2011 Oscars: The Clothes

I watched the Oscars this past Sunday without all that much interest. Yes, "Alice in Wonderland" was nominated, but I didn't think it would win (though I was excited to see my bosses in their couture during the telecast), and I didn't have any overwhelming favorites.

I did rather favor "The King's Speech" because I love Brits and I adored Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter at the BAFTAs. They were darling. Add in Tom Hooper and David Seidler, the cutest little old man ever, and I melted into a puddle. So I was really glad they got their Oscar, even though I haven't seen "The King's Speech" yet.

Anyways, the dresses are what women want to see, aren't they?

Anne Hathaway did a fairly decent job as MC, along with her completely stoned co-host, James Franco. ("127 Hours" looks so frightening, I cannot even fathom sitting through that movie.) She had very lovely costume changes, which I won't include since she was working.

My favorites from Oscars 2011 (click on the pictures for bigger versions):

Helen Mirren in Vivienne Westwood. I love dear crazy Vivienne Westwood (and her long-time collaboration with Helena Bonham Carter), but this is Vivienne toned down and done right. The color is so pretty, and the cut is so flattering. Helen Mirren's just gorgeous- she's 66 years old!

So lovely without being vulgar or flashy. And a great role model for women that refuse to dye their hair as they get older- she looks great with the white and gray hair, it suits her skin tone and also really looks beautiful with this dress.

Michelle Williams in Chanel. Simple and yet not boring. I liked Chanel's haute couture spring 2011 collection a lot, aside from all the disco sparkles. It seemed like a nice return to lady-like silhouettes. This dress was not nearly as form-fitting in the collection, but the modifications were smart and beautifully done. She looks so cute with this pixie cut- she's just very clean and fresh looking, I love it.

Mila Kunis in Elie Saab. I thought she was going to show up in a bold, graphic color, and was pleasantly surprised at the pretty girly lavender. She was extraordinary in "Black Swan," and I'm firmly a fan of hers now. I think she's lovely in a very Russian way, with those huge eyes, and she looked like a lacy little confection in this dress.

That little bit with Justin Timberlake during the awards wasn't very funny, though. I still can't believe Natalie Portman (in a nice Rodarte gown) won an Oscar while Mila Kunis didn't even get nominated. Unfair.

Cate Blanchett in Givenchy. This dress looked a lot more saturated (much closer to lavender) on TV than it does in photos. I loved the pops of yellow, but wished the lilac was a different color ... something brighter, bolder. There were a lot of light-colored dresses this year, and I always prefer color to washes of paleness.

I love Cate Blanchett. She's always interesting to look at, and never makes boring decisions for big awards shows.

Hailee Steinfeld's (in Marchesa) been really spot-on through awards season, even if she does veer towards pale and colorless. I love that she looks her age, dresses appropriately- cute, princess-y, everything expected of an early teen- and seems so happy to be where she is. The original version of this dress was a giant puff of black and white and shiny, and while I'm glad she veered from that, I wish she had veered into a color.

Scarlett Johansson in Dolce & Gabbana. I really liked this dress when I first saw it and thought it was one color (the brighter, more pinkish purple color). I still like it, but still wish it had been one even color- the color changes with the see-through areas are a bit much. Still, really like this dress.

And though this was from the Vanity Fair party and not the actual Oscars, I loved this one:

Jessica Biel in Versace. I'm glad she's a brunette right now, because a blond in a gold, neutral-colored dress would have annoyed me. I thought this dress was exquisite, and she looked amazing.

I can't even talk about the dresses I didn't like, because they were many and varied and some of them were hideous. I didn't like as many of the sparkly dresses as I thought I would (shiny!) because they were either styled badly (Amy Adams), weirdly boring (Anette Bening), or just ugly (Melissa Leo, why??).

I'm sure I would have more to say if I were feeling 100%, but I'm still not quite there yet. And I'm really craving samgyetang (삼계탕), which I don't usually even like. Time to pop another pill and try to focus on work. Blech.