Oscars: They were dreary, desperate and insincere. But it had its moments!

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:55:00 +0000

I don’t know that Daniel Day-Lewis’ deadpan gag about switching roles with Meryl Streep – “I was all set to play Maggie Thatcher, and she was Steven’s first choice for ‘Lincoln’” – was actually the funniest joke in the world, but it pretty much brought down the house just before midnight on Sunday. It was one of the few occasions during the Oscars when someone who seemed to have an adult sensibility and an education was speaking on that stage, and I for one felt almost pathetically grateful. Most of the rest of the overextended, hit-and-miss spectacle formerly known as the Academy Awards went back and forth between dreary and desperate to please, which is a pretty good description of host Seth MacFarlane as well.

Of course it’s standard operating procedure for someone in my position (or yours, for that matter!) to mock the Oscars for all kinds of reasons: The terrible musical numbers, the doomed attempts to seem hip and relevant, the amazing empty stretches in the middle of the evening occupied only by technical awards no one outside the film industry understands and commercials for “financial products.” In a year when the most famous awards ceremony in the history of show business changes its name in a last-minute branding panic, that’s all way too easy. It wasn't clear that the Oscars had any further to fall after the legendary James Franco-Anne Hathaway debacle of two years ago and the emergency Billy Crystal early-'90s flashback of last year -- and indeed I suspect this year wasn't worse -- just cruder, stranger and more detached from the Oscars' alleged and theoretical purpose.

A peek under Oscar’s skirt

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 00:30:00 +0000

The red carpet event at the Oscars, Hollywood's preeminent see-and-be-seen affair, is as much about celebrity pageantry as it is a chance for stylists to make their mark. Each year, designers prepare by studying successful looks from seasons past, searching for a gown that will inspire other designers for years to come.

Though similarities between classic looks are often coincidential, the references can be strategic, too. Jeffrey Monteiro, a fashion expert and former design director at such houses as Derek Lam and Bill Blass, explains that celebrity stylists and handlers borrow from one another "to place themselves [and actresses] in the Hollywood hierarchy," choosing particular dresses to announce a transformation in a star's career, or even to set the tone for an era of fashion.

Monteiro has hand-picked some of the most iconic dresses in Oscar history — e.g., Grace Kelly's classic green gown, Lauren Hutton's 1975 Halston — and the frocks they would inspire years later. But a gown doesn't make the complete look: Though the differences between these styles may be subtle, one celebrity truly owns the look.

Salon.com > 85th annual oscars

Oscars: They were dreary, desperate and insincere. But it had its moments!

A peek under Oscar’s skirt