After writing about the awards themselves, I felt a need to move on to what many people consider the most entertaining part of any awards show (and certainly the main reason for those silly and often head-poundingly dull "Red Carpet" preview shows): what was everyone wearing?!? I did watch most of the red carpet special and many of the actors, despite being escorted down the gauntlet with huge umbrellas held over them, were commenting on the rain ruining their gowns. Chloe Sevigny commented that her silver lilac Valentino gown was now "polka-dotted; and then later when she somewhat unexpectedly won a Best Actress award for Big Love, one of the trophy handlers or presenters stepped on and ripped the train of her gown! She commented on this with very restrained mock-indignance and humor; her name was also spelled wrong on the sub-titles. Chloe is a classy fashionista and I hope the gown can be repaired.
Award winner John Lithgow (Best Supporting Actor for Dexter) quipped about his tux and how many times he'd worn it, making it a vintage classic. A number of men looked very classically handsome and well-put together in their tuxes last night: Kevin Bacon, Jon Hamm and Morgan Freeman and Jeff Bridges wore sharp looking black on black (and Bridges gave a very moving tribute to his parents after winning an award for Crazy Heart). Quentin Tarentino wore a somewhat bizarre black ensemble that looked like a cross between a Jedi bathrobe and something one might wear to amateur night at the Playboy Mansion. Mickey Rourke would have been fine with his bizarre assortment of black duds if his hat had also been black. I don’t care if Mike Tyson does wear a silk polka dot cravat over his tux, he still creeps me out. Best Actor winner Michael C. Hall of Dexter wore a simple black suit with white button-down and skinny black tie, and a black knit cap that reminded anyone one who had heard the news that he was battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma. At least he had a good excuse for his grunge accessory, unlike Philip Seymour’s Hoffman’s award-show fashion debacle several years ago.
Classic black was in abundance on the women, too; Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren, Julia Roberts (in a shorter vintage number by Yve St-Laurent with gold chains), Jeanne Tripplehorn, January Jones, and Penelope Cruz all wore distinctive black gowns. Glee star Lea Michele looked particularly glamorous in black Oscar de la Renta. Deep cleavage kudos go to Mariah Carey, Cher, Halle Berry, Jennifer Aniston, Christina Aguilera and especially Christina Hendricks, whose pale apricot-colored satin gown threatened to erupt and spill out her glorious breasts onto the unsuspecting shoulders of any one of her shorter Mad Men co-stars.
There were no real fashion disasters that I saw, except Cher in a typical “what were you thinking” outfit with way too many straps, bells and whistles. Cameron Diaz' tomato-red satin sling by Alexander McQueen looked a bit raunchy amid all the pastel hues, cool tones and black gowns that seemed to dominate. Red just seems to me to be a bit gaudy for these events: why not a more mature and demure burgundy, as seen on Zoe Saldana, or Julianna Margulies’ garnet red and black gown by Narciso Rodriguez? At least Amy Poehler’s bright red dress by Jay Godfrey was going to be auctioned off afterwards with all proceeds for disaster relief in Haiti.
Gold and variations on it were also seen, as on Drew Barrymore, looking like a 1940s starlet in an Atelier Versace gown in gold-accented champagne silk. Anna Pacquin’s sheath by Stella McCartney was a glimmering mosaic of gold, bronze, silver and copper sequins and beads. Gold need not sparkle, though: pale buff-colored gowns on Jennifer Morrison and award winner Mo’Nique were very classy. I personally loved Felicity Huffman’s pale gold gown with bejeweled trim, even if the Huffington Post thought it was “tacky.” Whatevs.
There was plenty of ivory (a shimmery Alberta Ferretti on Calista Flockhart), white (an overly-complex gown by Marchesa on Kate Hudson),and blush (lovely silky satin Nina Ricci on Nicole Kidman); it's nice to see these pale colors in the depth of winter, for some reason. Julianne Moore and Jennifer Garner were all subtle and smoking in dove-grey (by Balenciaga and Atelier Versace, respectively), and I also like Jessica Lange's silver gown (couldnt find out the designer for the life of me, though).
There were plenty of notable splashes of color (some noted by the Huffington Post as they declared pink and purple the dominant colors; not sure what show they were watching, but the corespondent also claimed Amy Adams' green dress was black) to be seen. Rainbow warriors included Diane Kruger (a bright pink frilly confection from Christian LaCroix), Fergie in pale lavender chiffon by Ellie Saab, Jane Adams (nominated for Hung) and Tea Leoni (accompanying hubby nominee David Duchovny) both in periwinkle blue (the former in a Roman-inspired tunic gown, the latter in a long black skirt and man-tailored shirt with long beads), Sandra Bullock in a pretty purple (with sadly dropping hair), Rose Byrne in deep plum silk by Lanvin, and Emily Blunt in a luscious, feminine Dolce and Gabbana gown in pale pink chiffon with silver accessories (looked great with her escort and sweetheart John Krasinksi’s navy Prada tux). Some short brightly-colored gowns were seen: Ginnifer Goodwin in sapphire blue satin stood out, and a pregnant Amy Adams wore a custom-made dark olive sheath by Carolina Herrera that eventually started to grow on me. The full-figured and fabulously-talented Gabourey Sidibe wore a feminine gown of emerald green. I loved Marion Cotillard’s Dior gown, a sexy but understated deep teal satin. Perhaps the most dramatic color statement came from Maggie Gyllenhaal, who wore a peach (peach? Or maybe pale salmon) silk gown by Roland Mouret that from some angles seemed to be made of paper-thin fruit roll-ups: slightly weird but very sexy.
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