Presenter Halle Berry was such a standout on the red carpet in this intricately designed and fabulously executed Christian Siriano gown featuring thousands of mirrored pieces. I love the sequin mesh sides and the little train. I was just blown away by this gown. Christian Siriano was part of the E! fashion panel and he said it was a career goal to dress Halle for the Oscars. You could tell how proud he was of this look and he should be, it was phenomenal. The only thing I’ll say against it is that it flashed on camera and reflected the light in a way I found distracting when she was on stage. I don’t know how they could have avoided that. I would watch a two hour documentary on this dress. Her styling is also perfection.
I would have loved to have seen Van Hunt on the red carpet with her but he doesn’t need to go to everything and I imagine that these ceremonies can be a drag for plus ones. Sometimes I think about Don Cheadle saying that he feels restrained at the Oscars because he can’t talk smack about people when the cameras catch every moment. That’s so relatable to me apart from getting to go to the Oscars.
Presenter and EGOT Whoopi Goldberg wore a “custom Siriano liquid water” off the runway gown. I like how bold this is, the color and reflective properties of the fabric are such and standout. As a Gen X woman I love seeing Whoopi. She was a staple of my teen years. Whoopi brought her daughter, Alex Martin, as her date.
Performer Queen Latifah was also in Siriano, in a lovely crimson gown with puffy shoulders. Queen Latifah did the Quincy Jones tribute last night and I like that they opened with Ease on Down The Road from The Wiz! That was the first movie I remember seeing in a theater. I was five and I had skipped school that day, but my mom still let me go to the movies.
Speaking of the performances, we had a whole ass tribute to James Bond for some reason. I’m thinking Amazon paid for that. My favorite performance was Raye doing Skyfall at the end. She was adorable in her red carpet interview and I will be watching her career. Raye wore Vivienne Westwood and she looked like a bombshell.
Doja Cat was very on brand in leopard print retro Balmain. This was kind of cool looking and we’ve seen so much worse from her. I kind of loved her performance outfit with the dripping sequins even though it was quite on the nose for “Diamonds are Forever.”
Lisa of Blackpink was in a custom Mark Gong tuxedo dress on the red carpet. This is one of the most unique looking tuxedo gowns I’ve seen and I see the craftsmanship and thought that went into it. The designer describes it on Instagram as “a long tailored coat with a long pleated white shirt and velvet bow tie.” He calls it “strong, confident but mysterious” and says “it was joyful and exciting to create this look.” It definitely shows! I love how the buttons for the shirt continue down the skirt and how everything layers delicately.
photos credit: Avalon.red