Oscars 2007: Red Carpet Commentary

Oh, what a riot of colour! I think I only counted half a dozen black dresses out of the whole red carpet show. And not only was there plenty of variety of colour, there was an amazing range of shapes too.

Wonder clothes-horse that she is, Nicole Kidman rocked both colour and shape. I would perhaps have scaled down the neck bow (a strange element given compared to the sleekness of the rest of the gown) but aside from that, the dress is awesome. The fabric looks heavily - heavy yet like liquid - and the train adds a bit of drama - as does the fact it’s such a bold scarlet. The colour could overwhelm pale-Nicole but it doesn’t - it makes her look sexy and alive (especially compared to last year’s washed-out white).

Jodie Foster also picked a great colour - and again, fabric to die for. I love the structuring around the neckline and the halterneck strap stops it being one of those dresses that endlessly creeps down or looks like her boobs start at her navel. Having the skirt/train start from the top of the bodice is unusual - and I’m not in love with it - but it does hide a multitude of (belly) sins - if Ms Foster has any to hide.

Sliding away from the strong colours, Best Actress nominees Kate Winslet and Penelope Cruz both went for pastel shades - but with still enough colour to make them notable. I love the bias wrap shape of Kate Winslet’s dress but while I love the neckline, there is something about the combination of that and her hair/earring decisions that make her look a bit bland from the neck up. Penelope Cruz too - but her dress was so dramatic that anything else would have pushed it over the edge. I love the bodice of Penelope’s dress - structured but without being severe - and the skirt is very fun (if a bit fluffy-towel-ish).

Naomi Watts went the other way - a dramamtic necklace and very pretty, classy hair to complement an understated gown. The straps/sleeves (whichever way you want to see them) were my favourite bit of the dress - like they’d just slipped off her shoulders in the heat of the moment (of course, with her newly unveiled bump, the heat of the moment was probably a few months ago…)

It was Helen Mirren’s moment last night though - when she picked up her much predicted Best Actress Oscar - again she picked a gown with a great shape to the bodice. The neckline, three-quarter-length sleeves and wrap-around-the-belly were all flattering, glamorous and sexy. I’m not quite as enamoured with the skirt - particularly the hemline - but it suits her because it’s not too formal or grand, and that seems to be very much the type of image she projects.

Speaking of top bits to adore but bottom bits to meh, I love the neckline on Jennifer Lopez Grecian-inspired gown. The way the fabric flattered her boobs was incredibly and across her back, the jewelled straps were impossibly sexy. But the skirt? Meh. It made her bottom and hips look huge - and not in a bootilicious way - and looked like it had been through the wash a few times in terms of colour and puckering.

Satsuki Mitchell, seen on the arm of beau Daniel Craig, had the opposite problem: an amazing skirt and train but the neckline of her dress looked sloppy. I love the shape at the shoulder and have no problem with low-cut but the entire lack of boob support isn’t flattering at all. The fabric - very light, slightly sparkly - is great though.

Similarly great, Cate Blanchett and her like-liquid gown. How much like a second skin is that? I love the detail but am glad it was restricted to just the skirt (to give it some weight, perhaps?) and the shoulder, else it would have ruined the clean, sleek lines around her curves.

Dreamgirls Anika Noni Rose went for a similar sparkly fluid fabric but didn’t pull it off quite so well. Parts of the dress (like the back here) hugged as they were supposed to but at the front it combined being baggy at the waist with being too low cut at the neckline and slit too high in the leg. It looked like it was trying to be too many things at once, especially when compared to the simplicity of some of the other dresses, such as Cate’s.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz both went for statement dresses at the other end of the scale from Cate’s - structure over slink. Gwyneth’s art-nouveau inspired dress didn’t quite work for me - I like the shape at the shoulders but not the peep-hole over the chest; I liked the shaping around the skirt but not how it drew attention to her tiny belly; and I like the train at the back but the front of the skirt just looked creased.

Cameron’s gown, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t get so creased - it probably wouldn’t even bend, it looked that starched. It looked like a 1980s haute couture wedding dress but I don’t hate it as much as I probably should from that description. I think I’m just giving it the benefit of the doubt because I’m so glad she’s moved beyond the harshly dark hair and overdone make-up she had in January: her make-up here is so pretty. The back of the dress - just the fantail skirt and Cameron’s own curves - works much better than the front too.

Speaking of redeeming backs of gowns, Keisha Whitaker’s yellow silk dress was very pretty but no exceptional - until you saw her back. I like the novelty of the beaded flowers but it’s the shape of the gown itself that I like - so sexy. Keisha - as well as the aforementioned Jennifer Lopez - are clearly listening to Justin Timberlake when he’s talking about ‘SexyBack’ :)

Portia Di Rossi too - I’d have preferred the spaghetti straps coming out of the braids earlier but it was still a nice addition to an other wise dull dress.

At the front, Portia suffered from the same problem as Jessica Biel and Celine Dion - too much fabric/too little shaping resulting in what looked like either saggy boobs (Jessica) or hiding a beer belly (Celine). Jessica’s dress looked generally too big - a view from behind shows what looks like hasty moves to take it in to fit her better around the waist - the “belt” doesn’t hide enough of the clumps of fabric. It’s a shame because it’s a great colour on her and the upper back is sexy (she has too been listening to Justin…) but overall, it lacks attention to detail.

Celine’s dress is a fab colour too and I love the shape for the neckline and of the skirt, but as I said: beer belly.

Jada Pinkett Smith (with husband Will Smith and son Jaden) didn’t fall into the unstructured bodice trap but again has come off as looking rather square. Perhaps that’s her natural body shape but surely designers could steer away from emphasising it?

Speaking of strange shapes, is Faye Dunaway’s skirt a homage to the Oscar statue? It looks like she’s been stuck to a base - with another tier half way up her thighs for good measure. The mid-thigh one is truly perplexing and the amount of net around her chest/arms is disturbing.

Similarly disturbing, Jennifer Hudson’s shrug jacket. The dress by itself looks a bit dull (nice but not noteworthy) so I understand that they might want to jazz it up but the “jacket” looks completely at odds with the dress in every way. Grecian-ish meets Space Cadet. She has also fallen into the skirt-pocket trap that got Sandra Bullock last year - a lover of pockets, I’d be so tempted to do the same but on both ladies, it ruined the lines of the skirts and gave them a not-very-red-carpet slouch.

Jennifer’s Dreamgirls co-star Beyonce Knowles looked more at home in the red carpet and went for a reasonably understated dress compared to her usual spangly numbers. The skirt - with a split to the hips - looked great when she was walking around but didn’t seem to have the required weight when she was standing in one spot - it just collapsed flat on the carpet.

Still, at least Beyonce’s dress wasn’t made of lace and accessorised with giant velvet bows like Anne Hathaway’s. Anne’s said despite starring in The Devil Wears Prada she’s not very into fashion and perhaps this is proof of that. It looks incredibly dated and almost childish compared to the other wonderful gowns on show.

And I don’t know where to start with Kirsten Dunst. Yes, Kirsten, we get that you’re a bit kooky and (like Anne) not the standard permatanned Hollywood party girl like other actresses your age but did you really think that dress through? The feathers, while a bit diva night gown, I could live with and ditto the pattern on the skirt - but not together and neither combined with the bodice and neckline. And please take notes from Reese Witherspoon (who I’ve not featured here because her navy gown wasn’t particularly interesting) as to what to do with your hair, particularly with having a fringe. Please.

More Red Carpet Commentaries

• The Brit Awards
• The Grammys
• The BAFTAs
• The Golden Globes
• More Fashiontastic posts