Academy Awards Red Carpet 2011

It's Oscars time! As is well known, the 83rd Academy Awards were Sunday night. Congrats to the winners, but more importantly congrats to the 11 ladies (Anne Hathaway x2) featured above, as they are Les Deux's best dressed of this year's Oscar ceremony. No time for small talk about who won what; continue on below the jump for larger pictures and critiques.

SAG Awards Red Carpet 2011

My favorite looks (click to enlarge)

So the Screen Actors Guild Awards were two nights ago and I had a much more difficult time narrowing down a list of favorite looks than I did with the Golden Globes. I feel like the attendees really upped their wardrobe game on this one. As you can see in my collage above, this made my selection of noteworthy looks rather large. Since I don't want to overrun our page, the individual reviews and info on who's-wearing-what are below the jump.

The Golden Golden Globes, cont'd

Remember Olivia Wilde's dress at the Golden Globes? Let's all take a moment of silence to look at the shoes she was hiding underneath that gorgeous pile of Marchesa tulle...

Bluuudghghgllellll

 (that's the sound of my brain and heart melting at the sight of those Louboutin wonders)

HOW could she have kept those things hidden!? What was she thinking? It's a little disgraceful, really.

Katie

(Image from tumblr)

Golden Globes Red Carpet 2011

I'm a shameless sucker for celebrity-watching at awards shows. Not only is it kind of thrilling to see the biggest of stars interacting like normal people, but there's also the obvious appeal of who's wearing whom. While I wasn't completely happy with the results of the show (Black Swan should have won Best Picture and 30 Rock & its actors should have won everything), I was particularly pleased by the wardrobe choices this year. Below are some of my favorite looks:

Emma Stone in custom Calvin Klein

Stone really went out on a limb with this one. The dress is pretty similar to her skin color and her skin color is pretty similar to her new platinum locks. I was thinking that mainstream fashion critics like Yahoo! would surely berate her for this monochromatic look, but they, like me, loved it. Stone's facial features and body are striking enough to carry this look with ease and make it seem super sexy. Plus, the peachy tone of the dress combined with her sleek makeup accentuated her blue eyes to perfection.

Mila Kunis in custom Vera Wang

I always admire people who have the balls to wear jewel-toned green on the red carpet. Not only is it a pretty difficult color to pull off, but it always seems very reminiscent of Christmas to me. Mila Kunis, however, rocked this emerald hued gown like it was a piece of cake. The draped crinkle silk fabric looked like it was just flowing off of her body, which has clearly recovered from her 20-pound weight loss for her role in Black Swan. Not only was her dress fantastic, her skin was completely flawless thanks to a $7,000 diamond and ruby facial she reportedly received prior to the award show. No wonder she looked so flawless.

Robert Downey Jr. in Prada

I love this guy. His look is a little crazy, yes, but so is he! His sort of eccentric personality really showed through with the pops of red. And, despite what others may think, the hair and scruff really didn't take away from the put-togetherness of the suit; in fact, I think they kind of made the look.

Claire Danes in custom Calvin Klein

No matter what shade you call it, this highlighter/bubblegum/Barbie pink halter gown worked perfectly on Danes. I love that she chose such a daring hue with this very minimal dress. Anything less than shocking pink would have been cast aside as drab. Kudos to Claire for going all out and still hitting the nail right on the head.

Hailee Steinfeld in Prabal Gurung

I still cannot get over the fact that this True Grit star is only 14 years old. In every red carpet picture I've seen of her she looks closer to my age than middle school. Regardless of age, her look was stunning and super youthful. The racerback fit of the dress paired with her pulled back hair and simple makeup made this look very age appropriate - a refreshing change from the "less is more" mentality that so many young starlets seem to have. Hopefully we'll be seeing much more from her, because her red carpet style is inspiring.

Lea Michele in Oscar de la Renta

This muted pink gown and loose wavy updo are perfect for Michele. Because of her (stupid) show, Glee, she's become America's sweetheart. The asymmetrical top, the ruffles that run down the body, and the simple makeup and jewelry make this the perfect girl next door look for the perfect girl next door.

Natalie Portman in Viktor & Rolf Couture

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this dress, mostly just because I'm a little biased by my newfound love for Natalie Portman. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what Portman would be wearing to the Globes (and whether or not we'd see some of that second trimester bump). While I'm not insanely crazy about the rose appliqué, I think that the red/pink hued look wouldn't be complete without it. I love the Grecian draping that cascades over her baby bump, drawing attention to the fact that she's a mom-to-be. Dressing for pregnancy can be hard, but Portman does it here in a really classic and classy way.

Robert Pattinson in custom Gucci

No, I'm not a Twilight fan nor have I fallen head over heels for Pattinson like too many other American teens have; but you've got to admit it, the man looked classy as hell at the Globes. I mean, look at those lapels. He looked quite the gentleman.

Sandra Bullock in Jenny Packham

I'm going to start off on the negative side (pessimist for life) by saying that I cannot stand Bullock's hair with  this gown. It completely suffocates the dress. If Sandra wanted bangs, fine, but she should have at least pulled her hair off of her shoulders so that she could have shown off her dress' embellishments. Now onto the good: that dress. I feel dumb for not having heard of Jenny Packham before the Globes, but thanks to Bullock I'm now becoming familiar with this great designer. This beautiful gown is only one of her many intricate, red-carpet-worthy dresses. It's got a lot of elements to it (one shoulder, tulle poking out, beaded all over, draping down the bottom), but it doesn't look tacky at all, nor does it look overly ritzy. Gorgeous gown. Wish I could say the same for Bullock's hair...

Leighton Meester in Burberry Prorsum

Meester looks super classic and demure in this look from Burberry Pre-Fall. I'm used to seeing the starlets of Gossip Girl wearing a uniform of super-revealing dresses, so it's quite novel to see Leighton in such a modest look (she even had longer sleeves added to the original look). Maybe she her change of style was influenced by her role in Country Strong, but hopefully this mature, subdued style is going to show up again on Meester.

Olivia Wilde in Marchesa

Stunning, stunning, stunning. There are no other words for this fantastic, sparkly Marchesa gown. Like with Sandra Bullock, I think that Wilde should have put more focus onto the dress by pulling her hair back (especially since she has bangs), but let's get real - nothing can compete with this dress.

Any great looks that I missed?

(Images and image editing from this great tumblr)

McQueen Tribute & Fall 2008 RTW

JAX

Nick Knight's tribute to Alexander McQueen, which was shown at today's British Fashion Awards.  McQueen was honored at the ceremony posthumously with an Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design award.  The above video features some of the designer's most iconic pieces, and is set to music by Bjork.  Knight was quoted as saying that, "[he] felt it was important to have the clothes featured one last time on flesh and blood," before they were to be taken to MoMA for an exhibition that will feature McQueen's work this coming spring.  Charlotte Cowles of the Cut accurately describes the video as simply, "haunting."

Watching this tribute piece made me reflect upon my own favorite Alexander McQueen moments.  While I have more than just a few, if I had to pinpoint my one favorite, it would have to be the first time I saw the looks from his fall 2008 collection.  As a naive fifteen year old, who thought she knew much more than she actually did about fashion, the images of this runway show affected me so profoundly that I never looked the same way at clothing again.  I distinctly remember being curled up on an old burgundy love seat next to my mother, reading what was probably my first collections issue of a magazine (W Collections, if I remember correctly), when the tiny pictures caught my eye.  I had never seen looks so avant-garde, yet so wearable, made of materials that I didn't know could exist in fashion.  Of course, the royally romantic dresses from this collection were what stood out to me the most at the time.

I was so excited about these clothes that I immediately had to discuss them with my mother, whom I'm pretty sure said that they were something along the lines of, "very lovely, but a little much for [her] taste."  More notably, I also told my mother that the yellow feather bouffant dress with tulle underlay worn by Lily Donaldson (top, left) would be my wedding dress, displaying what little I knew about fashion.  I'm sure that dress (quite possibly the only one ever made) is carefully stowed away in a temperature and humidity controlled storage room as I type this.  Anyway, I have much more realistic dreams for my never-happening-wedding dress now:

CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards

JAX

As we know, Billy Reid won the CFDA/Vogue grand prize on Monday, with Prabal Gurung and Eddie Borgo each earning a runner up title.  And that's all good and well, but what's really important is what everyone was wearing!  I had a lot of favorites, as expected, but there were definitely a few missteps as well.  Read on for some of the most interesting.

How freaking cute are Joseph Altuzarra and his mother?  I love her strange, almost Tavi-purple hair color.  The strapless dress with glasses and a watch looks so chic.  She is fantastic.