Academy Awards 2024 Fashion Review

[smofbabe]

After a long break from red carpet fashion reviews, I'm baaack!

The theme for bodices this year seemed to be up-from-the-bottom cups and black is back.

Back in Black

Eva Longoria in classic figure-hugging black.

Director Celine Song ("Past Lives") looks like a Gothic schoolmarm.

Not a fan of the high slit and plunging neckline on Issa Rae.

This is a great fit on Carey Mulligan and love the opera gloves but her slip is showing.

Even more is showing in this sheer dress on Kelly Ripa, which would have been a winner with a solid long slip dress underneath rather than looking like a swimsuit wrap.

If the slit was lower, I'd thoroughly approve of this silver-and-black corset bodice and satin waist swoop and train on Danielle Brooks. Nice hair and jewelry.

Catherine O'Hara looks like a slinky supervillain.

Ageless Rita Moreno in a typically theatrical statement dress.

Barbie star and producer Margot Robbie in incredibly well-fitted Versace but I don't understand why she's got a great chunky bracelet but no necklace and it was a bit of a surprise that she wasn't in Barbie pink.

Sandra Hüller likely has to walk sideways through the crowd to avoid whacking someone with the winged shoulders on her Schiaparelli gown. Great fit and from the back you can see her gold-heeled shoes but not sure why she's sporting an Alfafa hairdo.

Almost

Not a big fan of this peplum on Emma Stone that seems to also want to be a tutu.

I like this somewhat schizophrenic number on Zendaya but the pattern slashing across one boob rather than completely covering it is a bit odd. Nice matching earrings but wish she'd worn a necklace.

I'd have liked to see color on Lupita Nyong'o but although I'm not usually a fan of mixed fabrics, I think this beaded and feathers number works on her. However, with her bust I think a straight bodice would have worked better and this one also calls for a necklace.

Points for originality to makeup artist Montse Ribe but I don't think the execution lived up to the idea and the pattern on her right bodice doesn't match the rest of the pattern.

The matte polyester-looking material on Ava DuVernay and the luggage shoulder straps don't do it for me, although great hair and earrings.

Not sure why the Native American designers of this deep blue velvet gown on Lily Gladstone decided to put most of the embellishment of her dress in the train. The nice bodice trim and great upscale native jewelry save it, though.

Nice to see a pop of color on Liza Koshy and the rose-shaped sleeves save this from being a boring old-fashioned mermaid gown but the bodice is clearly squashing her boobs and has no shape to it. Also, her 7-inch heels turned out to be a bit too much as she tripped on her way out of the photo area.

Love the sparkle and fit on Emily Blunt and the jewelry, but I'm mystified by the boxer-brief target on her crotch, and the stiff sleeves and tugging train seen best from the back.

Guys

Ke Huy Quan looks dapper in burgundy and black.

Matthew McConaughey looks like a gunslinger from his native Texas.

Colman Domingo looking sharp in black and silver with fabulous shoes (gold-tipped but you can't have everything).

Ryan Gosling goes for a silver-accented Zorro look with an open-necked shirt.

John Magaro looks like a low-rent Dracula

Dwayne Johnson in silk pillowcase grey with plunge red pleats rather than an actual shirtfront.

Riz Ahmed looks like he's auditioning for a Star Wars sequel.

Busy Busy Busy

This Louis Vuitton number on Best Supporting Actress winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph has too much going on: I'd have preferred the chiffon train without the oversized cheerleader pom-poms shirred sleeves, which make her look wider than she actually is (and which you can tell are actually some sort of wrap only from the back.

Ow, ow, ow: This 1970s overly busy wallpaper on Lynette Howell Taylor is actively painful.

Florence Pugh looks like she was caught in the rain in this confused combination of a stylized nude-look corset and a long solid silk skirt with what I guess is supposed to be a wave at her waist that I personally would have found annoying every time I moved my arms.

Anya Taylor-Joy in a busy ode to the Chrysler Building that required 3500 hours of embroidery that I don't think flatters her: the cinched waist suddenly flaring out into the mermaid panels makes her hips and butt look huge (Looks a bit better from the back.)

Worst

Ariana Grande brought her own comforter in case she wanted a nap.

Great hair and jewelry on Melissa McCarthy but the waist just looks like a sewing error and not sure what color tinted glasses you'd have to be wearing to decide that red and magenta should be paired together.

Cynthia Erivo in dull green leather with too wide sleeves and a weird ruffled back. (Maybe an homage to Visual Effects nominee Godzilla Minus One?) Impressed by the architectural nails!

Gabrielle Union looks like a participant in a Christmas window display.

I was surprised to see that Julianne Hough was wearing platform shoes with her too-wide bottom, too-short jeweled bodice jumpsuit as I was expecting clown shoes. Best matching necklace of the night, though.

This black velvet and white droopy number does nothing for Greta Lee and looks like she's trailing toilet paper from the back.

Hope singer Billie Eilish enjoyed her school field trip to the Oscars.

Andrea Riseborough looks like a walking accent scarf and is carrying a large mom handbag and prison guard slicked-down hair.

Becky G perhaps forgot to put her top on over her see-through corset and it's a little funky for her gloves have almost as much material as her skirt.

Elemental's Leah Lewis apparently had some catastrophe where her dress got caught in a shredder and she also had to just grab miscellaneous shoes from her closet.

Erika Alexander looks like she was trying on a black sheer can-can skirt with a large pastel tulle trim (whose sewn back you can see) over a white dress and forgot to take it off. I also don't get the clashing style of the juvenile necklace.

Worst of the Night: Not sure whether composer Laura Karpman, nominated for Best Original Score for American Fiction, decided to make sure she'd make the Worst Dressed list with train wreck of an outfit from the metallic wide pants and quilted (!) oversized coat to the large-sequined mosaic top to clunky silver platform shoes, sequined sunglasses, and more-is-more jewelry. Her Cadbury Dairy Milk $1700 sequin handbag apparently contained chocolates that she threw to the crowd.

Best

Marlee Matlin in sparkly purple with a nicely matching purse and I like her going blonde.

Love this stunning mixed pewter and silver well-fitted Balenciaga sequined gown on Michelle Yeoh. (Based on other photos, she's in this pose because her bra was slightly showing!) Stunning earrings.

Nice burgundy chiffon on Xochitl Gomez with an interestingly pleated and draped bodice.

Jodie Foster's fashion sense can be hit or miss but this midnight blue satin top flowing into a shimmering skirt is definitely a hit for her.

America Ferrera in figure-hugging (who knew she had such a great figure?) Barbie pink mini-chain mail: great fit and nice almost-halter bodice. (Not a fan of the too-heavy ruby necklace though.)

E! pre-show host Laverne Cox looks amazing in this gold and black figure-hugging number and love the top-knot hair.

Cutest Couple: Chang Li Hua and Yi Yan Fuei, the grandmothers of director Sean Wang and the stars of his short documentary nominee Nai Nai & Wai Po (Grandma & Grandma).

Best Ensemble: The team that won Best Visual Effects for Godzilla Minus One brought their own Godzillas and had themed shoes.

Best of the Night: I was shocked that Hallee Steinfeld was on some Worst Dressed lists as she's my favorite of the night. She looks like a very well-heeled Princess Jasmine in this beautiful jeweled bodice with matching cuffs and wrist-attached neck sash.

Comments

[gerisullivan]

Thank you! I looked through most of these gowns online last night and wondered what you'd say about each one. These didn't disappoint!

I don't tend to keep up with fashion and the Oscars were the first I'd seen of the stiff above the shoulders straps. Still deciding what I think about those. It's nice to see something different, but....

[readsalot]

I wonder if Margo Robbie didn't wear pink because she wasn't nominated for Barbie, so she could just let it all go.

I think Cynthia Erivo is wearing green because she's playing Elphaba in the upcoming movie of Wicked. And possibly that's why Ariana Grande is in pink, she's going to be Galinda. And I am so happy that they've chosen actors who can sing!

[smofbabe]

* Some people were postulating that Margot Robbie wore black in mourning for not being nominated in the categories that many people thought she deserved.

* Yeah, I saw that theory about Erivo wearing green as a nod to her Wicked role from some others but did it have to be leather and look like Godzilla?

[readsalot]

The leather was a bit too much. I'm generally happy when people wear intense colors, I am so tired of white and light beige.

[smofbabe]

I'm with you on color: I almost always compliment people when they get away from pale (e.g., Liza Koshy). I'll never understand why blondes or pale-skinned women wear pale colors, another reason why I wasn't a big fan of Emma Stone's dress.

[sleigh]

Yay!

[particleguy]

FWIW, Buzzfeed suggested the Eilish's outfit was a nod to Ruth Handler.

[smofbabe]

That seems like a stretch to me, especially because if that were the case I would have expected her to wear a pearl necklace, which Ruth Handler was known for.