Rather than appear in full drag king mode,actresses and their stylists carefully plucked flattering ingredients from the menswear mainstay to suit their awards aspirations and attributes. A dinner jacket and open white shirt from Chanel were more than enough forSpencer star Kristen Stewart to deliver serious black tie energy,swapping out trousers for the shortest of shorts.
Shorts have been a risky red carpet since Demi Moore wore them in 1989,instantly entering every vicious Worst Dressed List. Stewart’s rebel spirit,and don’t give a damn Dietrich-attitude were a perfectly pitched antidote to her recent cinematic appearance as Princess Diana.
Like Uma Thurman in Bottega Veneta,Dune star Zendaya focused on classic white shirting. While Thurman was tucked in and buttoned up,Zendaya’s relaxed silk Valentino shirt was cropped and worn over a silver sequinned skirt,reminiscent of Sharon Stone’s classic Gap shirt and Vera Wang skirt combination from 1998. Zendaya may only be in seven ofDune’s 155 minutes but this updated look was timeless.
Erivo set to star in an upcoming adaptation of the musicalWicked ditched the shirt entirely,wearing a nipped and zipped dinner jacket from Louis Vuitton over a black skirt in a triumph of tailoring.
Those taking a more direct route to sex appeal were lost in the mix of those with more mature approaches. Lily James fromPam&Tommy in a frothy pink Atelier Versace confection with a skirt split to rival Angelina Jolie’s 2012 Oscars dress,Tracee Ellis Ross in a crimson Carolina Herrera gown with a challenging Burlesque bust line and Halle Bailey and Emilia Jones with dramatic cut-outs were overshadowed by designs that offered a sophisticated step-up.
Playing with dress codes is a gender-neutral sport. If you wanted to win on this year’s red carpet,this was the game to play.
In 2015 Lupita Nyong’o won instant admiration and an Oscar in pale blue Prada and her loyalty to the Italian luxury label paid off again. The gallery-worthy gold sequinned gown with pink details and spectacular fringing,made the 12 Years A Slave actress look as though she had stepped out of Austrian artist Gustav Klimt’s extravagant masterpieces.
The Gucci gown worn byThe Eyes of Tammy Faye’s Jessica Chastain started with a gold bodice with a deep V-neckline,before descending in ombre waves to a purple skirt,trimmed with flounces. The overall effect was glamour bordering on gaudy,with the right touch of Tammie Faye camp,that stopped short of lashings of mascara.
Nicole Kidman in a custom blue Armani gown with an exaggerated peplum and old Hollywood train,Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Schiaparelli black dress with a dramatic geometric silhouette and Jada Pinkett-Smith in a green Jean Paul Gaultier dress with a skirt that expanded beyond the confines of your usual pouffe all showed the ability of considered design to trump cleavage and cut-outs.
Singer Billie Eilish led the big black dress brigade in a ruffled black strapless Gucci dress,with matching black bob,while Penelope Cruz,Laverne Cox and Sofia Carson offered noir back-up. Oscar winner Ariana DeBose in a Valentino pantsuit,Kirsten Dunst in strapless,voluminous Christian Lacroix and Jennifer Garner in strapless fitted Brandon Maxwell were members of the opposing palette forces,choosing red dresses with soft red lipstick.
There were plenty of men in basic black tie,preventing a complete gender swap but Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee in a baby blue Bottega Veneta suit and lashings of Cartier jewellery andDune’s Timothee Chalamet in a sheer Louis Vuitton jacket with lace trim and cropped trousers showed that playing with dress codes is a gender-neutral sport. If you wanted to win on this year’s red carpet,this was the game to play.
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