This year, a strong movement towards black, white and red, and strapless. The few colored -- other than red -- dresses I remember were Kelly Preston's marvelous gold, Cameron Diaz's blush pink, Calista Flockheart's pale blue and tan, and Jessica Alba's plum (which is so dark it might as well have been black).
For the sake of having someone to disagree with, here are my picks. All these photos are from the oscars.com. There were other wonderful dresses than what I show here (honorable mentions to Katherine Heigl, for one, Laura Linney, Cate Blanchett -- except for her necklace, and Jessica Alba) but I didn't want to copy them all over.
The Best (Grown-up Category)
I find Calista Flockheart a little creepy in person -- not that I've ever met her in person. And while I can't imagine what she and Harrison Ford have together, I have to grant that she isn't 20-something (like George Clooney's inappropriately young date) and she and Ford have been together for a relatively long time (in Hollywood terms).In any case, I luhrve her dress this year. It draped on her body perfectly. Gracious, elegant -- she doesn't look so skeletal anymore.
Helen Mirren always dresses so well! I screwed up on the TiVo (I swear I told it to record an extra hour!) so we missed her giving out the Best Actor award. Which means, this is the only view I have seen of her dress. It looks good here, and I'm sure it was good in motion, too.
Forest Whitaker's wife, whatever her name is, wore perhaps the best white strapless dress. I just love this, even if it looks like a wedding dress.
Renee Zellweger ties for best white strapless. Not mistakeable for a wedding dress, at least at any of the weddings I've attended.
I'd never heard of Amy Ryan before the nominations. She was lovely in this simple black sheath.The Best (Girls)
(Of whom there were only two, and they both are in the category)
Miley Cyrus looked appropriately dolled-up but demure in this dress. I show the back in this photo because the front photos don't show how nicely the color worked on her. And the back is appropriately high, with that cute bow.
15-year-old girls (14?) don't generally wear bright red, but given her star status (Girl-child adores her) and her coloring, I don't mind a bit.
I didn't like the earrings however. Way too big for a girl, even if they were red Swarovski crystals.
And I don't know how old Saoirse Ronan (sp?) is, but I'd guess about 12. She's the up-and-coming young thing, next year's Abigail Breslin who was last year's Anna Paquin. (Okay, I skipped a decade there.) But didn't she look pretty?Ooh, another non-red color. Given all the adult women in white, this is good. She couldn't have gotten away with black or red, not with that coloring.
The French-Can-Get-Away-With-It AwardVanessa Paradis wins this year's award for the best Goth-Vampire-at-the-Awards. (Last year's winner was Eva Green.) I must admit a fondness for this look -- her lips are soooo red! I loved Green's look last year, too.
She's French, so she can get away with it, like Cotillard in her ivory scaled mermaid dress.
If Bjørk had worn this, we'd be hearing about it as much as the swan dress. I don't know -- maybe we will. Personally, I liked the swan more than the fish.
The "I get what they were going for, but I wish they hadn't gotten there" AwardsI'm sure there will be disagreement about the frayed remnants of Nicole Kidman's grandmother's antimacassars that she wore around her neck. Or is it post-modern retro chic, recalling the flapper look of the 1920's? Like Cate Blanchett, she was calling attention to her neck from her belly -- but Blanchett is about 12 months pregnant, and so far as I could tell, Kidman is hardly showing yet.
And why does a golden beauty wear so much silver-white with black? More of the black and white theme this year.
Julie Christie's dress was beautiful (and designed by her own couture house, if I read correctly). Or rather, the bodice and torso looked wonderful on her. I don't know about those gloves (or long sleeves?) and it was knee-length, which just looked too abrupt. I found myself examining her shins for varicose veins.Still, she is a beautiful woman.
I actually really like Diane Lane's brown goddess dress, and it looks wonderful on her and with her coloring. But the brown looks flat against Brolin's black (and all the other tuxes there). Should a consort/spouse dress to accommodate the look of the nominee?
The LoserGetting really catty here, but I take it you can take the girl out of the strip-joint, but not the...? Meeow.
I mean, really! When she walked off the stage, her whole leg showed, and the material was so filmy it blew back and she had to pull it closed (or maybe there are huge fans blowing in from backstage). She doesn't have the excuse of being pregnant.
Okay, the collar was interesting (studded with stones of some kind). And she's a writer, not an actress.
And I gotta say, it was a whole lot more distinctive than any of the other non-actress winners' dresses.
The "I don't care, she's with James McAvoy of the luvly Scottish Accent" Award.
Isn't he pretty? I mean, isn't she lucky? I mean, isn't she pretty? (Whew, I finally got it right.) And it's not a bad dress, and it's not black, white or red.
7 comments:
Let's try this again. Personally, Diablo Cody (the writer that you show) was not the worst. Remember that outfits can do some strange things under those brights lights, and she has the added advantage of being a writer, not an actress. The worst as far as I was concerned was Tilda Swinton (Best Supporting Actress) in a black, one sleeved outfit which did not show off her figure well, which looked horrible with her bright red hair, and which was simply awkward.
Whatever
Mister Cellophane
I found the dresses disappointing this year. Not much variety and not much to laugh at - too tasteful. I pretty much liked everything more or less, even Diablo Cody's dress - at least it wasn't a one-shouldered or strapless or fish-tailed red, black or white/bone/ champagne color
There wasn't one outfit that I thought stood out - like Reese Witherspoon last year, for example.
OK, I wasn't wild about Daniel Day Lewis wife's dress, but she was a spouse and I don't think it's fair to criticize them so harshly. Just as I don't think it's fair to compare Heidi Klum to anyone else because she's a model. And I didn't love her dress anyway.
And Tilda Swenson - I liked that she looked like herself.
You don't mention Anne Hathaway's red dress--I thought that was marvelous. And Helen Mirren's dress is outstanding. But in general the dresses were dull this year.
Tilda Swinton can wear anything she wants. Her pedigree fascinates me. Her family is so old--as in they have lived in a castle in Scotland since the 9th century--that we don't have words to describe it. The Swinton's make the Windsors seem, oh, so 18th century.
I must look up Tilda Swinton again.
Absolute bottom of the pile goes to Diablo Cody. Her dress was ugly, it didn't flatter her at all, nor fit her well. She was uncomfortable in it, as she doggone well should have been. It did not move well. 0 to Diablo.
Tops to Helen Mirren. Her dress was absolutely appropriate, it was -- okay-- unexciting -- but she looked just great in it.
Did you know that about 30 or 40 years ago, Joanne Woodward sewed her own dress for the Oscars? Times have changed!
I must look up Tilda Swinton again.
Absolute bottom of the pile goes to Diablo Cody. Her dress was ugly, it didn't flatter her at all, nor fit her well. She was uncomfortable in it, as she doggone well should have been. It did not move well. 0 to Diablo.
Tops to Helen Mirren. Her dress was absolutely appropriate, it was -- okay-- unexciting -- but she looked just great in it.
Did you know that about 30 or 40 years ago, Joanne Woodward sewed her own dress for the Oscars? Times have changed!
Mister Cell, I think you're in the minority. While I can't say I liked Tilda Swinton's dress, it was dramatic (and I loved the velvety lustre of the fabric) and I loved the contrast of the black against her red hair. So I have something good to say about it, whereas I really have to reach to like anything about Diablo Cody's dress.
I didn't mention Anne Hathaway's dress because I already had a red dress covered (Miley Cyrus) and for no rational reason I don't like Anne Hathaway, so I didn't want to like her dress. To be honest, my first reaction was "That's nice!" but then I started criticizing all the frou-frah on her shoulder. Too many ruffles. But I'll be the first to say my critique has as much to do with having just seen "Becoming Jane" (where she gives a credible performance with a weak script) and general dislike for her roles.
Loved all this feedback on the Oscar outfits. My favorite was Helen Mirren, in her svelt red dress with the clever lacy sleeves and the hip-flattering skirt panels. Cattus, I wish you'd seen Helen's presentation of the Oscar to Daniel Day Lewis, who knelt as though being knighted by the Queen. They both seemd genuinely tickled, left the stage laughing.
I disagree about Julie Christie whom I adore, but who was not well served either by her hair stylist nor by her dress.
Tilda--I'd seen nothing but anguish at her get-up, so I'm glad to see some positive comments. You DO remember her, she had a presence. I'd known nothing of her, must see Michael Clayton.
I must mention John Stewart who functioned elegantly with little preparation time. Got off some good ones--e.g., commenting on the Julie Christie movie about a woman with Alzheimers who doesn't even remember her husband: "Hillary's feel-good movie of the year."
And nobody mentioned Diablo's tatoo, which at least did complement her dress.
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