he was, and you check out some of my favorites shots in the post below.
Alex Arreola: Chain Reaction
Andy
Dillon
Willi G (next two shots)
Lukas (Last 3 shots)
Where can viewers see more or buy a body chain for themselves?
'Who are you wearing?'
Joan Rivers
Believe it or not, it was actually comedian Joan Rivers who was the first person credited with the iconic line when asking actors on the Red Carpet who they were wearing. According to CBS news, it started when Joan was hosting a red carpet special back in 1991. Since then, celebrities have walked the same carpet and been asked the exact same question by countless reporters and hosts.
I questioned this fact, because I assumed the red carpet was around a lot longer than it actually has been. The actual awards, began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, president of the Hollywood Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, conceived the idea of awarding prizes annually to the most outstanding films, directors and actors
The carpet did not make an appearance at the Academy Awards until 1961 and the reason was much more practical than just showcasing fashion. The carpet was laid as a sort of road map for those attending, guiding celebrities and guests from their arrival, into the event room.
But just three years later, in 1964, when the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences realized that the public and TV audience might also be interested to see the display of dresses, tuxedos, jewelry and hairstyles on the celebrities attending. The carpet was then extended and the arrivals were made more of a press event.
The first actual red carpet special to air on television didn't occur until 1979. It was then that television host Regis Philbin officially began the very first red carpet pre-show. This event however, was actually produced by KABC-TV, the ABC O&O station in Los Angeles, and was not broadcast anywhere but in the Los Angeles area.
The red carpet show has since taken on a life of it's own, with many tuning into to see who's wearing what, with many turning off the TV when the actual award show begins. Each year, the focus is mainly on the women, but since this is FH, I thought the men also needed their time in the spotlight. The Oscars are a celebration of Hollywood and all the glitz and glamour we conjure up when we think of tinsel town.
It was this glamour and beauty that first drew me to the designs of artist Alex Arreola. In addition to their beauty, the body chains from Coco Arreola are also incredibly hot. For the Oscars, most women coordinate their jewelry with their gown, but for these exquisite pieces, it's all about how they synchronize with skin.
Although the men on the red carpet, (this year it's going to be champagne) usually stick to wearing tuxedoes, there are a few fashion forward celebrities who I can visualize in one of Coco's creations. Can you imagine her reaction if Joan Rivers looked up to see Billy Porter, Shawn Mendes or better yet Timothée Chalamet walking towards here wearing a silver g string, and a body chain by Coco Arreola.
Which came first, photography, fashion and Jewelry design?
Fashion came first, as a child I dreamt of this but never followed through with that dream. In 2014 my circumstances changed and I decided to test the waters. I went back to school for fashion. I started making chains and when trying to set up shoots either the photographer would cancel or the model would. So I said fuck it, I'll do it myself and bought a camera. I doing shoots for my products I realized I was pretty good at it and I loved the whole process of putting a shoot together. Now I do both and more
Do you have a specific name for your body chains?
The brand is Coco Arreola, but each chain has their own name.
When did you create your first piece?
2015 or 2016
Jason (next 2 shots)
How have the designs changed over the years?
I started with very easy to make designs as a way to learn the craft. Now I create very difficult pieces such as the corset. Recently I started incorporating jewels into the design. We'll see where they go from there.
Do you have a favorite piece?
I think my favorite piece is Pride, it's also the hardest one to make. The neck is very time consuming.
Where is the most interesting place you know your designs have been worn?
The GayVN Awards, the Cyber Socket Awards, I actually went to the Cyber Socket Awards wearing my chains and Chi Chi Larue loved them that she asked for one and I took it off and put it on her. She wore it while hosting the show. I wasn't able to attend the GayVn Awards but I was tagged in so many pics from porn stars wearing my products on the red carpet I was so surprised.
What's the most memorable reaction or comment that someone made about one of your designs? Honestly, anyone that says something nice about my work is so memorable to me. I went to go meet Colton Haynes and wanted to take him a chain. As you know I'm quite busy so i didn't make one until just hours before and of course I had to make the Pride chain. Got it done in like an hour and was out the door. He loved it and was so surprised on the time it took to make it. I was too lol. He wore it all night.
You can shop the whole collection at my site HERE:
If you could choose one actor to wear your designs on the red carpet, who would it be?
Oh God, any celebrity would be amazing. But of course I would love Tom Holland to rock em.
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