Monday, February 23, 2015

Oscars Fashion 2015: The Good, The Bad, and The Meh


Last year, I noted that the primary reason a majority of people watch The Oscars (or any awards show, really) is because they're enamored with the fashion. I include myself in this list, really, because I may be an avid fan of television and television awards, but I rarely see movies. And honestly, when I do go to the movie theater and spend $10 of my hard-earned money, I see something like Frozen or Into the Woods or a romantic comedy. I was never a film student and I could never pretend to be -- to understand the nuances of filmmaking, what makes a score or a song particularly important, or why, technically, a film should win Best Picture.

(I leave all of the film critiques to people like Chelsea and Jaime who actually know what they're talking about and can articulate why a movie or an actor deserves to win other than: "It/they was/were really good."

So I watch The Oscars because I'm a typical girl and I like shiny things and I like pretty things. So below, let's talk about the 2015 fashion at The Oscars and name some of my best and worst-dressed (along with those who elicited a "meh") shall we?

* all photos credit to hollywoodlife.com

THE GOOD

Emma Stone in Elie Saab


Okay, so there are a few things you need to know about my taste in fashion: the first is that I love elegant draping. I also love sparkles. I love very feminine designs (I'm a fan of flow, not necessarily structure). And I love Elie Saab. You'll know this if you follow me on Tumblr because I incessantly reblog photosets of his collections. Elie Saab is probably my favorite designer so to see his work on not just one but two of the women in this category was exciting. This Emma Stone look was flawless and classy and timeless. She literally looks like she stepped out of the pages of a 1920s fashion magazine with her loose hair and the elegant beading and draping of the dress. This color was also a fabulous choice with her red hair (it totally would not have worked had her hair been the natural blonde -- it would have washed her out too much). I wouldn't think that it would work because Emma Stone is quite pale, but I absolutely loved everything about this, right down to the matching shoes.

Gorgeous. Perfect. Lovely.

Rosamund Pike in Givenchy


When Rosamund Pike stepped out of her car, I could only see the top of her dress and I was immediately in love. Unlike everything else that she has worn this awards season, this gown highlighted all of Rosamund's best features -- her amazing body and legs, her beautiful face, her posture even -- and to top it off, it was a gorgeous color on her. On E!, they noted that Rosamund stuck to mainly neutral tones throughout the rest of the awards season and I think that her Oscar gown was such a reminder that she's an absolutely beautiful woman who should let the gown feature HER and not blend into it. Everything was flawless and classic about this look. The actual dress itself was gorgeously constructed -- it was truly a piece of art. And the structure of the dress absolutely highlighted Rosamund's body, unlike that horrible Golden Globes gown. I mean, compare the two photos and just look at her posture alone. Rosamund looks so poised and so confident in this dress. I love the minimalist makeup and hair. I love the lack of jewelry and I absolutely love the matching red shoes. This is the best Rosamund looked this entire awards season.

Jennifer Lopez in Elie Saab


Did I mention that I absolutely love Elie Saab? I want him to design my life. Is that too much to ask? When I saw this gown on the carpet, I totally missed hearing who the designer was and immediately tweeted that it looked like an Elie Saab design. Again: I love his work. I love how ethereal his gowns are -- how they seem to float down the carpet, how they're glittery and yet not flashy. How they're sexy without being distasteful. I think that I might have reblogged a photoset that had this particular gown in it because it's absolutely gorgeous and stunning on Jennifer Lopez. I'm not a huge fan of neutral-toned dresses because they can often make an actress look... lost, you know? Or washed out, at the very least.

But J.Lo looked stunning in this gown and it perfectly highlighted her figure. I think what I love most about it though is something that I love about Elie Saab designs: while this dress is low-cut and highlighted Jennifer's assets, it doesn't make her look cheap. It makes her look beautiful.

Anna Faris in Zuhair Murad


Clearly I was a fan of sparkle on the red carpet this year and Anna Faris absolutely glistened in this Zuhair Murad gown. As a related aside, Zuhair Murad is usually one of my other favorite designers. His designs are usually more bold than Elie Saab's -- more dramatic and plunging or with bolder cuts and patterns and colors -- but this gown absolutely worked for Anna Faris. She looked so beautiful and so regal in it. (I'm 99% sure I reblogged this gown on the runway, too). I love everything about it from the length to the color to the belt to her hair and makeup. Absolutely sparkling.

Anna Kendrick in custom Thakoon


Queen Anna Kendrick arrived on the red carpet with this beautiful coral/peach (I think it would be considered coral or peach... what do you all think?) gown that highlighted not just her beautiful figure, but also every other part of her, including her face. I absolutely loved the neckline and the cutout of this dress. The color on Anna Kendrick (contrary to what Khloe Kardashian thinks) was perfect. Like I noted with Emma Stone above, this isn't a color that washes her out even though Anna has a paler skintone. The color actually made her look more radiant than anything, to be honest. I loved Anna's jewelry and I really loved what she chose to do with her hair and makeup (with a gown that has such a pretty neckline, it would have been a real shame to wear her hair down and since she wore it up, I loved that she chose to do her makeup a little more dramatic). She's an extremely gorgeous young woman and I'm glad that this dress had the opportunity to cause her to shine as she deserves.

Margot Robbie in Saint Laurent


Okay, I know what you're thinking: this is extremely out of character for you, Jenn, to place something that is black and has long sleeves onto your best dressed list. But honestly, looking at Margo Robbie and how this entire ensemble photographs... I kind of love it and I never thought I would. For starters, that necklace (which apparently is worth a LOT of money) was absolutely stunning. And the gown shouldn't work for me. Everything about it logically should land it onto my worst-dressed list, but it just fits Margo so well: it drapes in exactly the right places, it's not too loose or too tight, and even the sheer sleeves are kind of awesome. The plunging neckline allows her to highlight the gorgeous statement necklace, since the rest of the ensemble is so minimal. And I love her hair and makeup. She looks so effortlessly chic in this and manages to make something that shouldn't make the red carpet's best-dressed list so stunning and compliment-worthy. I have to give her credit for that.

THE BAD

Kerry Washington in Miu Miu


Can I have a conversation with Kerry Washington's stylist, please? Because she's so stunning and is being put in so many bad things. This is just a really mismatched gown. And it's by Miu Miu which I've recently decided is one of my least favorite designers. The bottom of the gown is such a weird texture that I don't even know what to compare it to. A bad comforter? Your grandmother's chair cover? And the top of the dress is even worse a) because it's mismatched from the bottom and b) because it looks like the texture and pattern of your grandmother's throwpillow. Or like, a really bad prom dress. Plus, I am not a fan of dresses that should be floor-length and are just a tad too short (I can see your shoes, Kerry. I don't want to see your shoes, even though they may be the best part of this outfit.) Everything about this is just sad and neutral. And reminiscent of my nana's house, apparently.

Lady Gaga in custom Alaia


Someone on Twitter said that Lady Gaga looks like she should be cleaning toilets and honestly I don't think that there is anything more that could be said about this. On the plus side, I guess, her performance dress wasn't my favorite thing in the world but it was definitely a step up from the Oscars resident plumber.

Keira Knightley in Valentino


I saw this dress on the runway and I thought it was really interesting. Valentino has this entire series of dresses that have phrases all over them in cursive on the gown (this one is my favorite, I think) but this did not work on Keira Knightley's pregnant figure. At all. Remember how I noted above that sometimes women wear neutrals on the carpet and are washed out by them? This dress is a prime example of that happening. Keira looks so... sad in this gown. Her hair needed to be done up in a high bun or pulled back away from her face because the truth is that when your hair mirrors the shape of your gown, it's a bad look. And the gown itself is gorgeous on the runway model, because the straps fall differently on her than they do on Keira. I kind of think that it would have been better for her to wear the gown I linked above if she had to choose Valentino. I'm sure it was a comfortable dress since it was flowy and not very structured, but this whole look just did not work at all and rather swallowed Keira up into the dress.

Felicity Jones in Alexander McQueen


I... no. No, Felicity Jones. She's a beautiful young woman but the few dresses I've seen from her this awards season are so voluminous that they just overtake her beautiful figure. This dress is a prime example of that. I don't like anything about it, to be frank. The color is another one of those that I noted above that tends to wash people out. The neckline is just awkward. And I don't really like mixing patterns, as you might tell. So the beaded top half of the dress and the satin-y bottom do not work for me at all. I don't even like her earrings, you guys. Or her hair. This was just a big disappointment for me, really.

Sienna Miller in Oscar de la Renta


Can we just not with the bows on this dress? There are three bows and that's two too many, in my opinion. Additionally, Sienna Miller is quite pretty but this dress does her no favors. Her makeup is flawless, though, so that's a positive. I think my problem is that the dress just looks... weirdly mismatched? If my eyes aren't deceiving me, the bows are velvet and really, why? Why? The bottom of the dress could potentially work for her, but it's also weird to me that the pattern on the bottom of the dress kind of ends at the bottom of the skirt. Overall, this just did not seem like a red carpet-worthy dress to me.

Scarlett Johansson in Atelier Versace


Let's be honest, here: ScarJo has an amazing body. And this dress is... something. The color of it is pretty decent but it's really weirdly structured, seam-wise. You can tell near the bust and near her hips, in particular. I'm not exactly sure what the dress was going for, but it makes her look a bit lumpy and I'm not a fan of that. The necklace (someone correct me if I'm wrong because I think it's a necklace and not just part of the dress) is way too much for me. If we're going to give awards for statement necklaces, Cate Blanchett's should be the example that everyone follows. Plus, cascading necklaces like these remind me of the mid-2000s and that just wasn't a fashion forward time in my life. I also am not a fan of Scarlett's hair or her earrings (I'm the kind of person who thinks that if you have a giant statement piece on your neck, you shouldn't wear any earrings period). Overall, not a good look for Scarlett in my opinion.

THE MEH

Zoe Saldana in Versace


I agree with the commentators on E! who noted that Zoe Saldana is extremely gorgeous with an extremely gorgeous body but that this dress didn't land because of the straps. Had it been a strapless gown, I think I would have liked it more but the straps make it look cheap, in my opinion, and remind me of a dress I would see at Homecoming or prom. (I think the draping is also what reminds me of that. And the hair. I'm not a fan of the hair.) It's not bad, per se, but this look of Zoe's is just... meh.

Jessica Chastain in custom Givenchy


I love me some Jessica Chastain on the red carpet for the most part, but this dress could not make it onto the best-dressed list because I'm not a fan of the neckline. That weird, draping-in-order-to-reveal-a-layer-underneath that dresses do -- again -- makes me think of prom and high school gowns. I don't think it's necessarily on trend anymore, which is why I feel so "meh" towards it. The color is stunning, but (much like Zoe above), the combination of the hair and necklace makes this look feel a lot more dated than it is. Look at how tiny Jessica's waist is, though! Geez.

Chrissy Teigen in Zuhair Murad


I am a fan of the vampy make-up, but not at the Oscars and not when you're wearing this gown. 1) The slit is far too high in order to be at an awards show. This is a Grammys dress, not one for the Oscars. 2) That neckline is way too low. On a normal dress? Fine. But since the slit is so high, the neckline needs to be higher otherwise it looks bad. I don't like the vampy lipstick on Chrissy at all. I think it makes her look cheap because in order to do a vampy lip successfully, you shouldn't really be wearing such a light, airy gown. It looks extremely off-balanced. I love her nails and I like her hair but this entire ensemble really doesn't do anything for me.

Naomi Watts in Armani Prive


I had to tweet my fashion guru friend Maggie to ask how we felt about this dress. She disliked it more than I did. I just... don't feel anything toward it, really? It exists. It's there. It's okay. It's not great and it's not horrible, but actually being "meh" towards a dress is probably the worst thing you can be when it comes to the Oscars. Sorry, Naomi. Better luck next time!

So there you have it, folks! What did you think of the fashion at the Oscars last night? Do you agree with my choices? Hit up the comments below and let me know your thoughts. Until then. :)

3 comments:

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