(Thanks to Kate for the reminder – agh! Busy lately! Been sewing tho, news on that soon). Oscars happened! I watched! I thought the show was way improved this year, even if some of the song & dance numbers were a bit hokey. I loved how intimate the seating was, the set decor (esp. the changes), and the various support/lead actors/actresses coming out and presenting the awards — so even those who didn’t win got the thrill of having their talents highlighted. Side note: whoever that female presenter is at E just completely freaks me out. Please make her go away! And loved that Tim Gunn was one of the preshow presenters — there should have been more of him. And yay! to The Duchess winning for Best Costume (altho that was such a lock).
So what did I love?
Anne Hathaway‘s hair was gorgeous. Loved the dress — the pailettes were stunning, altho until I realized what they were I was wishing the dress had a bigger skirt. But yeah, with the pailettes that would have been overwhelming. I also love her combination of pale skin/dress with dark hair, and she has the perfect lipstick — contrast without being garish.
Evan Rachel Wood — loved the dress – the structural quality and the pleating were just so well done, and went well with the pale color (all that busy-ness with a brighter color could have been bad). I love that she toned down her makeup from that very hard look she wore at the Golden Globes (wait – I had her confused with Anna Paquin! Never mind!). The hair, on the other hand, wasn’t great — the bangs seemed very like what a high school student who hangs out at the mall a lot would do. Weird.
Freida Pinto – stunning color, especially on her. I liked the interesting asymmetrical straps, although I wasn’t 100% convinced about the one sleeve. One sleeve is a tough look to pull off… she did it about 99%.
Kate Winslet. You know I love her. Beautiful cut, interesting color (don’t know if it’s my FAVORITE color in the whole world but it was a great contrast to the colors everyone else is wearing). Love the fabric. Only 90% on the hair, but hey, she’s Kate Winslet, she gets a pass from me.
Marion Cotillard was one of my best dressed. Probably it’s that I’m all into 1960s hair right now and I loved hers, but also I thought the colors and line of the dress were stunning on her.
Marisa Tomei was my other best dressed. I know that you’re not all feeling the love, and I don’t get it. That dress is a WORK OF ART and is SO beautifully made. Can you IMAGINE what it was like to figure out that pleating? And stitch it so perfectly? Wow. I am just in awe.
Miley Cyrus – loved loved loved the dress, don’t know if it’s appropriate for her. Plus she gets on my nerves. She’s so ON and fake-y all the time and I can’t imagine why anyone would like her. And she scrunches up her face when she sings. But the dress? Love!
Penelope Cruz’s dress was vintage 1950s and it showed. The detail on the lace was just amazing. Wow.
Taraji P. Henson – beautiful. Love the color and line, and the deconstructed bits are really interesting without being overpowering. Beautiful on her.
Virgina Madsen – nice color, interesting neckline.
Meryl Streep, in my opinion, looked better than she usually does, so she’s going in this section, although she could easily have gone below… hard call. She never makes an effort, so I’ll take mildly ok and give her a pass.
What did I hate? Well, there wasn’t a lot to hate this year, so I’ll mix in also those I felt meh about.
Sarah Jessica Parker had a relatively nice dress and bad hair. Bad, bad hair. It’s not the 1970s. It’s really not.
Angelina Jolie looked great in her plain black dress (which fit her figure well, color looked good) and green jewelry. And was SO freakin’ unadventurous! Really? Black? That’s it? SO safe and boring.
Beyonce – wow, that’s a lot of look. Part of me gets what she was going for with the mermaid dress and the brocade fabric, but maybe pick ONE element and stick with it, not 40. I would love to see this woman given a style makeunder.
Sophia Loren. Okay, caveat: how cool would it be to be Sophia Loren? To just wear whatever crazy thing you want to because hey, you’re Sophia Loren! I actually was kind of in awe over how much of a thing-unto-herself she was. But I have to say that if you think wearing sheer/spangly sleeves will cover your arm flab, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t, especially when you wave. Not good. Otherwise, she gets a pass from me because hey, she lives in Crazytown!
Heidi Klum has great legs. And a nice sense of color. And a dress that doesn’t fit her AT ALL. I don’t care if it’s the haute-est couture ever. I don’t care if it’s 100% intentional. IT DOESN’T FIT.
Jessica Biel – meh. Nice color on her, like the duchesse satin. Not a big fan of the giant bow. The husband reports that he doesn’t like dresses that are giant blocks, and that don’t fit in the bodice.
Melissa George forgot to wear her dress over her Frederick’s of Hollywood bustier and petticoat. And trust me, you can do a lot better in foundation garments than that particular Joanns-plastic-boning bustier, girl.
What did you think?
I so agree with all you said! Especially with how Kate Winslet always deserves to be adored and admired, Jolie’s choice was so absolutely uninteresting and Miley Cyrus should not be allowed to wear adult woman’s dresses because that’s like… blatant lying.
I hated Heidi Klum’s dress as well. Let me rephrase that: I hate Heidi Klum in general. She does a model casting show on the television over here in Germany, and I swear, she is a robot. No human emotions whatsoever. No pity, no mercy, and lot’s of “If you want to be a supermodel you have to be perfect like myself” – gah. But you gotta admit she’s rich – so why the hell couldn’t she afford a better tailoring? I can’t imagine anybody would do something like that intentionally.
Sorry I agree so much with you – I know it’s boring – but you had it spot on.
Well, since you asked:
http://seekatesew.livejournal.com/19279.html
See, now I get to be contrarian! I pretty much hated the show from start to finish. I was so disappointed in my boyfriend Hugh, too! Who knew a Broadway star couldn’t sing? Oy.
Of your loves, I agreed with about half–liked the color of Frieda Pinto’s dress, thought it looked like it came off the rack from Forever 21. Miley Cyrus? Holy Cats! Never mind that the skirt was a direct rip-off of a classic Dior, take a look at the original to see what the bodice should look like! And that Little Mermaid belt? Kill the stylist. Marisa Tomei’s dress was an architectural wonder, it’s true–but the bodice didn’t fit (no excuse with couture, sorry)and it wore her in a serious way. Hate to say it, but Beyonce would’ve rocked that dress. Hated Penelope Cruz in that color–also, it looked like her mother’s prom dress. And while I agree with you that Merycl Streep looked better than usual, she was still a mess.
Good news, though! All onboard with the hates! Especially Sophia Loren! What was up with that! I adore the woman and she looked like a crazy Italian Miss Havisham, reliving her glory days. 74-year-old boobs, even Sophia’s, should be treated with respect rather than as a side-show. And that Hamil-tan must go!
Yay! Thank you!!
I loved Marisa Tomei’s dress and really don’t get why people keep going on about folded napkins. (Unlike the Diaz disaster of a previous year…) Angelina Jolie SUCH a yawn… Didn’t particularly love Freida Pinto, thought it was a bit old on her. And I think that was the problem with Kate Winslet’s hair – made her look 43 rather than 33 (I’m sure she’s getting younger…). I’d also throw Amy Adams into the “liked it a lot” pile, at the very least.
I saw a quote from Heidi Klum about having to sit on “one butt cheek” all the way there in the car to prevent wrinkles in that dress. Classy…
Heidi Klum – she’s so robotic on Project Runway but I always thought it was a second language issue. Funny to hear she’s that way in German, too.
Amy Adams was fine but I couldn’t get excited about it.
Athene – I still love you, but I stand by my love for the Marisa Tomei dress. Sophia Loren – bwahahah! Yes!
Oh thank you for posting all this, I get the best fun of the thing without the torture of actually sitting through it.
I haven’t watched the Oscars since Shakespeare in Love took all the awards Elizabeth should have had, I was so disgusted and disillusioned. Holy crap that’s, like, 10 years ago!!! Didn’t know I could hold a grudge that long, lol.
But I do still love to see the dresses! Was Bjork there this year?
Sadly, all the women’s hair styles drove me NUTS. Did any of them look in the mirror before leaving their house/hotel room/limo/whathaveyou? Seriously, you just know all the stylists in Hollywood are snickering away this week about the big whammy they pulled at the Oscars.
And next year, I’d like it if Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Gerard Butler, Daniel Craig, and Richard Armitage all co-hosted the Oscars. They wouldn’t have to do anything entertaining – just stand about looking HOT is enough for me 🙂 Oooo, and maybe they could jump into an artificial lake and surface all dampened…
What were we talking about?
Marisa Tomei: Great dress, showed itself off, not her, too gorgeous for her hair and make-up choice.
Miley Cyrus: not a fan of her or the dress, I like the ’49 Dior original (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dior/ho_C.I.53.40.5a-e.htm#).
Hugh: loved him! the point was to be hokey, his whole second number whas about musicals and was produced by Baz, of course it was hokey!
Someone should put the cheap chick in charge of the Oscars for next year!
I agree with the what you didn’t like. Klum’s ill fitting dress as well as Biel’s.
Loved Kate Winslet’s dress it wasn’t the stereotypical color.I thought the bust didn’t look like it fit very well. Love Love Cotillard’s dress looked modern goth to me and I loved it.
I don’t get all the belts on perfectly pretty dresses with ugly belts. I understand that they are trying to emphasize their tiny waists. OK but that maybe just me.
Other wise the show I thought was boring. And the winners predictable.
As I noted–I liked Marisa Tomei’s dress–just not on her and the bodice was badly fitted. I thought the skirt was fantastic, and an actress with more–something–would have done it justice.
And totally agree that Kate Winslet’s hair aged her. She had the same ‘do as Diana Vreeland, who wore it that way until she died at 80-something
And glad that you love me!
Here’s my big Oscar post:
http://drama-wench.livejournal.com/232005.html
And I agree that Marisa Tomei’s dress was certainly a work of art, but I still didn’t like it. It just wasn’t to my taste. But overall my best dressed was without question Viola Davis. I literally gasped out loud when I first saw her dress. Gorgeous! And as for Angelina Jolie, my first thought was boring as well. But then I looked at a close up picture and saw the subtle pleating and fell in love with it. Which makes sense because it was Elie Saab who is one of my favorite designers. And I think I may be the only one who wasn’t in love with Anne Hathaway’s dress. It was pretty, but I didn’t think it was right for her.
I must say I agree with you all the way! Penelope’s withe dress was my favourite but Melissa’s was one of the uggliest dresses I have ever seen (hate mermaid skirts)! Heidi Klum’s dress was also awful, and I think she looks quite awful to, with that unnatural expression on her face, but that’s my opinion. Meryl’s dress was in some way boring and does’nt fit her wery well.
By the way, the 1949´s Dior dress is reproduced as a paper doll outfit by Tom Tierney in a book I own. It’s beautyful, but the bare shoulder bodices are not my cup of tea. In that way I like Miley’s dress bether, but usually originals are best. It’s not wrong to take influences, thogh.