Last night was the 89th Academy Awards, or, if you would prefer, the Oscars 2017, in which we got major dramz in the form of La La Land being awarded best picture when it didn’t, in fact, win. Oops. Real drama, though, was on the red carpet (obviously, we work in fashion – we live for this), in which the ladies of H’Wood donned their finest eleganza and walked, perhaps, the greatest runway on earth. And did our ladies serve it up? Yes, mama, they did. First up, Emma Stone. You know that saying about dressing for the job you want to have? Well, Ms Stone instead dressed for the award she wanted to have, namely an Oscar, by dressing in a full-on gold number by Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy Couture. A technique which, on this occasion, has a 100% success rate, because she won. And quel horreur if you were to clash with your newly won prize. Fierce ladies Viola Davis and Ruth Negga both got the memo that nothing says says passion! drama! romance! than red, both dishing up Chris de Burgh lady in red moments – Viola in a classic off-the-shoulder Armani number, Ruth in lacy Valentino. More fierceness in the form of Naomie Harris and her upper abdominals, which looked smoking (via the small cut-out located just under the chest) in this Calvin Klein by Appointment dress. Could we say that this was her interpretation of the November Rain wedding dress? The short hem and train would say so. On the subject of short hemlines, whilst Naomie chose a bit of skin, Dakota Johnson, though famed for getting her keks off her role in kink-flick 50 Shades, decided to cover it up. She chose to do so in this 80s-ish Gucci number, which seemed to us, at least, an attempt to summon the spirit of Krystle Carrington. No complaints on that front here. Alicia Vikander, on the other hand, gave us a serving flamenco realness in this lacy, ruffled concoction by Louis Vuitton. Think: the dancing lady emoji, but black. Halle Berry. Yes, her Atelier Versace dress is a sexy piece of gown engineering, as Versace always is, but Ms Berry appears on our list because of the hair. We have to mention it. Joel is “gagged”. We’re all for a hairstyle that looks like it could, potentially, get up from your head, walk off, and possibly attack someone. Meryl Streep shrugged off Chanel-gate in Elie Saab, and answered the question: why choose between a gown and trousers when you could, in fact, just wear both? If there ever was a lady to wear the trousers, as it were, it is she. Felicity Jones went for Dior Haute Couture, in which she is giving us, for obvious reasons, ballerina. Tres jolie. Finally, Isabelle Huppert showed age ain’t nothing but a thang by looking thoroughly smoking in this shimmering Armani Privè column gown. Rawr!
