The Academy Awards are incoming (as in this Sunday) ! It's been a few weeks since my Golden Globes fashion expose and I thought I should address my successes and failures and also take a look into the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) red carpet dresses.
So the Golden Globes came and went without incident... uh wait I'm forgetting the Ricky Gervais spectacle. I'm all for humor and while I didn't have a chance to watch the broadcast I read some of his barbs, which seemed to hit a sore spot with many in the room. English humor is alot more cutting and direct than that of North America, in the end it's sticks and stones mate.
Anyway, I've chosen some of my favorite and most fashion-adventurous looks from the night arranged from tame/ expected to fashion forward and then to downright daring. I've coded them according to my predictions.
* = Correctly chose this dress
~ = Considered this dress/designer or collection
# = Absolutely dead wrong and did not anticipate
Let us away:
~ Glee darling, Lea Michele typically favors Oscar De La Renta for big awards shows as he's classy, all-American, glamorous and ladylike, all words I'd use to describe Michele's style. Here she scores in a ruffled number from his Spring 2011 collection that wins her style points but keeps her in the 'safe' zone.
~ Michele's Glee co-star Diana Agron opted for a cream column J. Mendel Pre-Fall number that lends her an extreme Old Hollywood glamour. The only downside of this look, she looks alittle washed out.
~ Catherine Zeta Jones is no stranger to dressing for this type of event and she stuns in this evergreen Monique L'huillier gown.
# So I really wanted a splash of sunny color and I got it in the form of Kyra Sedgwick in a glorious clementine Pucci number. I really didn't consider Pucci as I thought it was too sexy for the circuit and am blown away Kyra pulled it off, she makes all the twenty something year olds look embarrassing.
~ Many people blasted Sandra Bullock for looking dowdy and matronly in this Jenny Packham gown and for switching up her haircut. I think she looks amazing and very chic. She looks very Grecian and personally I think she looks alot younger.
~ Argh, I was so close with this one! Anne Hathaway, impending Oscar host chose a Giorgio Armani Couture creation, which was dead on Old Hollywood. I like the padded shoulders and open back, daring and fashion forward. I wonder if it was heavy with all those sequins...
# Ok, who's glad Tom Ford is back in the business of making womenswear? That is a rhetorical question I'm afraid. He said he would only dress one woman at the awards and Annette Benning was the lucky woman who was graced with this gift of a dress. It's not exceptionally awardsy but I just give her points for the cool factor of being dressed by one of the hottest designers of the moment.
# There was a brilliant flood of color at this year's show and I did not see these two Calvin Klein Collection dresses coming. Emma Stone looks amazing in her peach backless gown and Claire Danes rocks a pale pink shift dress. These two work so well because they're minimalist and still the epitome of elegant.
# It was a shocker to me that Leighton Meester would show up to this event and I'm so so so very glad she did. I personally like Meester's style over her co-star, Blake Lively's. Lively is Karl Lagerfeld's current muse which confuses (but I wont get into that here as I'm ruining a chance to gush about this Burberry Prorsum Pre-Fall dress.) I love it as I was not at all considering the Brit brand to make an appearance on the red-carpet. They're very good at making coats... and dresses too. I love her whole look: the pale, simple =, printed dress, nude sandals, statement gold bag and wavy hair. Brilliant!
~ Again, I was close with this one. I chose a white fringed Versace dress over the one January Jones (my new favorite person) wore. I thought the blue dress off the runway was a bit risque, and it is alittle, but Jones makes it look classy and glamorous. Again, we're seeing wavy elegant hair and red lips a la Marilyn Monroe.
~ Someone compared Heidi Klum's outfit to a Halloween costume. How dare you?! It's Marc Jacobs. For reals, his Spring show was one of the best of New York last season and had editors bouncing off the walls waiting to get their hands on it. I think she looks fabulous and took a fashion risk that paid off. You need some variety at these things, or else we're all gonna be bored (or just me.)
# Is this dress apropro for the red carpet? No, probs not. Is it completely awesome and from one of the hottest collections of the Spring shows? Yes. Tilda Swinton took an immense fashion risk in this Jil Sander Oxford shirt-dress and for that I give her major props.
So I didn't chose of the any right ones, but there were some pretty great almost-picks. I scored infinitely better at the SAGs which I ordered in the same fashion from 'tame' to 'what the eff?!' (In a good way).
~ Julia Stiles looks great! Where has she been for the past... well forever really? This Monique L'huillier dress is simple and elegant and she really does well in it.
~ and # Oh Tina Fey, how you surprise me. She's funny, no denying, but she does tend to blunder on the red carpet, but not this time! Courtesy of Oscar De La Renta she makes the red carpet look washed out in this textured gown.
# I'm a huge Gleek and Heather Morris is one of my favorites on the show. It's so refreshing to see her out of the Cheerios uniform and looking like a Greek goddess in this Romona Keveza gown.
# Seriously, she's pregnant and she still manages to make this gown look like something I'd want to wear. Natalie Portman wowed in a ridiculous amount of jewelry and in an Azarro dress. Simple and no nonsense wins her a two thumbs up and a SAG Best Actress too.
* Glory glory hallelujah! I did it! Lea Michele again favored Oscar De La Renta and I'm so glad she did cause I got it right. Sparkly, ladylike, glam... winnner winner.
~ Jenny Packham is generally a great choice for red carpet and Jayma Mays of Glee shows us why. She actually looks like the Nike of Samothrace...
~ I really want to see the film Winter's Bone after Jennifer Lawrence turned up in this Pepto Bismol Oscar De La Renta gown. The black belt and sandals give her an aggression and edge that balances the girly of the dress.
# Pink and fluffy unicorns? Angie Harmon is gorgeous and this dress is pretty fabulous, but not my favorite. I included it because it looks similar to the 'I dare you' Chanel dress from my last red carpet post. Funnily enough this princess gown is from the Monique L'huillier bridal collection. That being said, she still nails it and caused a stir.
* Weeeeee I got another one. Nicole Kidman looks simply marvelous in this black, backless, lace creation by Nina Ricci from her Pre-Fall collection. I'm a fan of dark colors (everything I brought home this week is either black, navy or grey) and while I wouldn't suggest it for the red-carpet she looks wicked, so WIN!
* I blew a gasket when Mila Kunis turned up in this Alexander McQueen gown. I was praying that someone would be smart and play to one of fashion's strongest houses and Mila, genius that she is, did. I can't gush enough. I think you know how much of a McQueen dork/slave/fetishist/fan I am. She wins a fashion-forward award for this choice.
# I know Carolina Herrera is a big red carpet dresser but I was surprised at January Jones for turning up in this dress. While others lambast her for looking matronly I think the complete opposite. The dress hugs her curves and I love the gold lace. Daring, and I think it paid off.
# Louis Vuitton is one of the world's biggest luxury brands but you don't often hear of it on the red carpet. Claire Danes was playing with the big boys on this one and she scores some major fashion points for her custom gown that took some crazy number of hours to create. I especially like the contrast of the flowing gown and the cinched leather belt.
# All these seasoned actresses could not compete with newcomer and FOURTEEN YEAR OLD True Grit actress Hailee Steinfeld who is the most daring in Prada. This collection, which earned universal praise from critics, was the farthest thing I expected to see on the red carpet. Because she is so young, this fun look really does suit her and also dropping the hemline makes it that much better. I was really impressed, how many fourteen year olds get to wear Prada and to the SAGs at that. True winner here, watch her, she's going to be big.
That's all for now, I need to get some actual reading done on Reading Week and I need to get back immersed in some culture while I have London at my disposal. I still want to crash London Fashion Week, though I doubt they'll let me and my hobo clothes anywhere near it.
- Life is good
Listening to: 'So Long Radio' - Orjan Nilsen
Observations: Still jetlagged, but loving being home
Craving: Swimming not to be over
