Thursday, March 2, 2017

Best Dressed (better late than never!)

With all the drama and commotion that ended the 89th Oscars, i.e. this huge snafu:


...no one much focused on the dress porn, which is quite frankly the motivation behind my watching the broadcast from 6:30pm-12am. I was nearing the point of letting this year go by without doing a post about the fashion, but I've decided that it just doesn't feel right. I gotta make a few quick and dirty comments. I mean, my fans are waiting, right? (who am I kidding, only my Mum will read this, and that's because I'll make her).

Last year, I wasn't blown away by the fashion, but at least there was some hideous shit to snark on (and you can see all of my FEELINGS about that here and here).

This year, I think the opposite was true. There were a few looks that I died for, but everything else was a huge meh!

Hands down, best dressed of the entire night goes to Ruth Negga. She was pretty much the first person on the red carpet that night, and really it never got better. Sometimes first = best. Also, you know I love me some political cred, i.e. her blue ACLU ribbon. The character Ruth was nominated for playing, Mildred Loving, was represented by the ACLU in her and her husband's challenge to state laws prohibiting interracial marriage in the 1960's (How was interracial marriage still illegal in the US in the 60's you ask? AMERICA!) Beyond loving the statement of the ribbon, I actually love how the blue looks against the red dress.

The dress was custom made for Negga by Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino, and according to Vogue, the inspiration came from clouds, apparently the effect the whole team was going for with the colour and fabric was to evoke floating. The Jazz Age–inspired headpiece is made with Mozambican rubies in blackened white gold. Negga says, “The headpiece represents strength of a feminine goddess,” adding the dress “[is] like a whisper of femininity, not a scream. Something classic, timeless, and beautiful.” I mean look at this dress and this woman, it's art:


There were 2 other dresses that looked quite similar to Ruth's custom Valentino (Ginnifer Goodwin in Zuhair Murad and Olivia Munn in Giambattista Valli) but neither were quite as successful as Ruth's look. 

Ruth's second look of the night, this beaded Oscar de la Renta dress that she changed into for the Vanity Fair party, was also one of my favourites of the night. 
(Where's the blue ribbon you ask? Don't worry ribbon bully, she put it on her boyfriend's suit!)
WHO? WHO doesn't want to wear the ribbon?
My other favourite look from the Oscars, and I hate to say it, was Jessica Biel in Kaufman Franco with a necklace by Tiffany. 
 And look at the detail on the neckpiece (and how insanely beautiful her face is!):
I mean how this woman is able to stand her insufferable husband and the "ME ME ME" he exudes from every pore every second of every day is really enough to give her a god damned Oscar. Look at how exhausting this is:
Side note: what indictable offence committed by an Oscar producer did JT witness to be able to open the show?

Moving on, I was really into all the long sleeves on the red carpet (as evidenced in my love of the 2 gowns above). I'm really tired of plunging necklines (See: Michelle Williams, Amy Adams, Jennifer Aniston's looks). It is/was February. I like the winter-esque looks. Some of my other fave long sleeved looks: Ava DuVernay in custom Ashi Studio, and Isabelle Huppert in Armani Privé (added bonus, I love Isabelle's dark nails). 


Other honourable mentions go to Viola Davis in custom Armani (especially because she has worn some HORRIBLE shit in the past)...


...Emma Stone in Givenchy Haute Couture, who went for a timeless and safe look (they always do when they know they're gonna win) but nevertheless looked polished, and Taraji P. Henson in custom Alberta Ferretti who looked lush and rich and sexy as hell:

and I'm not sure, but in some pictures Taraji's dress looks like navy velvet, and well, velvet = GOLD


Lastly (and perhaps most controversially) is a crazy look that I am OBSESSED with: Sarah Paulson in Ronald van der Kemp at the Vanity Fair after party

Am I crazy for loving this?

(Also, I always wonder about the logistics of changing between Oscars proper and Vanity Fair party, like how does Emma Stone get out of that theatre, into a car/limo, go somewhere to change looks, and then get to the party? I would really like to know how this happens especially considering the traffic).

Let me know what looks you loved/loathed. Did I miss anything?

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Favourite moments from the 88th Oscars

You know what? It's been 24 hours since the Oscars ended and I am still riding an Oscars high. That was the funnest Oscars I've seen during my adult life, and though I am under no illusion that watching that show is as fun as seeing a comedy special on HBO, I had a great time, only got angry once or twice (which if you know me is a real record) and laughed a lot! I also sobbed twice because I'm PMSing, drank a lot of red wine, and have a chemical reaction to beautiful sadness when I see the innocence of children and/or underdog narratives. (Don't ever bring up the movie Inside Out unless you want to watch me weep and console me for at least half an hour).

Usually when I meet new people, I tell them that the Oscars are my favourite day of the year. I know this is absurd, but my hobby is Hollywood, pop culture, and film. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand and appreciate the ridiculousness of the Oscars, and their unimportance in the grand scheme of things, but I also find them so immensely interesting as a cracked up showcase of everything repugnant about American culture.

This year, I sort of dreaded them. I suspect a lot of people did. As I wrote the other day, I struggled a lot with how to feel about my superfluous relationship towards the "last Sunday in February" guilty pleasure. I wasn't surprised by the lack of opportunities and/or recognition for people of colour, women, and other groups who do not make up the old, white, male Academy, but that problem, and the feeling that the problem is just the way it is, finally reached a tipping point, and shit really needed to be burned down in order to recognize how fucked up the whole thing really is.

And I think Chris Rock burned it down as best he could. Honestly, he exceeded my expectations. He was funny and made people really uncomfortable which I love. I mean, I laughed so hard the whole way through, and don't understand why most of the people in that theatre didn't just decide to have fun and roll with it. Laugh! Clap! Do it! Sigh...

Missed the monologue? Here you go!



Now, for some of my favourite moments:

1. Hands down my ab fab moment was Leslie Jones re-cast in the Revenant, "THERE ARE NO BLACK ACTRESSES IN THIS MOVIE!!!"



2. Finally seeing Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander acknowledge that they're dating. We all know it! You don't need to pretend! (Though she didn't thank him in the speech...come on!)



3. Everything to do with Jacob Tremblay. Especially his red carpet interview when he said that he was going to go to the after parties, even though his bed time is 8pm. But for reals, when these kids came on stage while I was on my 4th wine of the night, they really killed me with the feelz! This was when the water works really came pouring out. They are so lovely and precious and I love them and I'm going to cry again if I keep thinking about it.


How excited he was to see BB8, C3PO, R2D2? so fucking cute, I just can't. 



4. Tina Fey and Steve Carell, because Tina Fey is perfection, obvs:


5. This bad ass bitch, Jenny Beaven, winning Best Costume Design for Mad Max!


Oh, and see the Vine below for further proof that Iñárritu is a miserable asshole:



6. Chrissy Teigen's hand gently pushing John Legend's bum to get some Girl Scout Cookies:


7. Spotlight winning Best Picture.
I'd like to take a minute to brag: On September 26, 2015, I predicted Spotlight would win Best Picture on this very Blog stating, "Spotlight was the best movie I saw at TIFF this year (I think it's going to win Best Picture-bold statement to make in September, I know, but mark my words as an early prediction for Oscar." No Big Deal...



    
    
Why do I feel so vindicated that The Revenant didn't win Best Picture?

And Leo needs a whole post of his own, so I'll leave it at that for now...What did I miss?

Monday, February 29, 2016

Red carpet disappointments and disasters

As already stated, the red carpet was underwhelming for me last night. A few key people whose looks I was so excited for (I'm looking at you Rachel McAdams) were really disappointing!

There were some looks where there was something a tad off to me, making me not love the entire look.

Example: Olivia Wilde in Valentino Haute Couture. There are a lot of things I LOVE about this dress: the colour, the pleated skirt, the winged shoulder that falls over her back. I don't love the plunging neckline though, I think its the rectangular-ness of it, that it is such a hard horizontal line across her waist.


Daisy Ridley in Chanel Haute Couture: I think this dress needed to be an inch shorter, and that her hair is too severe looking.

Rooney Mara in Givenchy: So I actually like the dress, but I hate everything about the styling. Those 1995 Le Chateau platform shoes are horrid. And the slicked back hair with the mini bun nubbin is again too severe.



All I have is love for RM (even though she hates me by association. Yes, she knows who I am, and many moons ago her best friend in TO dated my ex-bf while we were broken up, and then he left her to get back together with me, and he also happened to be building a deck at Rachel's house b/c he's a carpenter, and he accidentally dropped a 2x4 through her skylight.) Anyway, I've been loving her fashion choices during this campaign. Let's reflect shall we?

Noam Hanoch jumpsuit at Gotham Independent Awards; Elie Saab beaded gown at Critics Choice:


My personal favourite looks from this season: in custom-made pink Prada at the Oscar Nominees Luncheon; in white Elie Saab at the Santa Barbara Film Fest.


So, I was expecting her to bring it at the Oscars...and then it was this (by August Getty Atelier):

I mean its not horrible, but not worthy of her style and beauty. The back of the dress was great: I love the train and I love the colour. But the front was a MESS. You cannot wear a dress that creases like that across the tummy to the Oscars. Bad planning. Her makeup was good (and is usually done by her sister who is a makeup artist, which I think is so cute) but I thought her hair, which is normally so great (see: above) was horrible. It looked sort of crusty and frizzy all at the same time. I wish she'd have just rocked her wavy bob. Her look at the after party I thought was an improvement, but it's still just a pretty dress:

Now onto the winning actresses, decked out in their Disney princess wear. Lainey put it pretty perfectly last night:
What I don't understand is, when you know you are going to win, why wouldn't you pick a dress that is timeless; that is always going to be beautiful (just to be clear, I'm not saying that either of the dresses below are beautiful now-I actively HATE both of them-but there is an argument to be made that perhaps they thought this was a good 2016 look). These are pictures that are shown for the rest of their careers/lives. Why pick a ruffled seam bedazzled Belle the princess dress (it is custom made Louis Vuitton), or an under the sea, mermaid costume with chastity belt (it's Gucci)? Le Sigh...


I really feel like I don't have enough time to actually express what is wrong with these dresses (and the fact that both have been on most of the "best dressed" lists I've read today is appalling) I look at these 2 dresses together, and all I see is IKEA. Here are my initial reactions from last night:

They are both so Michael's Craft store, especially whatever that Christmas dinner at your aunt's house centerpiece is around Brie Larson's waist.

And the hair, good God, the hair:
The frustrating thing is that both of them looked SO MUCH BETTER at the after party (esp Vikander). I don't even mind that Brie Larson implemented George Costanza's "drape myself in velvet" strategy:



I won't waste a lot of time on Reece, as I never expect her to wear anything good, but this is droopy-boob Barney parachute hell (Oscar de la Renta would roll over in his grave):

Onto Jared Leto...what does one follow a Dumb and Dumber powder blue Jesus look with (see last year's outfit here)? A goth bell hop pyjama suit, obviously!


Then there's this:


1. Why was Heidi Klum at the Oscars? 2. What in the name of care bear acid trip hell is she wearing? Oh right, it's Marchesa, nuff said. 

My absolute least favourite look of the night? That honour goes to Kate Winslet, in a glad garbage bag/novelty store wrapping paper special (it's Ralph Lauren; How? I don't know):

All I have to say is Why Kate? WHY???????????? I mean I really don't know how you put this on and none of your team says, we could do better. 

Oscars 2016: Best dressed (I guess?)

I was a tad under-whelmed with the fashion last night to be honest. Other than a few looks that I liked, most were just, well, fine. There wasn't anything that made me wanna punch myself in the face with fashion porn envy-(except for maybe Elizabeth Banks' outfit at the after party, but I feel like that can't really count b/c it wasn't an "Oscar" look per se).

The after party looks were a lot better (as they tend to be) b/c there is less pressure and scrutiny on the actresses so I feel like they opt for the cooler, riskier fashion choices. I just wish they would opt for those looks for the ceremony proper, instead of saving it all up for those after parties. 

If you've been reading my blog long enough, you know that all of my favourite red carpet Oscar looks are courtesy of Cate Blanchett, who in my opinion can DO NO WRONG Re: the fashion. To be honest, had this dress (by Armani Privé) been on someone else, I wouldn't have liked it as much, but on Cate, who is so elegant and interesting in her fashion choices, I really like it. And also, it's the colour sea-foam which I love (and reminds me of All Apologies by Nirvana, so clearly, that's an added bonus). 


Next up is Charlotte Ramping in this Armani Privé dress (I guess I'm really into Armani lately?) I love this so much. I'm a sucker for a pocket on a dress (even if in this case they are on the boobs). And seriously, long sleeves are vastly under-rated. Love the earrings, and the fact that she cut her own hair before the ceremony (b/c she thought it was an inch too long). The only thing that would have made it better is if the ballet slipper shoe was truly a flat (instead of a tiny heel). 


I surprisingly liked this Marchesa dress on Chrissy Teigen. Surprising because I normally ABHOR everything Marchesa (look at what Heidi Klum wore last night for an example). I suspect that my like for this outfit has more to do with my love of Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, than the actual dress, but I'm fine with that. It's hard to do pregnancy red carpet fashion well, so kudos (and they had to sew her belly into the dress which is super cute!)

A photo posted by chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) on

Priyanka Chopra is gorgeous, and the Zuhair Murad dress she wore to the ceremony was beautiful (and I normally hate a tight mermaid dress). The only thing I'd say is that it looked a little too tight in the bust. I love her look at the Vanity Fair party (by Jenny Peckham) even more. 


So this pick might be a bit controversial (as I've already read the WWF belt comparisons online) but I really like what Sunrise Coigney (Mark Ruffalo's wife) wore last night-I can't figure out who the designer is...But, Come on! that belt is way better than whatever the hell Brie Larson tied around that blue dress last night! I actually have no clue why I like this (I know it is sort of objectively tacky) but I'm into it.


This Ralph and Russo caped jumpsuit is the most beautiful thing I've seen in FOREVER. I love this so much it hurts. Elizabeth Banks is on top her game.


My favourite overall look of the night though? Saoirse Ronan in Calvin Klein. Great hair and make up, the colour is beautiful on her, and earring game on point! She looks fantastic!


Different coloured earrings? Yes please!
Thoughts? Did I miss any?