Oscar 2012/13: Fashion Gallery

Once upon a time, movie stars wore their own clothes to awards ceremonies such as the Oscars.  And why not? They make lots of money and should, therefore, be able to afford a nice frock, a dressy-dress, to wear for an important occasion. Joanne Woodward, much to the consternation of legendary movie queen Joan Crawford, actually made the emerald green dress she wore to the 1957/58 Oscar show when she won Best Actress for The Three Faces of Eve (1957).  Good for her.  The trend now, and for about two decades, is for actresses to “borrow” gowns from designers. I guess most of the participants consider it a pretty good gig as the actresses don’t have to shell out any money, and the designers get tons of free publicity when their names are bandied about all over the place when actresses answer the same question over and over on the runway: “Who are you wearing?”  These red carpet interviews, hours and hours worth, have devolved into nothing more than infomercials for  designers–and jewelers who provide millions of dollars worth of  “loaner” diamonds. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love looking at the fashions, and my friends and I can spend hours talking about them, but I rarely partake of the full red-carpet extravaganza. I really think the whole thing of wealthy women, perhaps not all equally wealthy,  wearing borrowed clothes–that they have to give back the gowns if I understand the procedure correctly–in exchange for bragging about it on live television, is unbecoming.  That noted, I’ll give props to Reese Witherspoon who actually bought the  dress, a vintage Dior,  she wore the night she won Best Actress for 2005’s Walk the Line. As I recall, Witherspoon had previously been led to believe that the dress she wore to that season’s Golden Globe award was exclusive to her only to find out that another actress had already been photographed in the same garment on a prior event.

I don’t know if ALL actresses wear borrowed gowns to awards shows, or whether ALL the men wear borrowed items, but I know many of them do. I also know you will not find a designer’s name anywhere on this blog entry as I throw the spotlight on some of my favorites from this year’s ceremonies–in no particular order except for A+ Jane Fonda. These designers have already had enough free publicity. (On the other hand, I get super-stoked every year when I see the latest batch of reasonably affordable prom dresses that have been “inspired by,” if not ripped-off from, the ceremony’s fashion stand-outs. I prefer the term “interpretation.”) Oh, and I also don’t see the point in criticizing some of the more unfortunate fashion choices. I just want to keep the focus on the women I found glamorous and inspirational.  Though Art Deco metallic looks were definitely the rage,  to me, nobody “popped” quite like Jane Fonda who dazzled in a bold yellow colored gown.

^ Jane Fonda

^ Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts

^ Best Actress nominee Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

^ Octavia Spencer

^ Halle Berry

^ Best Actress nominee Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

First Lady Michelle Obama

^ Salma Hayek

^ Best Actress nominee Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

^ Charlize Theron

^ Best Supporting Actress nominee Helen Hunt (The Sessions)

^ Stacy Kiebler

^ Alicia Vikander

Kiebler was at the Oscars neither as a nominee nor a presenter. Instead, she was on hand as the date of actor/producer George Clooney, one of the recipients of Argo‘s Best Picture award; meanwhile , even though Alicia Vikander is not necessarily a household name, she had the distinction of appearing in two of the year’s Oscar nominated films: Best Costume winner Anna Karenina  and Best Foreign Language Film nominee A Royal Affair (from Denmark).

Fashion question mark Nicole Kidman. I like the dress more than I dislike it, but the bottom of it looks-overworked. Plus, I’m not a fan of the hair. Kidman has definitely looked better than this at the Oscars.

What about you? Who are our picks for the evening’s best dressed?

Thanks for your consideration….