Oscar night 2012

[Helene]

I think Portman looked stunning:

http://perezhilton.c...7&pic=3#gallery

Livia Guiggioli's dress might be meh, but she's gorgeous, and Colin Firth looks very happy in this photo of them:

http://perezhilton.c...&pic=13#gallery

I think Bo Derek looks terrific here:

http://perezhilton.c...&pic=23#gallery

I love Michelle Williams' hair:

http://perezhilton.c...4&pic=2#gallery

This would be lovely without the big neck bow:

http://perezhilton.c...4&pic=4#gallery

Like here:

http://perezhilton.c...4&pic=5#gallery

I prefer this dress to Jlo's, and her butt would have looked just as good in it:

http://perezhilton.com/galleries/oscars2012white-hot-celeb-style/?id=219839&pic=6#gallery

Or this:

http://perezhilton.com/galleries/oscars2012white-hot-celeb-style/?id=219839&pic=10#gallery

http://perezhilton.c...&pic=11#gallery

This in a jewel tone without the one-shoulder pad would be nice:

http://perezhilton.c...9&pic=7#gallery

[dirac]

Will Streep ever be able to equal Hepburn or even surpass her on winning times...? (Hepburn=4 vs. Streep=3)

Angelina's dress was beautiful. She looks emanciated, and she was trying too hard with that posing stuff...

Streep said she thought it was her last time up there, but I wouldn't be too sure. A tie with Hepburn is possible, if unlikely, but five is probably out of the question.

I think Jolie can reserve displays of leg for the gaze of her inamorata without much in the way of public protest. There was also something incipiently Crawfordish about the masklike quality of her face last night.

Emma Stone gets the Anne Hathaway Trouper Award for persistence in spite of a sullen unresponsive male partner.

[sandik]

Then too much white against white with little makeup and no jewels-(Paltrow, Jovovich, Guliana Rancic etc...)

...

J.Lo in her Zuhair Murad/Mae West inspired look-(vulgar and stunning at the same time. Let's note I pulled her out from Hilton's worst dress list

http://perezhilton.c...5&pic=4#gallery

I smiled at the doubles number that she and Cameron Diaz were running as co-presenters -- you might have thought it was too much white, but I appreciated their knowing performance.

[Natalia]

I watched E!'s "Fashion Police Academy Awards Special" with Joan Rivers et al last night.

Joan's Overall Best Dressed: Viola Davis (individual panelists also loved Gwyneth Paltrow/"The Cape")

Joan's Overall Worst Dressed: Angelina Jolie (individual panelists also disliked Berenice Bejo - dress and braided hairdo)

Cubanmiamiboy, the Fashion Police also taked about the 'after-party dresses' and had big laughs with Mena Suvari's feathered trapezoid mess.

[Natalia]

......When Natalie Portman was being interviewed on the red carpet, I was shocked that Millipied, given what a bold self-promoter he is, didn't muscle his way into camera range.

True. However, we got more than a dose of him in the raunchy 'Miss Dior' perfume commercials that ran during the telecast in the USA.

[Barbara]

Natalia, are you sure that was Millipied in the commercial? I thought the man looked much younger and wondered why Ben hadn't done the spot with Natalie. I'll have to watch for it again.

[dirac]

I watched E!'s "Fashion Police Academy Awards Special" with Joan Rivers et al last night.

Joan's Overall Best Dressed: Viola Davis (individual panelists also loved Gwyneth Paltrow/"The Cape")

Joan's Overall Worst Dressed: Angelina Jolie (individual panelists also disliked Berenice Bejo - dress and braided hairdo)

Cubanmiamiboy, the Fashion Police also taked about the 'after-party dresses' and had big laughs with Mena Suvari's feathered trapezoid mess.

Odd choices, but then it's Rivers.

Rooney Mara gets my worst dressed award. There was nothing wrong with the dress per se (although it did wash her out horribly.) No, my objection is to that perma-scowl she had (and always has) on her face -- it destroyed every effect she was trying to achieve with the dress.

I agree. I wanted to root for that frock because Mara was plainly trying to do something different and one respects that in view of the fact that Rivers, et al. are waiting out there to take the actresses apart, but she didn't carry it off well. Nothing wrong with the dress, although the back did look like some kind of orthopedic support.

The dress of the night was Chastain's. Gorgeous with some unusual details, just a wonderful gown. Octavia Spencer looked smashing in a beautifully draped and fitted beaded number (and her acceptance speech was a highlight of the night).

[miliosr]

There was also something incipiently Crawfordish about the masklike quality of her face last night.

And how is this a negative?

[dirac]

Oh, you know what I mean.

[Quiggin]

I thought this interview with Connie Wald was interesting in that it ties in with many of the Hollywood discussions we've had here, and with the Oscars. It gives a low-keyed portrait of Hollywood & it jives with Joan Didion's essays on Hollywood - and perhaps part of the souce of her background materials, since she was one of the Walds' group of friends.

Joan Crawford came an awful lot. She and my husband had worked together a lot and he really admired her. She worked hard at being a movie star. She was this attractive woman with tremendous drives. It was sad when she adopted those children. It just never worked out.

Garbo was so lovely looking, much smaller than you would think, but perfectly molded. The stars were often like that, so small and with unexpected qualities.

When my husband produced the Oscars in 1957, he got Rock Hudson to sing ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ to Mae West. We had Mae to dinner and we knew she liked young men around her. Our kids were at college then, so we told our sons to invite all their friends. The house was full of these handsome young men, and that pleased Mae.

... It’s really a very thankless show to do, congratulating people and opening envelopes.

A Hollywood Insider and a Map of the Stars:

http://www.nytimes.c...-her-table.html