Oscar's 2016: Best and Worst Outfits & That Gold Snakeskin Dress

I wasn't intending to blog about The Oscars but I consumed so much media about it yesterday, from the moment I turned on the TV and saw Red Carpet interviews over breakfast, to during the day, when every time I glanced at social media I saw 'That Dress'....the Gold Dress by Tom Ford, worn by Margot Robbie, which 'looks like an Oscar' itself. 

It doesn't just look like an award statue though, the gold snake print fabric she's wearing is not too dissimilar to the gold snakeskin dress I wore on the Red Carpet for the Asian Media Awards back in October 2015. Hmmmm....has someone been copying my style?

TRENDS

Pluging necklines were the biggest Oscars trend this year with the majority of women walking the red carpet wearing dresses that drew attention to their cleavage. Personally I think my own gold dress with less skin on show, is far classier. Not that I'm against showing cleavage, it makes you feel amazing when you have a decent dress and a bit of boob showing, but it is sad that so many women feel they had to do this on the one day they'll get photographed most in their life. 

It's a sorry state of affairs that women need to show their skin while the men are in dapper suits, to get noticed in their careers. The biggest reason it's so important to dress well at The Oscars is that an actor/actress gets noticed, and cast in their next role but why is baring skin so important for this? The Oscar's have been going for 88 years and still this is what women are expected to do. Women who wore outfits that weren't as revealing were told they look dowdy and old fashioned - because modernity is all about looking semi naked right?

Choosing what one is wearing to The Oscars is clearly a big deal. Everyone in attendance will have faced every fashion dilemma going when it comes to choosing their outfit ...but some made much better decisions than others.

I won't di-sect every single outfit (you can do that on Google, there's enough opinions and photos out there to see what people are saying,) I'm just going to comment on what I think was the best outfit and the one that was a real disappointment...

Dress: Armani Prive

BEST OUTFIT: Cate Blanchette

Cate's was more than just the best outfit, it's the overall look. Every single element compliments her, the hair and make-up are equally as important. The the dress has character and personality and the colour is original and suits her complexion. It's the perfect dress for 'Cate.'

Dress by Zuhair Murad

MOST DISAPPOINTING OUTFIT: Priyaka Chopra

I LOVE PC as an actress, she's one of Bollywood's finest. Previously a model, her early acting career was pretty bad, but she's grown so much into a natural, intelligent and creative actress who's give some incredible performances. 

Despite this being the 88th Academy Awards there is a huge lack of South Asians represented at them. (Don't even get me started on the fact Bollywood films don't make it into the international category).

Priyanka being at the Oscars wasn't just her elevating her career, whether she liked it or not, she was representing Indians on a global scale. Ok that may sound unfair but she does carry some responsibility as an ambassador, especially as she was on the stage handing out an award. Even though she identifies as being part-American - she studied there, launched her pop career there and recently starred in US serial Quantico - the biggest success in her career has been starring in Indian cinema. 

In that world there are some incredible fashion designers, and she herself has worn some absolutely gorgeous colourful couture work - the kinds of designs Western audiences don't get much exposure to.

This was an opportunity to show the best in Asian fashion to the world and she chose to turn up in a simple, safe white dress with hair pulled back into a pony tail - which to me is the opposite of Cate's look - bland, and with zero personality. 

Priyanka has never been the most 'stylish' of actresses but she looks sooooooo much better when she appears at Indian functions in India, her attempts to do Oscar's glamour in a traditional gown are for me, a real disappointment.

Dress: Elizabeth Kennedy

Mindy Kaling, the other female South Asian icon at the Oscars looked remarkably better than Priyanka because although she wore a classic black dress, the detail of the blue  bow at the back is what gave it some personality and the overall look suited her. 

I'm not saying in anyway that because someone is Asian they should wear Asian clothes - but in Priyanka's case she has access to the best in Indian designers, so her choice was a wasted opportunity.

As for what I would wear to The Oscars, well I recently bought a red carpet dress (above) which has a gorgeous shimmer to it. It's the only long dress I own and I bought it in the January sales from Joy because it was reduced from £120 to £28 and fit me perfectly so I took it as a sign that I had to own it. It's what I would wear if I had to pick something from my current wardrobe right now.....but if I could get dressed by a designer, hands down it would be Manish Arora, Indian designer and fashion visionary. 

I can but only dream about wearing a creation of his One Day....

For this particular blog post I had to use images found online which aren't credited because there are so many versions of them - so thanks to whoever took them, I hope you can see this is a wee blog and I just needed them for illustrative purposes. Thanks.