From the archives: Hollywood’s biggest stars bring a whole lot of glitz and glamour to the 89th Academy Awards
On Sunday, 26th February, a multitude of stars came out in force for the most important occasion in the film calendar - this year’s 89th Academy Awards, held at the Dolby Theatre, on Hollywood Boulevard. Leading the charge was none other than Hollywood’s golden girl Emma Stone, a red carpet favourite, who has been pulling out all the stops all awards season. Nominated for her role in musical ‘La La Land’ and looking very much like an Oscar winner in a dazzling gold floor length gown by Givenchy Haute Couture adorned with crystal beading and a ‘flapper-esque’ fringing from the waist down, Stone was accompanied to the ceremony by her brother, Spencer, who has been at her side throughout the award circus. With the finishing touches to her appearance accentuated by bright red lipstick and her flame red hair styled in soft, loose waves down to her shoulders, along with a pair of gold strappy heels and Tiffany & Co. jewels, Stone was picture perfect and without a doubt one of the best dressed of the night.
Gold was one of the most prominent colours on the infamous red carpet, not only worn by Stone, but also actress Charlize Theron who stepped out in a gold metallic Dior gown with a long slit up the front and stunning diamond statement earrings by Chopard, giving her just the right amount of bling to offset her look. As for Justin Timberlake’s gal, Jessica Biel, she utterly shimmered from head to toe in a sexy, skin tight gold metallic Kaufman Franco dress, accessorised with a Tiffany & Co. gold statement necklace and matching gold clutch handbag. While it would have perhaps been better had Biel opted for a pair of stud earrings or small drop earrings and no necklace, given the necklace looked a little over the top with the overall style of the dress, she still managed to pull it off to perfection, making it one of the standout red carpet looks of the evening. With Timberlake on her arm who looked slick in a classic black Tom Ford tuxedo, all eyes were on them as one of the hottest couples at the star studded event.
Another hot couple on the red carpet were Oscar nominee, Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban, who never shy away from packing on the PDA in front of the cameras. The statuesque Aussie who is certainly no stranger to the red carpet looked sensational, as she wowed in an exquisite nude backless Armani Privé creation, embellished with pink Swarovski crystals, Harry Winston jewellery and Stuart Weitzman shoes, as well as impeccable hair and makeup, landing her on the best dressed list alongside Stone. Also, chic in Armani Privé, were French actress and Best Actress nominee, Isabelle Huppert, who sparkled in a long sleeved, floor length Swarovski crystal nude gown and Best Supporting Actress nominee, Viola Davis, who wore a floor length, off the shoulder red dress, while actress Emma Roberts channelled old Hollywood glamour in a vintage Armani Privé low cut monochrome dress.
Along with Roberts, former ‘Dawson’s Creek’ alum Michelle Williams nominated for her role in ‘Manchester By the Sea’ also wore a monochrome designer gown with plunging neckline, but instead of Armani Privé as her designer of choice, she chose Louis Vuitton, for whom she is the face of. In keeping with a very simple, but elegant look for the award ceremony, Williams unlike many of her
A-list counterparts accessorised her look with very little jewellery. While it was one of her best red carpet looks of the award season, it has to be said that it was a rather disappointing choice of outfit for one of the night’s nominees, and was certainly a far cry from Williams’ fabulous eye-catching yellow Vera Wang dress that she wore to the Oscars ceremony back in 2006.
Simple and elegant was nonetheless also the order of the day for Brie Larson, winner of last year’s Best Actress Oscar who chose a long, strapless black Oscar de la Renta creation and Alicia Vikander, last year’s winner of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar who stepped out in a long, black lace embroidered Louis Vuitton dress. While Janelle Monáe, one of the stars of both Academy Award nominated films ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Hidden Figures, was anything but simple in a flamboyant Eli Saab Couture gown and Forevermark Diamonds jewels. Yet, even though it can be said that her dress definitely had the wow factor on the carpet, this dress personally did not quite meet the mark for a best dressed. With its pouffed out skirt, it appeared very awkward to walk in and it felt the dress was wearing her rather than the other way round and therefore this is a worst dressed. Joining her there are Halle Berry, in a one shouldered sheer gown by Atelier Versace, and Scarlett Johansson in a long patterned dress with décolleté neckline by Azzedine Alaïa. Both these dresses failed to do justice to these two striking actresses and are it is felt more suited for the Golden Globes or Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG). It would have been nicer had Berry’s dress been without the sheer black netting down the middle of the dress, which seemed to bring a drab undertone to the overall look of her gown. As for Johansson, her dress seemed far too casual for what the Oscars are all about and it would have been preferable to have seen her in a more fitted and glamorous dress, such as the lace deep plum gown she wore to the 2011 Oscars by Dolce and Gabanna.
As for the men, while all eyes were on the women to see which designer they were wearing, they were unmistakably also dressed to the nines and killing it on the carpet, with Oscar hopefuls Casey Affleck and Andrew Garfield both looking polished and very smooth in the classic black tuxedo, with Affleck wearing Louis Vuitton and Garfield wearing Tom Ford. Also, looking sharp in black were Oscar nominee, Lucas Hedges, in Dior Homme, and singer and songwriter, John Legend in Gucci. Ryan Gosling, who co-starred with Legend in musical sensation ‘La La Land’ and was one of the night’s Oscar nominees, also arrived at the Dolby Theatre in a classic black tuxedo by Gucci. However, in a break away from the norm, Gosling opted to wear a ruffled shirt underneath his tux by designer Anto, Alessandro Michele, which while an interesting choice by the actor there is no denying it added a touch of flair and contrast to the traditional black tuxedo that most of the other Hollywood A-listers were wearing, showing how men can have fun with fashion every bit as much as the ladies. And let’s face it if anyone can don this rather unusual choice of shirt and still manage to look effortlessly cool it would have to be Ryan Gosling!
British Oscar hopeful for his portrayal of Saroo Brierley in ‘Lion’, Dev Patel, is another actor who chose to break away from the norm and selected a cream tux to wear by British fashion house, Burberry, a style he pulled off with aplomb, while another Oscar nominee, Mahershala Ali also broke with tradition and opted for a more sombre, but still debonnair look, with a black tuxedo by Ermenegildo Zegna and black shirt underneath. As for, Damien Chazelle who was hoping to make Oscar history by becoming the youngest ever person to win an Academy Award for Best Director, he kept things interesting with selecting a blue tuxedo by Burberry, a popular choice of colour for the evening in the men’s fashion.
This year’s Academy Awards saw an abundance of colour trending on the red carpet, and while it was great to see some of Hollywood’s elite keeping with tradition and channelling old Hollywood glamour, it was exciting to observe others, both ladies and men, deciding to take it up a notch and push the boundaries of fashion. After all isn’t that what fashion is all about foregoing people’s expectations and daring to be different? And yet while the stars, just like the rest of us, may not always get it right when it comes to dressing for the red carpet, one thing is certain about this year’s Oscar fashion and that is, it was anything but boring!
To view some of the fashion featured at this year’s Oscars, click on the link below:
http://oscar.go.com/photos/2017/2017-oscars-red-carpet-arrivals/89th-annual-academy-awards-arrivals-47
