A STYLE REVOLUTION: OSCARS 2013

As the Awards Season draws to a close, this year’s Oscars can boast its fair share of drama: unexpected wins, history-making moments and a coup de theatre via The White House that took everyone by surprise.
While the action on stage never seemed to take pause for breath, the pace of the red carpet was just as thrilling: even from the first arrivals, it was clear that sartorial surprises would be the theme of the night.

Anne Hathaway, one of the big winners of the night (and throughout this Awards Season), not only turned up in a different dress, but one made by a different designer. Touted as being one of the actresses expected to turn up in Valentino, Hathaway made a switch at the last minute, opting for Prada.
The pale pink gown, paired with Tiffany jewels, looked to be inspired by her post-Les Miserables crop. The simplicity of the cut, with the heavy-duty satin, referenced Sixties starlet with a modern twist. Unfortunately for Hathaway, making a last-minute switch with her gown yielded mixed praise from the fashion pundits. Wearing satin is a gamble: a notoriously difficult fabric to work with, it is also tricky to wear without puckering or creasing. The gown, though not without its charms, looked like a last minute decision: the styling looked rushed, with the jewellery chosen not working with the high neckline. Luckily for Hathaway, this was her big night, and when you have a gold statuette as your chief accessory, nothing else really matters.

The pale trend continued with both Charlize Theron and Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence both opting for Dior Couture. It was a brilliant night for the French couture house, with Raf Simons ably demonstrating how to dress two very different women. Theron, a red-carpet regular, appeared in a piercingly-white two piece, with a beaded peplum detail. Matched with Theron’s new pixie cut, it was cool, sophisticated and modern couture at its best.

But if you wanted full-on drama, Jennifer Lawrence’s Dior gown offered it up in spades. The fitted three-quarter bodice flowing into a voluminous skirt photographed beautifully both on the carpet and at the ceremony. It never seemed to overwhelm Lawrence, even though it did at one moment threaten to halt proceedings when Jennifer slipped on the steps when collecting her award. Epic in scale, and impressive from every angle, it was a gown that endowed the winner with authority and elegance: for an actress taking her career to the next level, this dress was an inspired choice.

Nude shades got a lift when early arrival Jessica Chastain appeared on the carpet in a copper-toned gown by Armani Prive. Expertly beaded to enhance her best features, Chastain wisely accessorised with a maroon-coloured lip and softly-waved hair. It had all the Old Hollywood references you could wish for: combining traces of Veronica Lake and Ava Gardner, Chastain oozed glamour but her no-nonsense styling kept it contemporary.

Someone else who got the ‘softly softly’ memo was last year’s winner for Best Supporting Actress, Octavia Spencer. Staying loyal to one of her favourite designers, Tadashi Shoji, Spencer worked the pale and interesting trend to perfection. Wearing a nude beaded chiffon gown with a stole sweeping across her shoulders, Spencer looked every inch the returning star.

But where some chose to tread lightly, others decided to dazzle with colour and depth. Naomi Watts, nominated for ‘The Impossible’, arrived in a gunmetal gown by Armani Prive. With the asymmetric neckline looping around Watts’ shoulders, this was a directional look not for the faint of heart. Thanks to the attention to detail customary with Armani Prive, this beautifully-worked gown was no gimmick, but one of the most memorable looks of the night. You had to wonder if those who played it safe regretted their choice when seeing Naomi.

Red is always a red-carpet favourite, and it made a comeback with nominee Sally Field and presenter Jennifer Aniston appearing in scarlet Valentino. Aniston made a rare departure from her usual modus operandi of black and figure-hugging to venture into the world of couture. Her strapless gown, with typically Aniston low-maintenance styling, was unexpected, but showed that Jennifer is not a one-note fashionista.
Sally Field also impressed with a Valentino attention-grabber. Softly gathered at the waist, the long-sleeved gown was age appropriate without piling on the years. Covering up can sometimes be misconstrued as ageing up, but the sheerness of the sleeves and the emphasis by Valentino on fitting the fabric close to the body, made this nominee one of the evening’s Best Dressed.

There is always one attendee who’s happy to stand out in a crowd, and this year that person was Kerry Washington. Already proving to be one to watch after a sartorial grand-slam this Awards Season, Washington turned up to the Oscars in a coral gown by Miu Miu.
Taking the Sixties as her trend reference, this beaded bodice with column skirt was a fresh wash of colour, on a carpet where everyone else seemed to be wearing red, black or nude. Already accomplished at picking the best of the runway, this was a textbook red-carpet appearance for a woman known for her love of fashion, and the good news for Kerry is that the feeling is mutual.

Another attendee who bucked the trends was Jennifer Garner. At the Awards to support husband Ben Affleck, Garner had a fine line to tread. Wanting to dress with gravitas appropriate for the wife of a nominee, but not to draw attention away from him, striking the right balance can be almost impossible.
Thankfully, Jennifer made the right call with a plum-coloured gown by Gucci. From the front, the gown was a strapless column; but the back was covered with gloriously effervescent ruffles. A dress built for business and pleasure, this was a fun take on the traditional ‘supportive wife’ outfit. Paired with a stunning platinum diamond collar by Neil Lane, Garner’s was one of the stand-out looks of the night.

While some of those attending fell short of our expectations, there were some surprises that made this Oscars red carpet one of the most interesting in years. Some took risks, others upgraded their style and others just went all out to impress. Those who dared to be different made the biggest impact, choosing gowns that hinted of Oscars past and Oscars future. The vast majority of looks fell wide of the fashion radar, with many choosing to bypass trends altogether, opting for gowns that inspired and flattered. Rather than trying to dress to trend, the Best Dressed of the night wore gowns that defied categorisation making for a red-carpet that was bold, beautiful and full of intelligent choices. Invigorating and proudly individual, this year’s red-carpet bore witness to a style revolution.

HELEN TOPE

A SUBTLE ART: GOLDEN GLOBES 2012

This year’s Golden Globes were proof once again that if you want to be surprised, the Globes are your go-to reference.

Divided right down the middle, this year’s carpet split the attendees into one of two sartorial camps: light or dark. Rooney Mara, Evan Rachel Wood and Julianne Moore all went to fashion’s dark side, but there was still plenty of support for the softer palette. Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and Angelina Jolie were just three of the big-hitters who opted for lighter shades.

Theron continued her partnership with Dior Couture, and Angelina stunned in an ivory gown from Atelier Versace; its pristine quality only broken by a single, dramatic sweep of red. Commanding the red-carpet, the dress was an exercise in deceptive simplicity. Jolie, never knowingly under-dressed, was positively regal in a dress that was expertly cut to make a lasting impression. Sophisticated and polished, this woman was light years away from the girl who collected her Oscar in 2000, dressed in nothing but black. Angelina’s transition from goth to glam has been a slow one, but if this gown is any indication of what we can expect from Jolie in the future, the wait has been worth it.

Where actors went with a bold gesture, the gamble paid off. Tilda Swinton arrived in a pale-blue skirt suit by designer-of-the-moment, Haider Ackerman. Swinton actively provokes opinion, with the style renegade preferring Parisian edge to the Italian masters of luxe. But in these moments of defiance, Tilda reminds us why she is one of a kind. This suit came pretty damn close to avant-garde perfection.

Other highlights included Natalie Portman in a bubblegum-pink gown that showed the sunny side of Lanvin, and Kristen Wiig got serious in a beautifully-draped goddess gown from Bill Blass.

However, even in terms of red-carpet dressing, one size does not fit all. Those who opted for the darker side of glamour did not disappoint. But even the darker hues were offset with soft, romantic detail; the feathered hem of Evan Rachel Wood’s custom-made Gucci gown and the soft drapery on Rooney Mara’s Nina Ricci dress compensated for the S&M-style straps on the bodice. Hard was countered by soft, and the result was a red-carpet in perfect harmony.

Another big trend that emerged was the return of the strapless gown. Worn by Julianne Moore, Kate Beckinsale and Salma Hayek, in an evening with almost zero cleavage on display, the shoulders became the new erogenous zone. Coupled with high-necks and long sleeves, this was a night to explore new ways of revealing and concealing.

Glee’s Lea Michele went one stage further with an intricately-embroidered sheer bodice from Marchesa, dripping down into a metallic skirt. It was reassurance that if fashion was steering towards a new age of innocence, there was still some naughtiness left.

But the note that carried through the evening was softness, a demure sensibility that found it way into virtually every gown. In physics, it is said that for every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction, and this is a law that fashion applies with rigour.

As times are getting together (even in Hollywood), fashion is becoming softer with gentler colours and soft-focus silhouettes. Highly adept at providing us with what we want (before we even know it ourselves), fashion is giving us no-fuss, no-stress solutions. The carefree sartorial tone was perfect for the Globes: in a ceremony that refuses to take itself too seriously, the glamour on show was all about the art of subtlety. It is no accident that body-con was a trend persona non grata. Breaking away from the old codes of glamour, the Globes was clearly writing a style language all its own. With some of the best looks of the night being the most unexpected, the sheer variety presented meant that if you couldn’t find something you liked on this red-carpet, you just weren’t looking hard enough.

In a year where cinema celebrates heroes and villains, a red-carpet divided so definitively between light and dark cannot be that surprising. From the heroism of ‘War Horse’ and ‘The Help’, to the complex political legacies of Margaret Thatcher and J. Edgar Hoover, never has Hollywood been so brazen in its depiction of the moral maze.

This new phase that sees Hollywood explore good and evil, light and dark, with such relish takes the industry into unchartered territory. After all, this could be the year where a silent film walks away with the biggest awards: something that only five years ago would have seemed unthinkable.

Hollywood’s willingness to go deeper and take real risks is being reflected in the red-carpet. Against this backdrop, all-out glitz would just look wrong; what’s taken its place is a subtle art of red-carpet dressing. No fuss, no frills – just beautiful, epic design. 2012: it’s going to be a very good year.

HELEN TOPE