2007 Oscar Fashion: Uninspired

As I sit watching the Oscars, patiently awaiting the presentation of the final three of five categories that I actually care about (best actor/actress, best supporting actor/actress and best picture), I can't help but feel disappointed in this year's fashion.

I don't know what it is about award shows that forces otherwise good looking people, mega celebrities, make such terrible fashion choices. And it's so unbelievably comical and bit ironic to see because these are people who invest a great deal of time and money in their bodies and overall appearances.

Yes, I know that they are wearing designer couture, costing more than my annual salary; but this year, there were some strangely poor choices. In the pool of celebs I've chosen to display, there are more dresses that I hated and feel lukewarm about, than those that I actually liked. Where is Halle Berry when you need her? So without further ado:

The Faves:

Reese WitherspoonReese always looks so cute and sophisticated. Rarely am I disappointed with her fashion choices, though I didn't care for that sunburst yellow dress she wore to the Golden Globe Awards. This choice however, is a nice comeback. It's simple, elegant and mature.

Beyonce KnowlesThis is a great choice for Beyonce. I love it when she errs on the side of understated elegance instead of southern diva. I know y'all saw that gold mess she wore to the Golden Globe Awards.

Helen MirrenI wish i could have found a frontal shot of her dress. She looks stunning. This dress is the right color, the right fit, elegant and age-appropriate.

Portia de RossiI really like this dress on Portia. It's brash, kind of sassy, yet elegant. Only she can pull off this dress and it is a major step up from the creamsicle orange number she wore a few years back.

Jennifer LopezAlthough I wonder each year why she's there, I am impressed with her choice of dress this year. She looks like a 1950s diva with great flare.

On the fence:

Jennifer HudsonI am such a Jen fan from her days on American Idol. My fellow Chicagoan is bringing her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Dreamgirls home. I am so happy and excited for her. As for the dress, I love the color and the fit, but I most certainly don't like that metallic jacket. It completely ruins the style and subtedly of that pocketed chocolate ensemble.

Gwen PaltrowI hate the color of this dress so much. It makes me ill. The design is less than appealing, but the color is just all wrong!

Jessica BielI like the design, but just not a fan of hot pink, magenta or fuschia for an evening gown.

Rinko KikuchiI love black dresses, especially those with such great detail and embroidery. Unfortunately, she didn't eat for 5 weeks before this event, so as your eyes move downward the dress is consuming her flesh!

Nicole Kidman She is too pale and this dress is overbearingly red. Not a good combination.

Penelope Cruz I want so desperately to like this dress and I almost do. It's just a shame that the lower half looks like matted shag carpeting.

Hate it:

Anne HathawayDid she learn nothing from The Devil Wears Prada? Apparently, not! The black bow on top of the white lace makes her look flat chested and her lower body pear-shaped. Again I ask, did she learn nothing from The Devil Wears Prada?

Naomi WattsIf it weren't for the black belt, I'd think she was a banana popsicle.

Cameron DiazIs she going to the Oscars or overdressed for a picnic? I don't get it?!?!

Kirsten DunstKirsten gets the most consistent award, consistently bad. This dress is so hideous, I can't say anything else.

Jodie FosterI don't know quite what to say about this dress. However, I can say that I wished Jodie would have just worn a suit.

Dear Beyonce:

There are only two words that I can use to describe your new album, B'Day:

NOT GOOD!

Sincerely,
nahmix

Show 'em how it's done....

If all of Hollywood looked this good when they stepped out...what on earth would we talk about? Good job Reese and Selma; very chic!!!

Fashion 101: The Oscars 2006

This year's Oscar fashion was quite a sight. I found myself quite pleased with a number selections and disappointed with a few of the usual offenders.

Best Dressed

Representing for the big girls like noone else can...Queen Latifah. She looks absolutely perfect from head to toe! My pick for best dressed of the night! And did I mention, she is holding it down for the big girls?!?!

Following closely behind the Queen: Karolina Kurkova. Strangely simple, yet elegant.

I don't know who this Terry Pheto is, but this unusual ensemble grabbed my attention. It's different and not quite what I'd expect to see at the Oscar's yet she pulled it off elegantly.

Uma Thurman is stunning in this gown. I love everything about, color included. And you know I don't like this color on white women, but the design is incredible!

Teraji Henson picked a winner. The dress is young and hip. The color is definitely bold and sassy, yet the style is classic.

Amost there, yet not quite

Bahar Soomekh's dress is beautiful, the look would have been perfect with a curly upsweep!

Another almost perfect looked, ruined by dead hair and a sagging wasteband. Had Jennifer Jason Leigh tightened the the bow around her waste and pulled her hair into a tight bun, she'd be able to join the ranks of the my top picks!

Aside from the fact that I don't understand why JLO and Marc were at the Oscars, I don't why this particular dress is that particular color. I love the dress and I love the color, both on her. However, that dress should have been either been another color or the dress design different to accoodate that color.

Beautiful dress with the right hairstyle, it's just unfortunate that Hillary Swank looks like a pencil in it.

Samantha Harris falls in the almost perfect category too. Great dress, just far too lingerie in white. Would have been perfect in a simple black.

Maggie Gyllenhaal should have been name Moon River in this number. I like it, just don't think it's right for her. The material of the dress looks almost linen drapery on her!

Just plain wrong

Biggest disappointment of the night: Charlize Theron. I'm not sure if she's on the red carpet heading to an awards cermony or the runway to a spaceship getting ready for take. This look is a little too futurama for me.

Not only do I just not like this dress, I don't know what Felicity Huffman was thinking when she put it on. I mean, she's like 60 years old!

Great color, but Jada Pinkett Smith looks as square as Sponge Bob in this gown.

Am I the only one who thinks that Jennifer Anniston has worn her plain jane look out? I mean simple hair, simple dress, safe color. I'm so unimpressed!

Jennifer Garner: Hated it!!!

Jessica Alba should learn from this mistake!

Naomi Watts must have hit her head and lost consciousness. When she came to, she thought she was Hall Berry circa 2004/2005.

There was nothing Shawn Robinson could do to fix this. It's just wasn't a good choice.

Not only is this dress doing too much, but Michelle Williams looks like a tangerine cream-sicle.

I want so much to like this Kiera Knightley dress, but I think it's far too reminiscent of the green gown Marcia Cross wore last year!

I don't know why I bother...

I can only hope that someday, if I am ever blessed with a son, and one that has achieved the level of celebrity and wealth that Diddy has, I'd have more sense than to step out in public the way Janice Combs does repeatedly. You've seen her and that big heap of "Oh Hell Nah" from head to toe! I mean...just plain old tacky! I'm convinced, there HAS to be something wrong with this woman.

Her sense of style suggests that she does not have access to a fashion consultant. We all no otherwise. Hell, her own son was voted best designer of like 2005 or 2004. I'm not a huge Diddy fan, but I'll give credit where credit is due. The brothah can design some clothes and pick some nice pieces for women. Kim Porter never stepped out with him looking a hot mess...and I'm sure that wasn't just by her own doing.

But it's not just about how awful Janice's clothes are, it's her entire look from head to toe! So, she wants to be platinum and honey blond as the seasons change; all jokes and personal politics aside; I can meet a bitch right where she is and let her have that hair color. But what I can't do, is understand or even accept that what she does with that hair is her very best. I mean, has she not met MJB. Has she not seen MJB in a magazine, a video, at a party, somewhere? Mary will rock some of the most outlandish shades of blond and off the wall hair styles possible. No, they all might not be that hot shit...but damn, she tries! I know effort don't mean much when the paparazzi splashes your tacky ass all over the magazines, but dayum!! I'm not suggesting that Janice move from her personal extreme to Mary's, but I am asking that she take more than a cursory glance at her notion of style!

Why can't Janice look the part, just once?? This woman is somebody's mother and grandmother, hell friend and sister! You mean noone can sit this heffa down and say, "look bitch, this shit has got to stop?" I would love to see her, just once, not look like the ghetto bride of Frankenstein. With all the money they have???...(sighs) But it's true, money can't can't buy happiness no more than it can self respect! If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a look! This is just criminal!!!

Not enough Steve Harris for me...

Steve Harris will star as Walter Lee Younger in the Sacramento Theater Company's revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. October 5 – 30, 2005.

I can't wait to see it next weekend!!!

FMI: Sacto

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On another note...Steve's long awaited film The Unseen will screen at the Chicago Film Festival.

The Unseen Synopsis:

When an African American man of quiet intensity, Roy Clemens, returns home for his father’s funeral, he inherits the family store while also being haunted by his childhood memories. Roy must confront his past and a secret he shares with only one other; his former best friend, a white, confederate raised, Harold Dickerson. Delivering a package to Harold's, he is met by quirky, blind Sammy Dickerson who has been locked-up at home by his brother Harold for twenty years. Harold has cornered the market for homebrew with his girlfriend Kathleen and his redneck friend Earl, who remain loyal to him in spite of Harold's treatment of Sammy. Sammy's desire to leave his house forces Roy to confront his issues with affinity and the guilt he feels from his tortured history with Harold and Sammy.

Screenings will take place at the AMC River East 21, 322 E. Illinois
Friday, October 14 at 9:15 PM
Saturday, October 15 at 6:45 PM
Sunday, October 16 at 1:30 PM

FMI: Chi Film Festival

Here we go again...

Oprah to Bring 'Color Purple' to Broadway
By Associated Press

NEW YORK -- "The Color Purple," a musical based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, will have Oprah Winfrey as a producer and investor when it opens on Broadway in December.

In Winfrey's first Broadway venture, she will contribute more than $1 million of the musical's $10 million production cost, The New York Times reported Sunday on its Web site.

The musical, which has been revised since receiving mixed reviews when it opened in Atlanta last year, will be called "Oprah Winfrey Presents: 'The Color Purple.'"

Winfrey told the Times it has been "a secret dream" to be part of Broadway.

"I hope to do for this production some of what I've been able to do for books -- that is, to open the door to the possibilities for a world of people who have never been or even thought of going to a Broadway show," she said.

Winfrey was nominated for an Oscar for her role in the film version of "The Color Purple," directed by Steven Spielberg.

Walker's book has been adapted by Marsha Norman, author of "'night, Mother," while the score is by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray.

The Winfrey production will be directed by Gary Griffin, a Chicago-based director best known for his small-scale productions of musicals such as "My Fair Lady" and "Pacific Overtures." The choreographer is Donald Byrd.

Besides Winfrey, producers include Quincy Jones, Scott Sanders and Roy Furman.

The actress LaChanze will star in the show.

"The Color Purple" is told through the eyes of Celie, a timid young Southern woman who is raped by her father, gives birth to two children and suffers years of cruelty married to an abusive man.

Emmy Fashion 2005...

What's a wannabe fashion critic to do other than call a spade a spade?
Now Mary McCormack should have known better than to have left her house wearing this nightmare! Where was she going? Junior prom 1986?



I don't know who this Brenda Strong chick is, but this dress is not only hideously designed, but it's unflattering.



This dress is gorgeous. I'm on the fence as to how I feel about it on Stockard Channing, but I love the dress!



Alyson Hannigan is wearing one of my favorites of the night. I think she pulled it off pretty well, considering that I hate colors in the pink, white and tan families on white women.



Portia de Rossi should have been arrested by the fashion police for wearing this dress. I mean...WTF? It's orange! It's poorly designed! It's unflattering! It's an all around fashion DON'T! She looks like a orange popsicle.



Poor Kathy Griffin...not a clue as to how terrible she looks. YUCK!



Terri Hatcher could have done better...not a fan of this one!



No matter what Jennifer Love Hewitt wears, she always looks terrible! It's really unfortuate, but I guess no amount of money can buy taste, no more than designer duds can make trash look less trashy!



Kathleen Robertson's dress is beautiful. It's simple, yet chic and she just barely manages to pull it off; thanks to a last minute trip to the tanning salon.



I'm on the fence about this dress that Kelly Rowan is wearing. It doesn't scream gorgeous, yet I'm also not repulsed.



This pale, ill-fitting dress does nothing for Kim Raver other thn make her hips look square.



What a fabulous dress! It's definitely another favorite of mine, just not on Alex Kingston. Unfortunately, that bottle blonde hair screws up the whole look!



Simply put, Kristen Bell appears to be wearing a lamp shade! Two thumbs down!



Lauryn Graham should stay away from red! She also could have done better with that hair.



Aside from the fact that I don't get the Desperate Housewives craze, I am really sick of seeingEva Longoria. That peach color is all wrong for her. The dress would have looked better in black!



Although Camryn Manheim has lost well over 100lbs, she played it safe in this burgundy number. I love the color. I don't hate the dress, but I'm not especially fond of it either. It looks like something Oprah wore to the Oscars earlier this year?!?!



Marg Helgeberger's dress is just blah. She looks ok, nothing to write home about.



Whoever this Mary Lynn Rajskub is, she looks terrible. She does't have enough boobs or hips to pull this dress off.



I've loved S. Epatha Merkerson since her early early days on Law & Order when she only had a few random walk-ons, but she has way too much going on with that jacket. It totally takes away from what appears to be a simple and elegant dress. But on another note, many congrats to her for finally getting an emmy nomination and a win, not for Law & Order, but for Lackawanna Blues!



I think Debra Messing is very pretty and has way too much potential than this dress suggests. At first glance, I found it slightly reminiscent of Halle Berry's Oscar winning gown, but clearly she would know better than to try and follow Halle's footsteps. It's a great color...but not quite two tumbs up!



YUCK! YUCK! YUCK! What on earth was this Molly Parker woman thinking??



Samantha Harris picked a winner, simple yet elegant.



Shannon Elizabeth also picked a winner! The white looks great on her, very classy.



Nicolette Sheridan could have done better. She appeared to go for a simple, yet chic look, but only achieved simple.



I don't know who this Shohreh Aghdashlo is; hell I can't even say her name. Love the color and the design of this dress, but for some reason it draws unnecessary attention to her mid section and the pose does nothing to help it!



And the award for best Barney look-a-like goes to none other than Star Jones...Reynolds if you like gay men! This dress looks like one Oprah wore to an awards show circa 2001?!?! No amount of weightloss or money will turn her into an attractive woman.



Is this some joke that only industry insiders understand? Because I don't get it! Hiedi Klum's dress looks my late grandmother's bed spread.



Hideous, Hideous, Hideous!!! I expected so much more from Charlize Theron. her dress reminds me of that terrible lace mesh thing Gwen Paltrow wore to the Oscars a couple of years ago.



So Karrine "Superhead" Stefans makes her red carpet debut with her man Bill Maher. She looks like a hooker who some how found herself with a wad of cash on Rodeo Drive, trying desperately to upgrade her look ala Pretty Woman. Too bad she's no Julia Roberts. She looks a hot mess with in that dress and pin up hair.



I've liked Marcia Cross from back in the days of Melrose Place. I love this dress. I think she looks stunning.The design and color compliments her hair, skin and figure. She ties at the number 1 spot for best dressed!!



Proving once again that she may not be the greatest actress in the industry, but Halle Berry's style and choice of gowns at these award shows is just impeccable!! She always looks like a total package from head to toe. Just look at some of her best. She can wear a brown paper bag and still look more elegant and sophiscated than most of the women above! She ties with Marcia Cross for number one best dressed of the night!


Fashion critique: Oscar 2005