Within two minutes of speaking with Laura Karpman over Zoom, I am completely enamoured.
Speaking from her home in Los Angeles, the award-winning conductor wore a large pair of statement glasses, with an additional pair sitting on her head (a signature look for Karpman), as well as a bold red lip, layers of gold necklaces, and a silk pajamas-style shirt.
Every few minutes, she would jump up from her chair to show me another treasured item from her dressing room; gold coin necklaces that once belonged to her mother, a pair of white JW Anderson rain boots, thrift store steals, Chanel charms, and a series of $25 patent belts.
While her aesthetic can only be described as glittering chaos, her manner is as articulate as it is affecting. Everything she speaks about - whether it be her family, her advocacy, or her latest fashion find - is spoken with passion.
Although she has enjoyed a long-standing career as a composer, working on everything from Disney video games to Marvel movies, it was her recent walk down the Academy Awards' red carpet that earned her attention from around the globe.
Nominated for her work on American Fiction, the 65-year-old attended the prestigious event sporting two bedazzled pairs of glasses, a glitterball suit from Dries van Noten, and a sequinned Cadbury tote bag filled with chocolates that she threw to press and photographers.
For Karpman, a queer woman who has spent her life advocating for the visibility of women in male dominated spaces, it was a moment of rapture.
"There are a lot of things to say about this, and what's interesting is that nobody has asked me about any of it. All of the outfits and clothes were very much by design and were very conceptual in the building of them. Do you want me to tell you about it?"
According to the composer, the road to the Oscars is both long and intensive, but ultimately comes down to two crowning events: the nominee's luncheon and the Academy Awards.
"First and foremost, my goal was celebration," she explains. "American Fiction is a small film, we were up against Oppenheimer - and bless all of them, but that's a massive film with three hours of music. It was David and Goliath, and I was aware the entire time that it was a long shot, but I wanted to celebrate because I had worked so hard and I never expected this to happen to me."
Although she was correct in her prediction that composer Ludwig Göransson would take home the award for his work on Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, the Emmy winner decided to make the most of her time in the spotlight.
A heady mixture of politics and pizzazz, Karpman decided to forgo hiring a stylist, and planned every stitch of her award season wardrobe herself.
For the nominee's luncheon, she chose a palette of brown and gold tones, taking inspiration from actress Laura Dern, who once attended the event dressed in a way that made her "literally look like an Oscar".
As for the ceremony itself, she made the cognisant choice to wear silver: "Even though I hoped I would win, of course, knowing that I probably would not, I wanted to come in a strong second."
Comfort and ease was also a focus, she adds: "I think that's kind of what allowed me to be joyous. Both outfits were pajamas based, right? The were both kind of robes and pajamas, and here's the real kicker...
"I thought very hard about taking that stage in a strong way, and using the bathrobe as a really strong statement and taking that away from Harvey Weinstein."
Weinstein, a disgraced Hollywood producer who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for rape and sexual assault* in 2023, was known to have arrived at 'meetings' with women in the industry while wearing a bathrobe.
According to an article in Vanity Fair, titled How 2017 Killed the Bathrobe, writer Kenzie Bryant says: "In a number of the accounts, it was when Weinstein appeared in or changed into a robe that the women felt the situation went from feeling 'off' to crossing a hard line."
For Karpman, wearing items of comfort at the esteemed event was a "reclaiming of the bathrobe for female empowerment and excellence in spite of the hurdles that we face to get there."
To bring a splash of colour and fun to the meticulous look, the California woman carried a purple sequinned Cadbury's bag from designer Anya Hindmarch.
"The idea is to take what's common and elevate it to luxury", she said, speaking of Hindmarch's designs. "It's like an Andy Warhol and I love that about it."
Having attended the Oscars in the past, and knowing that rows of journalists and seat warmers would be standing along the red carpet, she saw an opportunity for fun: "I just wanted to throw chocolates and make it a big party."
"That was the idea: to be in refined gold for the nominee's lunch and acknowledge the fact that, at that moment, everyone is on an equal playing field that is really beautiful. And then, for the Oscars, just go party and come in a strong second."
Reflecting on her love for maximalist dressing, the composer says that her confidence in dressing loudly solidified over award's season but was inspired by her late mother - an artist and designer who had "a lot of opinions".
"After she passed, it took me a minute to start to wear her stuff and see what fit me and what didn't, and start to push the envelope a little bit," she says.
Family, it seems, is an essential part of Karpman's make up - something she now shares with her wife and their young son.
"My wife, Nora, wore a beautiful tuxedo to the Oscars, and it was my father's tuxedo that she had totally rebuilt for her body. There's a beautiful story there. Not only about bringing both of my parents with us, but also about Nora, who likes to dress in men's clothing - or what was traditionally men's clothing - to be able to wear these clothes and have a high end tailor fit it to her body."
"We women put up with things not fitting us, men don't," she continues. "We had the clothes modified to fit our bodies beautifully, and I think that's something that we as women need to start demanding. We need to make this part of our dressing process."
A trailblazer across the board, Karpman was the first woman to be elected to the music branch of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors, and is the founder of the Alliance of Women Film Composers.
"More is more" has become something of a motto for her, she says.
"I love anything that has play in it - with the music and the fashion, I'm all about layers and I'm all about maximalism. It's about making the biggest shine, making the biggest statement, and commanding that space both musically and sartorially."
"Clothes are a wonderful expression," she adds, "they're not nothing."
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