What did we learn about fashion from the celeb style-setters at the Oscars this year? Bold blues and breezy yellows are definitely in, as is big bling on the earlobes and digits but not always around the neck, and soft, flowing romantic fashions in silk, tulle and chiffon ruled the red carpet.
Oh yeah, and never, ever, loan the same dress to two big-name stars or even the most deified designer name can get the celebrity cold shoulder: after the Reese Witherspoon–Kirsten Dunst debacle at the Golden Globes, the venerable clothier Chanel failed to adorn a single A-list star at the Academy Awards after some 34 consecutive years on the red carpet there. Here’s a primer on Hollywood.com’s favorite fashion statements—and few stammers—running the gamut from A (as in Amy Adams) to Z (Ziyi Zhang):
Hollywood.com’s Couture Champion: Call us both proud and prejudiced, but Keira Knightley, our previous Golden Globes pick for the most fabulously frocked famous face, also earned our top honors as the best dressed woman at the Academy Awards, a distinction we’re positive will make up for not snagging an Oscar. “This is the first one I tried on,” Keira said of her asymmetrical Vera Wang wonder. “I had about ten dresses and tried this one on and said ‘Oh—all right!’” She paired it with Bulgari’s yellow gold necklace and earrings with cabochon emeralds, rubies and brilliant cut diamonds for the Shah of Persia in the 1960s. How’d she wear all that bank-breaking bling without breaking a sweat? “I think it’s very important a girl doesn’t know how many carats she’s wearing. They said ‘Do you want to know?’ and I said ‘No, I’m fine.’”
[PAGEBREAK]A new high for J-Lo: Jennifer Lopez’s bias cut gown in laurel silk chiffon was designed by Rita Watnick for Lily et Cie, paired with a platinum-and-diamond bracelet also from the designer. “This is my own dress,” she said. “I found it, I loved it.” The look earned her our silver medal for Oscar fashion, though she could have cut back on the bronzer.
Her last film may not have been Oscar bait, but Nicole Kidman was nevertheless bewitching in an embroidered ivory Balenciaga sheath with pooled hemline and Fred Leighton’s rose-cut diamond earrings and complementary bracelets worth over $850,000.
[PAGEBREAK]“I found it in a vintage store in Paris, and it’s mine–I’m so happy about that,” said Reese Witherspoon of her original, un-borrowed, beautifully beaded, tulle-necked Christian Dior dazzler—created in 1955 it was 21 years older than the star herself, and just as timeless.
“I worked with wonderful people, and they helped me find this wonderful dress, and they helped repair it and bring it back to its original condition. And it really only had one original owner…I feel very lucky to be able to wear this dress. It’s very special to me, from the moment I saw it. It had a lot of love in it.” She kept those legally blonde locks aloft with a $45,000 hairpin.
[PAGEBREAK]She wasn’t up for an Oscar but Jessica Alba was going for the gold in this liquid amber halter top Versace gown with a pooled peek-a-boo hemline, and rocked the frock up with assorted H. Stern yellow diamonds and Erica Courtney’s gold rimmed teardrop earrings. She swapped that sweeping train for a chic white Yves St. Laurent cocktail dress at the Vanity Fair party.
Jennifer Aniston was back in her signature black, giving it a silvery sparkle with the heavily iced two-tiered 1930s Bulgari necklace (with a total diamond weight of approximately 194 carats) dangling above the tulle neckline of her dramatically trained Rochas gown.
[PAGEBREAK]Whoa, mama! Jennifer Garner’s new alias may be “Mommy” to baby Violet, but she looked anything but matronly in her white, empire-waisted Michael Kors dress with a stunning array of Swarovski crystals and sterling silver flowers.
Geisha rocks off! Ziyi Zhang was utterly memoir-able in Giorgio Armani: the top is a black scalloped seashell-shaped lace bustier with jet beading, worn with a full grey crinoline skirt encrusted with Swarovski crystals in a constellation beading pattern. As if the skirt wasn’t glittery enough, she had Chopard’s emerald cut white diamond pendant on a black lace ribbon around her neck, paired with princess cut white diamond drop earrings, a marquise-cut white diamond bracelet and an emerald cut white diamond ring.
[PAGEBREAK]Amy Adams made the Academy Awards A-list for fashion in a yummy chocolate brown Carolina Herrera ball gown and a pair of dynamic pale blue diamond danglers from Herrera’s own personal collection that left our eyes junebuggin’ out. “I’m just in love with it,” said the star.
Some fashion wags disapproved, but we went ape over Naomi Watts in her creamy Givency gown with a romantic tulle details and a floral flourish–a former fashion mag editor, she went for true haute couture. “It gives me a waistline and I don’t have one,” the corseted star told Hollywood.com. “It’s not good for sitting. It’s for standing. I like it because it was classic and had a modern edge.” She accented the look with a blast of David Yurman’s rose quartz-and-diamond earrings and a rose quartz ring made especially for her.
[PAGEBREAK]It was all about the rocks–and the rack–for Salma Hayek, who paired a va-va-voom Versace with earrings and rings worth over $4.3 million.
Hollywood.com’s Couture Couple Award: “I think this is my best red carpet look so far,” Jada Pinkett Smith thought of her strapless electric blue Cavalli gown and Jimmy Choos, and we had to agree. She shined it up with platinum, diamond, sapphire and amethyst rings, earrings, brooch and chains by Neil Lane, but hubby Will Smith proved to be her most sparkling accessory in his David August ensemble. “This is the first time it’s ever happened,” said Will, who usually relies on Jada to pick his red carpet clothes, “but she matched me this time.”
[PAGEBREAK]Going for Brokeback, Michelle Williams was in full sunflower in her chiffon Vera Wang with pooled hemline and art deco diamond Fred Leighton choker, though we admit that crimson lipstick had us seeing red.
The Academy’s already honored Hilary Swank’s impressive body of work, and her sweetheart-style black strapless Versace honored her impressive body. Since her Chopard jewelry brought her such good luck last year, she decided to wear the same delicate cushion cut diamond earrings, paired these with a heart-shaped white diamond tennis bracelet set in white gold, and a cushion cut white diamond ring set in a white gold and micro pave band. Finally, the recently separated star’s wedding ring offered a glimmer of hope.
[PAGEBREAK]“My friend Narciso Rodriguez made me three dresses and I chose one this morning,” said Rachel Weisz, an elegant earth mother in her chicly simple empire-waisted black silk frock with a tulle neckline, and we agree he’s a friend indeed. Her Chopard emerald-cut diamond demi-drop earrings had round white diamond studs, and her magnificent two-piece rose cut diamond ring with 2.71 carat diamond centers was surrounded by 19 rose cut diamonds.
Uma Thurman didn’t just kill Bill—she slayed everyone with her gauzy shell-pink lame Versace with pooled hemline and Fred Leighton jewels.
[PAGEBREAK]Hollywood.com’s Suited for Style Award: He didn’t have to pimp for our best dressed man honors: in a handsome Dolce & Gabbana tux with a classy white rosebud on his lapel, Terrence Howard came up smelling sweet.
Jamie Foxx showed he knows how to funk up formalwear with his Oswald Boateng suit and electric blue shirt, and gives the men equal time in bling-age with Chopard’s Extravaganza watch in white gold, with over 6 carats of white and brown diamonds on a brown crocodile band.
[PAGEBREAK]Here we go again: George Clooney trotted out his Giorgio Armani two-button tuxedo with satin lapels and a classic white spread collar evening shirt and black satin bow tie once more time–presumably after a dry cleaning. What can we say? He, like the Academy, can pick a winner.
Brokeback’s Jake Gyllenhaal was every inch the heartbreaker in a handmade Ralph Lauren tuxedo, a sexy swath of stubble and a tie undone–symbolizing his film’s Best Picture hopes?—for the afterparties.
Sure, Jack Nicholson’s Giorgio Armani one-button peak lapel tuxedo with a spread collar evening shirt and a black bowtie was just as classic as the man himself, but it was the signature shades—he was literally looking at the world through rose-colored glasses—that also made the look as one-of-a-kind as he is.
[PAGEBREAK]Frocks that Flopped
Hollywood.com’s Fit-to-Be-Tied Top Flop: It was time for Charlize Theron to re-gift when it came to her stiff satin forest-green, hand-painted gown with that impossibly big bow by John Galliano for Christian Dior. “It came two days ago and he just can’t disappoint me,” said the usually spot-on Theron, who definitely disappointed her fashion fans. We get that she was trying something bold, but the problem with taking fashion risks at the Oscars is that sometimes they fail…and Charlize will be reminded of that failure for decades to come with each year’s “Oscar’s All-Time Worst Fashions” lists. P.S: 1968 called, and it wants Barbarella’s hair back.
“Tim picked it,” Helena Bonham Carter told Hollywood.com, and that’s all we needed to know to explain Mrs. Burton’s off-kilter Vivienne Westwood ensemble–or as we like to call it, The Nightmare Before Oscars. But the director’s corpse bride cared little that her dress was D.O.A.: “I love all that stuff because it’s all wonky and slightly eccentric, and I don’t like or have that conservative taste, I guess.” Ya think?
[PAGEBREAK]Robert Bahar’s Pepto fiasco had us wanting to say “Goodbye, Dolly!” even as Dolly Parton sashayed onto the red carpet. What works in Dollywood ain’t quite right for Hollywood, and neither $2 million in expensive Fred Leighton jewels nor “about four cans of cheap glitter” could save this one. We realize the designer has to deal with Parton‘s pneumatic proportions, but we wonder who’s the real boob here?
[PAGEBREAK]For weeks we’ve heard Felicity Huffman’s excited mantra “I’m going to the Oscars,” and then she goes and dresses for the Grammys. “It’s a movie star dress,” she believed of her silky steel grey Zac Posen with plunging neckline and sheer panels, which she paired $1.9 million worth of Martin Katz platinum and diamond jewels. Nope, not even a TV star dress.
[PAGEBREAK]Sandra Bullock’s sheer black chiffon detail gown by Angel Sanchez was about as exciting as, oh, Miss Congeniality 2. Dennis Hopper didn’t need to stash an explosive in one of the skirt’s unnecessary pockets as Sandy sped down Hollywood Boulevard with Keanu Reeves– it bombed all on its own.
[PAGEBREAK]Ace After-Oscar Couture
Hollywood.com’s Afterparty Crush—Red, Not Blue: Popping like a cherry bombshell in Calvin Klein at the Vanity Fair bash, Kate Bosworth was our pick for the best dressed off Oscar’s red carpet. Forget Clark Kent—she’s the one who’s super, man.
[PAGEBREAK]Looking leggy and ooh-la-la in a luscious lavender Cavalli creation, Sin City’s Brittany Murphy had us saying “Jessica who?” at Vanity Fair’s arrivals line.
Ice, ice, baby: Heidi Klum’s ice blue silk chiffon halter gown with crystal spray by Michael Kors was hardly frosty—she raised temperatures at Vanity Fair.
[PAGEBREAK]Wrapped in an exquisitely sexy J.Mendel gown, there was no way Jennifer Esposito could Crash and burn among the fashionistas at Morton’s.
Teri Hatcher didn’t need to be Desperate for attention at Morton’s, thanks to her chic black linen gabardine cocktail dress with heart shaped neckline, draped in back, by Alber Elbaz for Lanvin.
[PAGEBREAK]No one beats Madonna at reinventing herself, but one ingredient remains consistent: her love of Versace. And as her satiny periwinkle party dress proved at Vanity Fair, Versace loves her back.
[PAGEBREAK]Hollywood.com’s She-Should’ve-Stayed-Home Dishonors: So many parties, so many bad gowns. Elton John’s bash at first seemed to corner the market, with Paris Hilton’s peacock-plumed disaster (worn without irony), usually trustworthy Sharon Stone’s light socket-induced ‘do capping an unusually unflattering frock, and Pamela Anderson’s almost-dress that bared so much over-inflated boobage we wish she would wear fur. But we had to turn to Vanity Fair’s party for the biggest sartorial disappointment: Sienna Miller, one of our favorite style-setters of the moment, made a rare misstep by wearing, apparently, a picnic tablecloth printed with one of those psychedelic designs favored by acid-tripping Deadheads. We would’ve had to call her publicist across the Pond to get the designer’s name, but we decided to spare ourselves the expense—and the offending fashion house the embarrassment—since one word would suffice: Ugh.
