Oscars 2017 Red Carpet: The Top Ten Best Dressed
By Ani Bundel
The Best
Holy Hell Halle! The shocker of the night, Halle Berry returned to the red carpet and proceeded to walk off with the entire damn thing. Yes I know, there are a *lot* of people who have an opinion on the wig. But seriously that Atelier Versace gown is a return to form from back in her glory days when she won the Oscar for Best Actress. And don’t you forget it.
Emma Stone, dressed like she assumes she will win. Her gown, by Givenchy manages to channel Oscar without being, as other who wore a golden gown, looking like they are competing with the statue, or compensating for not getting to go home with one. Hers is set to compliment said Oscar when she gets it and has to carry it around for the rest of the night.
Janelle Monáe is here. Carry On.
No seriously, Monáe has been killing it on the red carpet this entire run. Not killing it in the traditional sense, like Lupita Nyong’o did during her Oscar pole dance for 12 Years a Slave a couple of years ago. Janelle Monáe has been killing it while remaining 100% on brand for the kind of quirky character we have come to expect from her music career. It’s been a brilliant fusion of the two, and this Elie Saab gown is the crowning achievement of both.
Taraji Hensen apparently got tired of being on the Badly Dressed list this year. It’s been an unfortunate fact that of the Hidden Figures women, Hensen, who has been trying to break out of her comfort zone has had more misses than hits during the season long red carpet marathon. But for the Oscars, she decided to play it safe and went with an Alberta Ferretti midnight blue velvet classic perfection.
Olivia Culpo’s Marchesa gown wasn’t just a waterfall of fringe tiers, it was also a walking advert for Water.org. Most of the time, when an actress does this sort of gimmicky “let’s all remember the poor and downtrodden” type statement gown during the red carpet it winds up at least on the bad list, if not the incredibly unfortunate. This manages to be a walking billboard for a charity AND also make the Top Ten looks of the night. No small feat.
Charlize Theron, as an Oscar. And Yet! As I mentioned earlier, when women wear gold to the Oscars, they are there as their partner’s “substitute Oscar” (Ahem, Jessica Biel) or they are compensating for the fact that they will not be taking one home. In Theron’s case, she;s doing just that. The difference between her and the others on the carpet doing the same is she’s been dressing like this for years (Basically since she won for Monster’s Ball). And she’s gotten really good at it. It helps also that the gown is by Dior, the company she reps for. They do well by her.
Viola Davis toned it down, so others might have the spotlight. How nice of her. But seriously! In comparison to some of the other gowns that Davis has slain on the red carpet, this Armani Prive is downright minimalist for her. Also, in most cases, actresses who wear red are going for the safety color–they match the carpet, it’s slightly more daring than black without actually taking risks, etc. But somehow Davis takes this color and elevates it to something more than just “safety red.” On her, it’s “Knockout.”
Auli’i Cravalho, the voice of Disney’s Moana, was an early arrival and in an art deco mermaid fin confection of a gown. As the 16-year-old newest Disney Princess, and representing her native Hawaii, the right way to pull this off was to lean into it, and I’m glad her people didn’t shy away from that. (It also helped that she later killed it during her performance with Lin-Manuel Miranda.) Her choice of designer, by the way, was in keeping with that “next generation” fresh-faced theme, with a dress by Rubin Singer.
Cynthia Erivo showed up early since she knew she’d be overshadowed, and in a gown worthy of the attention. The irony that the very first person to arrive on the carpet was never quite beaten by most of those who showed up after her was only that much the sweeter. Also, unlike Berry, who has many asking questions about the hair, hers was On Point. As was her Paolo Sebastian gown.
Tonight’s Class Couple! I usually leave the men off in their own section, but several factors came into play that caused me to move David Oyelewo up to the top rung. One is the blue suit craze, which has affected ninety percent of the men at awards functions for the last month. Second was the fact that most men, when they do the white and black tux, wind up looking like waiters. But it was not enough that he skillfully avoided both of these pitfalls.
Next: Oscars 2017 Red Carpet: The Top Ten Worst Dressed
On top of all that, he managed to have his wife not only look Top Ten worthy, but also a perfect match to his. For that, we bow down sir.