How stars spend a month getting ready for Oscars' red carpet

Like prom for movie stars, the Academy Awards is Hollywood's most glamorous night. It's also the most photographed celebrity event of the year, its starry images beamed instantly around the world and endlessly reproduced in fashion magazines.

That's why it takes about a month and a team of specialists to get an A-list actress red-carpet ready - and the resulting photos can propel a thousand brands.

"The Oscars is the most visible (awards show) worldwide, so when someone wears a dress from a designer, it's like a massive ad campaign for them," said Hollywood stylist Tara Swennen, whose clients include Kristen Stewart and Julie Bowen. "It really is worth it."

And it's not just the dress. Because every aspect of a star's body is inspected and perfected for the Oscars, her camera-ready look is a living endorsement of countless products and companies.

BODY

Because the look generally begins with the outfit, preparations often start with the body. Most stars borrow designer gowns, which are only available in "sample size," somewhere between 2 and 4, Swennen said: "If you don't want to pay for it, you have to fit into it."

Hence the scramble to slim down. Enter fitness and nutrition specialists, who say they need about four weeks to achieve optimum results.

Enrollment in meal-delivery services spikes during awards season, said Danielle DuBoise, co-founder of Sakara, which delivers ready-to-eat, organic vegetarian meals to such clients as Chrissy Teigen and Gwyneth Paltrow. The company's four-week program is designed to yield the plant-based diet's maximum beauty benefits: a leaner shape, vibrant skin and hair and the energy to power through the busy season, DuBoise said.

Exercise is a must for shapely arms and a fit physique, added Vanessa Packer, whose ModelFit studios in New York and Los Angeles are known for keeping stars like Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss toned and tiny. Four weeks of regular classes will get a celebrity red-carpet ready, slimming the hips and waist and sculpting shoulders, legs and bottom, Packer said, "and it all leads back to glowing skin."

SKIN

Stars also need about a month of lead time if Botox or fillers are part of their beauty plan, said Dr. Behrooz Torkian, a facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California. Those treatments need three to four weeks "to kick in and properly settle," he said: Botox takes about a week to relax wrinkles; fillers work immediately but can cause swelling or bruising for a week or two after.

Torkian estimates that "probably 60 or 70 per cent" of men and women rely on injections to perfect their red-carpet look, adding, "I think that 100 per cent of them would be in the category of doing something, at least some kind of skin treatment."

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