Well, it’s been five days since the 84th Annual Academy Awards and I’m sure you’ve all seen the best and worst of the red carpet, including Angelina Jolie’s right leg and Gwyneth Paltrow’s stunning Tom Ford number, so I won’t bore you with yet another roundup. What I want to do instead is look at the gowns worn by the stars on the red carpet on Sunday night against their runway origins. I sometimes feel overwhelmed during fashion week; it’s an overload of colour, texture, cut, style, detailing…but on the red carpet we have time to see it from all angles, and to see it worn with accessories and hair that aren’t trying to tell the wider story of a designer’s collection. Here are my top five picks from runway to red carpet:
source: style.com / thesun.co.uk
OK, so the Vanity Fair after-party isn’t exactly the red carpet, but Katie Holmes looked totally Oscars-worthy in this divine midnight blue Elie Saab couture creation, that debuted on the Paris Fall 2011 runway. Saab is one of my favourite designers for so many reasons, one of the main ones being that his designs translate flawlessly onto real women, and look just as good on a size 6 woman with a few curves as on a size 0 model. Brava, Katie, and an encore for the fabulous clutch too!
source: style.com / glamour.com
Star of Oscar-winning The Artist Bérénice Bejo wowed on the red carpet in another Elie Saab gown, straight from January’s Spring 2012 couture show in Paris. I’m not sure whether the runway photo is washed out or whether Bérénice’s dress was created in a different hue, but the sea foam green looks spectacular on the Argentine-French actress and the figure-hugging silhouette of Saab’s creation flattered her every curve.
source: fashionista.com / harpersbazaar.com
Prabal Gurung has made a huge impression on the runway for the past couple of years, and his Fall 2012 ready-to-wear offering displayed at New York Fashion Week was no exception. I adore the heavy blue eyeshadow worn on the runway, but that’s not likely to look good anywhere else but the catwalks of Fashion Week. Kate Bosworth translated the look perfectly into a sleek evening ensemble at the Vanity Fair after-party. No accessories required; the dress speaks for itself.
source: vogue.com / guardian.co.uk
I have to admit, I’m not a fan of this dress. The colour is stunning, and from the neck down it’s elegant and feminine. But that giant neck bow? No thanks. Yet somehow Emma Stone was a picture of perfection in Giambattista Valli’s spring 2012 couture gown; not only that, but she drastically improved on the runway version, opting for sleek hair and minimal accessories in place of the fussy headpiece and superfluous necklace of the catwalk.
source: style.com / guardian.co.uk
I think it’s safe to say that Elie Saab was the real star of the red carpet on Sunday, with so many of the best-dressed wearing his gorgeous gowns. Originally I had picked Michelle Williams as my favourite of the night in her burnt orange Louis Vuitton peplum number, but Milla Jovovich has quickly climbed to the top of my list, with her perfectly styled hair, red lips, ice-white accessories and that gown, first seen in the all-white collection of Saab’s Fall 2009 couture show in Paris. The dress itself is stunning, but Jovovich offers curves and old-world glamour, which transform it from a beautiful but simple dress into the red carpet’s most breathtaking ensemble of the 2012 Oscars.
Do you agree? Do you prefer to see dresses on the runway or the red carpet?
Have you seen this comparison between Emma Stone’s dress at the Oscars and Nicola Kidman’s dress at the 2007 Oscars?
http://uk.omg.yahoo.com/gossip/the-juice/oscars-2012-emma-stone-makes-massive-mistake-wears-040141960.html