The only thing that gagged me more than the movie itself, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was it’s own press tour. I couldn’t help but to exclaim “we are so so back”. One of the first full out red carpets we’ve seen post SAG-AFTRA strike, the girls and I were excited to see a glamorous marketing campaign in the niche of fashion after the long pause. 

Especially since the last press tour right before the break was the ever so successful Barbie campaign, where Margot Robbie made enormous strides in the fashion community, with insane pulls to back her up. 

see here: Every look from Margot Robbie’s Barbie tour wardrobe

For The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, this press tour did not disappoint. I could even create a whole other piece on how together everybody’s styling did an incredible job at not only styling their clients, but creating an environment of looks that not only elevated the actors, but reignited the magic that was seen in the original Hunger Games trilogy through looks that referenced iconic moments from their predecessors. 

come on miss Zegler!

But in the Games — and in the case the game of who was styled best — Ms. Hunter Schafer fought her way to the Victor’s Village in a big way. The press tour run she and her stylist duo Dara Allen embarked on, literally left jaws hanging open for days to come after countless looks kept popping up in the headlines. 

• “Boot, Blob, Cunt”: Hunter Schafer Recaps Her Hunger Games Press Tour Looks
• Thank God We Get a Hunter Schafer Press Tour – Vogue

Schafer and Allen’s dedication to the glamorous magic that can only be displayed through the world of red carpet and press, reminds me of her Euphoria co-star Zendaya’s dedication the craft through her press tours of Dune and the Spiderman: Homecoming Trilogy (and one can only hope the incoming press tour for Challengers as well — wink wink). One can only say we are SOOOOOO back and in a major way. 

Incorporating your character into the looks for promotion of said character, is one of the biggest challenges that has been around for years. But Dara Allen has a taste for the stage that only one could even dream off, and her stylist muse relationship with Hunter is one that only elevates the process. 

The kind of minds that think of having an entire look just to walk into a building from the car are ones that need to be together. And Hunter and Dara do, and together make magic. 

As Dara says in her interview magazine sit down with Hunter herself, the tour was “full Effie Trinket, Capitol couture”. Controversial pieces mixed with classic and iconic, you couldn’t help but be reminded of the fashion seen in the Capitol in the first Hunger Games trilogy. 

Obviously, The Schiaparelli painted dress and the Marni floral dress were the winners of the tour. Can we say camp, slay, fun.

To me though, the stark differences in the camp looks with the muted, but still Tigris level resourceful really stood out to me and I did really appreciate the muted down looks as well. Personally, I’m a bit of a Marigiela girl myself, and I loved that the designs were littered across all of Hunter’s looks. 

Bold looks like this not only elevate the carpet floor, they legitimize the actors and the movie as well. I knew going into that theater that we were in for a good one just based on the attention to detail that was seen just through press. 

Hunter mentions that Dara got her fully out of her shell with this one, and I can only hope that Miss Schafer and Allen can continue to break past the barriers and just make the carpet fun again. A movie doesn’t fully feel like a movie without its press and I think we were so lucky to still be able to experience that and use my excitement for the insane pulls to garner my interest of how Hunter would breathe life into the character of Tigris. 

When I think of Dara and Allen, I see both a future all-star duo in the making, and a stylist that can make major waves. Together, they need to be in the ranks of top styling duos Law Roach and Zendaya, and Erin Walsh and Anne Hathaway, as well as with some of my personal favorites like Jason Bolden and Sabrina Carpenter. 

Looking forward to whatever next movie and press tour they got next, I am bored now that press is done… I need some fashion excitement! 

favorite looks?

The winners for me, personally was the Alexander McQueen for the L.A premiere and the Balmain corset and bicycle type shorts for her Jimmy Fallon appearance.

what do you think? which look is your favorite? is dara in line to become one of the new stylist supremes?