Oscars

Well, this year's Academy Awards was a little different. I Loved the set, it was absolutely stunning, I liked the actor category presentations (best presentation- Robert De Niro on Sean Penn). Hugh Jackman was a great host, funny, charming, infinitely talented he reminded me that he is meant for the stage but is too good looking to be kept away from film. I liked the way the show unfolded- they actually explained the importance of each set of categories: it starts with an idea (writing), moves into production (cinematography, costume), gets put together (editing, sound)....you get the idea. It just had a flow and intimacy this year, so eventhough it lasted 3 hours and change it didn't feel as long as normal.

Best speech: Mr Kato who won for best animated short "I am berry happy...domo arigato mr. robato." So cute and so much love. Honorable mention to Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn for their Equal Rights shout outs.

Now, on to the fashion! I have to sat that Ryan Seacrest is the WORST red carpet host. He barely asked anyone who/what they were wearing. The whole point of the red carpet is to purvey all the beautiful (and sometimes hideous) celebrity fashion choices. The actual red carpet pre-show hosted by Tim Gunn was so much better.

Best dressed:

Marisa Tomei in Versace. She never normally impresses me with her choice of clothing but this was STUNNING. The intricate pleating and the silver-white colour give this dress sculptural sophistication. Make up was on point and the hair is perfectly tussled. Understated accessories round out this spectacular outfit.

The Men:

Always underrepresented in any award show fashion discussion (except for Mickey Rourke- his dog pendent was pretty adorable).

Daniel Craig is always slick especially in this single button tux. Love the shawl lapel and the sheen in contrast to the matte jacket (is it a dark, deep midnight blue or is it black?) the pocket square is what kicks this emsemble up into the stratosphere. A modern take on traditional black tie wear.

Robert Downey Jr. This year he has been to so many award shows and his experience pays off yet again. Gorgeous suit with grey/black contrasting peaked lapels and dark grey pocket square, this is how to make black tie dressing fun and interesting for men.

Now, back to the women...

Sarah Jessica Parker in Dior Haute Couture. I had previously picked out a dress from this collection for Keira but she didn't attend this year. Leave it to reigning fashion plate SJP to show up in couture. Great colour "barely mint" in her words, her breasts look fabulous and she looks like a fairytale princess (but not in a little girl way).

Taraji P Henson: I could not find out who she was wearing. No one asked her on the red carpet (although they did try to allude to it, "there must have been so many people dying to dress you..." she didn't take the bait and give the designer a shout out). This tired ivory gown looked incredible on her. Simple, sleek but with interesting (non beaded/emrboidered) detail. Stunning necklace, sleek hair, classic make up. I hope to be seeing more of her in the future.

Marion Cotillard (pictured above in the first photo): I LOVE THIS WOMAN. A completely different look from her winning beauty last year. She took another chance this year and pulled it off in a black and navy sequined dress with a strapless bodice, cinched waist and layers of sharply angled black tulle. She'll probably get panned for it but I loved the look especially her up do and dark lips.

Her cohort and co-star in the upcoming movie Nine, Penelope Cruz (pictured above with Marion) chose a 60 yr old ivory vintage Balmain gown. As Tim Gunn said, she was dressed to win tonight. Well deserved.

While I loved Penelope's dress I didn't love her hair. It was too severe and with her bangs shaped her face in a weird, boyish manner. I didn't think it was particularly attractive at all.

This brings me to another actress/presenter whose dress I couldn't care less about but whose hairdo was horrendous. Jessica Biel you should know better. What was that limp, messy thing hanging off of your head. You looked tired, annoyed and quite frankly bad. Next time do yourself a favor and run a brush through that tangled mess of yours before you leave the house and speak on camera infront of a few million people.

So now for the fashion LOSERS:

Miley Cyrus what were you thinking?! After such a terrific debut last year in red Valentino you followed it up with....THIS. It's like a prom dress gone horribly, disgustingly, overly beaded and beadazzledly wrong. The cut is flattering, I guess. But that belt, those extremely large fish scale like tiers. EW.

Not pictured (because it think showing off one fashion crime is more than enough).Reese Witherspoon, the hair- no, the make-up- too dark/not flattering, the dress- what were those two black slashes holding up your dress? Why were they there? It was too busy, kind of messy, trying too hard.

Evan Rachel Wood: The dress is too pale, she's already whiter than white so she looked really washed out and kind of naked. The hair colour is disgusting as well.

Melissa George: What are you even doing at the Oscars? How did you even get an invitation?

Amanda Seyfried: Too boxy for you. The turned down bust line was doing you no favours.

Other thoughts: I noticed that the side-swept up 'do was most popular this year.

I liked that most women wore colour (red!) or a shade of white, this meant that the few who chose to wore black actually garnered some attention. Lovely ladies in black included: Robin Wright-Penn, Diane Lane and Angelina Jolie (who was an exercise in how accessories can MAKE a look- simple, colourful & gorgeous).

There were a lot of people I thought looked great but played it safe (read: a bit boring) with their choice of clothing. Ann Hathaway would have made my list but the bodice of her gown looked overly large- like she didn't have enough boob to fill it out. Heidi Klum, whom I adore, dress looked nice from the front, bad from the back and the hair was gross and looked dirty. Kate Winslet, dress looked AWESOME from the back, but the division in the front was too severe. I would have liked it more if more of the skirt at the front had been draped by the black lace. Hair and makeup was very pretty and chic. Everyone else was dressed as expected and therefore elicited either a yawn, a kind word, or indifference.