Fashion at the Oscars

It was Oscar season last week and Hollywood was buzzing with stars strutting down the red carpet in hopes of taking home the coveted trophy. Now I know that the Oscars focus around cinema and film but to be honest, I’m not a movie buff. Occasionally, I’ll go out 2 or 3 times to see the latest movies but for the most part I haven’t heard of half of the films nominated except for Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, and the Dark Knight, etc. But really, that’s the extent of my movie knowledge for this year. I don’t know why, but going to the movies is just not as exciting to me as doing something else with my time. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching them but I really don’t like spending $10 a ticket. Sometimes there are just other things that I’d rather do.
However my lack of movie attendance didn’t keep me from looking forward to watching the Oscars. Of course I’m interested in seeing who snags the best Actress and Actor award and the performances are always my favorite part of the award ceremony. But, I must say that every year the one thing about the Oscars I ALWAYS anticipate the fashion. Every year the red carpet is littered with glamorous people strutting the latest (and priciest) fashions of long gowns from trendy designers. Although I missed watching the pre-show when everyone displays who and what they are wearing, I was sure to observe during the awards ceremony. I also caught up on a bunch of blogs commenting and showing pictures of the women in their beautiful dresses. And I must agree with the consensus of blog comments: celebs were either wearing white, sparkly, ruffled fairy-princess dresses (Sarah Jessica Parker, Anne Hathaway) or dark-colored slightly drab frocks (Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet). A guidespot.com blog described the top of Nicole Kidman’s dress as “one of those spiny fish that you don’t want to step on.” I would probably have to agree but the dress looked great on her in my opinion. And I’m still on the fence on the gown Beyonce wore. She was on the worst dressed list for the night, her gown being described as “grandmother’s curtains or a china vase”. However, I also found her black and gold floral gown to be unique. I would have to say that I adored the fushia color of Natalie Portman and Alicia Keys’s dress, as they wore two of the few brightly colored gowns that evening. However, my favorite pick of the night would have to be Angelina Jolie. Her black floor-length gown complimented with glimmering emerald earrings and ring got mixed fashion reviews but she looked elegant and I loved the hint of color and flash of her jewelry.
Hopefully next year, the fashion selections will be a bit more varied and we’ll see more color on the red carpet.

Layal Brown