The Sschmoscars.

I loved watching the Oscars in the company of friends this year. Usually I want silence so I can concentrate on nothing but the show that feels so damn seriously important and heightened. I get annoyed when people dis what I like or like what I hate and irritation ensues leading to too many trips to the snack spread. This year, I welcomed the nay-saying peanut gallery chatter and the heartfelt cheers for adored winners, or abhorred losers. I'm just not that serious about the spectacle anymore, which makes it even more enjoyable. I do of course have my fashion favorites from last night. I was impressed with some of the individual choices, and the overall look felt more varied and thankfully less stylist-orchestrated than the year's other awards events. Also, Anne Hathaway played that stage like a pop star, changing outfits however many times it took to distract from her seemingly purple hazed co-host, the meta-tastic Jimmy Franco. I personally was wowed by Anne's quick switches. The verdict? This year was a popcorn munching kind of year--light, airy, buttery, golden. Sometimes it got stuck in my teeth type irritating, but mostly it was enjoyable.

My favorite look of the night came from the inimitable Ms. Cate Blanchett.

I can hear the decriers already slamming its weirdness or washed-out color scheme, but in fact that weirdness is the kind of pretty I like. It's off, it's not your typical Oscar fantasy dress. Blanchett is a woman of style and taste. Anyone can look great on a red carpet, but to move the pendulum of fashion in one direction or the other, to get people talking and splitting opinions is the second part-time job of a Hollywood style setting actress.

Her Givenchy couture dress is strange: The creped chiffon skirt and bodice set off the hard lines of the very structured shoulders. The dress looks like armor dotted with pastel caviar. Its laduree violet and egg yolk colors are atypical for fancy occasions, but complimentary on the color wheel which lets them settle in as strange bedfellows that work anyway. Cate's makeup and her glide across the stage brought the dress to an elevated level of comfort on her. It's not just what the woman wears, it's how she wears it. The dress came directly from Ricardo Tisci's Spring 2011 Couture show for Givenchy, his obsessive (and beautiful) ode to Japanism seen below.

Givenchy also gets praise for Anne Hathaway's first ceremony dress of the evening, which had a similar pretty armor feel. The thick jeweled straps criscrossing the bodice felt like protective chains. I'm sorry there aren't better images of the dress on the interwebs because the back of it is equally gorgeous.

Hathaway's later incarnation as a foil to Franco's cross-dressing Marilyn look, came off as less of a joke than I think the producers may have intended. I thought Anne's smartly tailored Lanvin tux--replete with a floppy bowtie hat tip to his Majesty Alber--outshone most of the girlie gowns.

And, speaking of shine, the sky-high sparklers attached to Hathaway's feet were fantastic. I was impressed with her bounding up those equally twinkling stairs to deliver that lung-busting musical number she did. Gold star, Anne.

Other favorites? These ones:

Goldie star Gwyneth! Sometimes the GOOPy blond just gets is so right on the red carpet. This golden sheath is liquid metal on her, and the column shape with the stick straight, ultra-blond hair, tan-as-tasteful-tan-can-be glow, and those jaw hugging bejeweled earrings all come together so well.

Scarjo's sexiness cannot be tamed. The dress she chose hugs and snugs her curves, the raspberry color is deeply, almost aggressively feminine, and her tousled hair/understated makeup combination is just comfortably sexy. When sexy is comfortable, or at least looks that way, it is actually sexier. Watch Scarlet and learn.

Not sexy? Hailee Steinfeld. Thank God! The teen actress looked so appropriately sweet and girlie it made me sigh a huge sigh of relief. Everything from the cut to the color to her hair are pretty and feminine and lovely. It's so wonderful to see a young Hollywood actress not being tarted up by the fame machine.

One final note of interest: Marisa Tomei wore a Charles James gown! I'm a bit astounded because most of the 1950s sartorial star's gowns are safely stored in environmentally controlled museum collections at places like the Costume Institute and the Museum at FIT. Her wearing the gown out last night to a public event is somewhat akin to a starlet borrowing a bit of Egyptian jewelry from The Met galleries for a few hours. Granted Lily et Cie, the vintage purveyor who lent her the gown is a reputable dealer in the historic costume world and the venture is a commercial one, it still raises questions for me about the idea of precious clothing being treated as irreplaceable, valuable pieces of art work. Should a Charles James be paraded down a red carpet? Exposed to the elements, losing fibers, damaging hems, and being flashed with powerful light? And then, gasp, sat on? Or, should it be safe and sound, preserved for posterity? Is it different because it is fulfilling its purpose? It's being worn and shown for the delight of it? Things that make you go hmmm...well, at least if you are a budding fashion historian. That is all.

Yo, Oscars, see you again next year!

All images from JustJared.com, except Givenchy couture shots from Style.com, and Anne Hathaway pictures from a diligent google search.

Vogue's HeART.

Annie Leibovitz, Grace Coddington, and Lady Gaga make fashion. Cate Blanchett shows up too. Who could ask for anything more?

Costume Drama

Just when you thought the excitement of NY Fashion Week couldn't be topped, here comes the Superbowl of Starry LA Semi-Sartorialism...the effing Oscars! I'm in the mood for a little glammy distraction from the R-word (rhymes with depression, causes ulcers, homelessness, and may theoretically be cured by economic stimuli), although I'm sure it will be mentioned even more than Kate Winslet's "new" Pilates body, or Rourke's comeback. Besides for the red carpet hoopla, I think it is every good fashionista's duty to close pay attention to our most relevant statue category, the one awarded for Costume Design.

Do you know who your noms noms are? Let's meet them, shall we...

Catherine Martin, Australia

Baz Luhrmann's go to designer (and wife) Catherine Martin is up for her first solo award in this category. Having worked on Luhrmann's other efforts, like super spectacles Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge, Martin is an old pro at translating Baz's distinct cinematic energy into on screen wardrobe. According to Martin, Kidman's gorgeous, prim and proper gowns and get-ups were not her favorite, instead it was the military style horse back outfit she rocked for the cattle round-ups. Apparently Keith Urban has a thing for ladies in manly uniforms.

Jaqueline West, The Case of Benjamin Button

If you asked me, personally I would award Cate Blanchette's amazing, creamy complextion and beautiful red hair an award of their own, but they don't have a category for The Prettiest, Prettiest Girl yet so, I'll settle for knowing that the movie's costume designer, Jaqueline West is up for an honor. West oversaw Benjamin Button's time warp through different decades, locales, and ages. She used old family photo albums that she found online to trace how people maintained their distinct looks throughout decades of political and social transformation. Combined with images from visual artists of each time period, the real life references helped West handle the film's tricky logistics with grace. But, this was not her first foray into complex film land, the lady loves a challenge. She was responsible for the wardobe in Terrance Malick's The New World, where she dressed Colin Farrell and a huge cast of extras in authentic Native American/early settler garb. She's known for doing her homework, and the five months of research she did for Benjamin Button before she was even hired definitely paid off in the film's look.

Danny Glicker, Milk

Dressing Sean Penn in clothing that documented the transformation of a hippie-ish Castro photographer into a serious politician who ushered in the modern gay rights movement was Danny Glicker's responsibility in Gus Van Sant's Milk. His reverence for the dearly departed icon and the film's demographic's immense nostalgia for the era in depiction were catalysts for Glicker's award-nominated effort. He sourced his looks from actual photos left behind at Harvey Milk's Castro Camera Shop and the talented group of photographers and artisits who were part of the scene themselves.

Michael O'Connor, The Duchess

O'Connor's work on this film was that of a master of period piece dresser. The intricacies and fantasy behind days and costume customs of yore are always fertile ground for imaginative and historically minded film buffs. Depicting Duchess Georgiana Cavendish of Devonshire in the 1770s, was an exercise in indulgence and restraint. He tried to subtley suggest the grandiosity of the Duchess's fashion forwardness, while letting the details of the geniune garb speak for themselves.

Albert Wolsky, Revolutionary Road

I know costume dramas are shoo-ins for this category, but my money would be on Revolutionary Road, well if I had money to spare on such things. Revolutionary Road was a a period piece without the costume drama. In fact, the costumes were quite effortless in this film and made the emotion of the characters the driving force. Yet, the dresses, suits, hats, and such were gorgeous windows into each character's role, place, and ambition. I was a fan. Can you tell? And, Wolsky's excellent resume includes over 70 films. His experience showed in his ability to finesse the era of the '50s out of his materials in a subtle way. His work was visually rich but not cloying in any way. I see a gold man in Wolsky's hand.

And, let the show begin! Yay.

Click any image for source information.

Common Goods: Swimmingly

This is the single most glamorous shot of beach attire I've ever seen.

Those are some 1890s-era kids visiting the sea. I doubt they were there to swim, but doesn't that hat on the little Cate Blanchett lookalike make you yearn for fancy beach dress code? Maybe just once a year, or something. It would save us from having to see too much flesh coming out of too little spandex. Plus, they look like such little precursors to modern fashion shoots, those exercises in non-functional sartorial beauty. I love it.

This photo comes from the National Media Museum's photostream over at Flickr's Commons. Be sure to check out the rest of their stellar early photography collection.

I want to float too.

I can't decide whether this image of a floating Cate Blanchett channeling Bob Dylan makes me want to be reborn as a classy Aussie actress with great bone structure, or wear skinny boy suits for the rest of my days. Either way I love it.

On another note, I really hope that the days of ballooning tops over stretchy black leggings are a thing of the past, but...

sweet lacy half tights can just barely be called leggings. I predict they will be stretched delicately over hip thighs before too long. Just remember they aren't opaque and you should wear appropriate over clothes please.

A match made in heaven:

C-Love 3.0 meets her future self! Maybe she finally read her free copy of Karl's don'teat book.


Fashion week(s) round-up to follow.