The 2013 Golden Globes Red Carpet Review

Last night was the Golden Globe awards, so naturally today’s blog will be a red carpet fashion review. As I glanced through some photos of the stars on the red carpet, I noticed a few trends that helped divide the nominees into neat categories, as follows:

Black Dresses

The nominees: Adele, Debra Messing, Nicole Kidman

Adele’s simple, pleated black dress with beading and lace around a simple round neckline was flattering on her barely-post-pregnancy-figure, and her beehive updo and long side bangs gave her added height (which was particularly noticeable as she towered over Al Roker during a pre-show interview). Messing’s black gown had a beautiful rippled texture, but the skirt seemed perpetually twisted, like when your pantyhose get turned around the wrong way, and the bodice was a bit overly snug. Kidman was striking in her fitted column with midriff cutouts that dropped dangerously – but gorgeously – low in the back, with very apropos gold stars around the neckline.

Winner: Nicole Kidman, hands-down.

White Dresses

The nominees: Lea Michele, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Dockery

 

Michele avoided her usual mistake of trying a bit too hard to be sexy, and hit the perfect note with a lacy, shoulder-baring halter dress slit way up to there – subtle yet sexy. Hathaway showed off her slim (perhaps even slightly consumptive, post-Les Miserables) figure in an Audrey Hepburn-esque column that suited her pixie hairstyle and beaming smile. Dockery was luminous in a clinging white gown with gold lace bodice and tiny train.

Winner: Michele by just a hair over Dockery, with her points for "most improved" nudging her ahead.

Red Dresses

The nominees: Jennifer Garner, Naomi Watts, Claire Danes

   

Garner’s textured cherry red column was drawn up at the bust, cinched in with a tiny belt, and had a hint of a train. Watts chose a deeper burgundy red that demurely hugged her curves and featured a keyhole neckline and a detached train. Danes looked statuesque in a coral red column with a plunging neckline, a hint of a train, and loose hair and minimal accessories.

Winner: Danes, for making it look soooo effortless.

Lace Dresses

The nominees: Jennifer Lopez, Emily Blunt, Amanda Seyfried 

  

Lopez, as she often does, chose a skin-colored, skin-tight dress, this time with a lace overlay. Blunt wore a sleek, vintage-looking gold lace gown with triangular cutouts at the waist. Seyfried’s bodice featured criss-crossed bands of lace creating a slight peekaboo effect, although with her long, limp locks, I half expected to see her gliding along a misty forest path at midnight.

Winner: Blunt, nearly by default simply for choosing a color that did not exactly match her skin tone.

Ball Gowns

The nominees: Jennifer Lawrence, Lucy Liu, Zooey Deschanel 

  

Lawrence wore a fire engine red, fitted-to-the hips ball gown with a narrow black belt emphasizing her tiny waist. Liu’s gown appeared to be made of the drapes from “The Sound of Music” but had a perfectly fitted bodice and crisp, bell-shaped skirt that moved beautifully, but I found her fuzzy, slept-in braid a bit distracting. Deschanel’s full, cherry-red gown had a sweetheart neckline set off by a single strand of pearls and a full skirt.

Winner: Lawrence, for having an elegance belying her newbie status.

True Couture

The nominees: Marion Cotillard, Halle Berry

 

Cotillard wore a bright orange satin dress with an asymmetrical, almost-bubble hemline and a black belt that went half under and half over the dress. Berry wore a silk, sari-inspired, single-shouldered gown with a cutout over one hip and a thigh-high slit.

Winner: Berry, because almost anyone else wearing that dress would have looked trampy instead of elegant and glamorous.

Cleavageriffic

The nominees: Jessica Chastain, Katherine McPhee, Kate Hudson

  

Chastain’s gown was a pale seafoam green that was perfect for her strawberry locks and china-doll complexion, but the front was a bit too loose and drapey for such a plunging neckline which her made double-sided tape work overtime. McPhee’s black satin gown had a more “constructed” look that stayed in place nicely and a peekaboo slit in the smooth skirt. Kate Hudson’s black column with gold accents on the wide belt and highlighting the plunging keyhole neckline clung to her figure in all the right places.

Winner: Hudson, because sometimes less is more – and more is less.

A for Effort, F for Effect

There were very few clunkers among the crowd. In fact I could only come up with a single nominee for this category: Lena Dunham. On someone else, this gown might have worked. It’s an interesting warm chocolate brown color, and has lovely seaming forming graceful, flattering lines. But the square, off-the-shoulders cut of the neckline makes her look as broad-shouldered as a football player, and her obvious lack of practice walking in high heels made her look like a trucker as she tromped and tottered across the stage to claim her awards. This was a perfect example of not matching the gown to the wearer.

 

Best B-Lister

The nominees: Nicole Richie, Stacey Keibler, Kelley Osborne

  

Richie’s sky-blue lace column was simple and flattering, with demure long sleeves and round neck and the tiniest puddle of a train. Keibler’s black velvet sheath was ringed with silver sequins. Osborne’s palest green corset gown had a ruffled sweetheart neckline and was perfectly fitted down to the knees, but then descended into an unfinished-looking mess of fabric at the hem.

Winner: Keibler, assisted as always by having the best accessory of all, George Clooney.

The 2013 [Fill in the Blank] Film Awards

I stumbled across part of the broadcast of the Critics’ Choice Awards last night, and for a few minutes I was confused because I knew that the Golden Globes were scheduled for this weekend. Eventually I realized that this was a completely different awards ceremony, and it suddenly struck me how many annual movie awards and awards presentations there are. No wonder the stars have so much trouble coming up with appropriate outfits – in a good year, they could be attending nearly a dozen red carpet events within ten weeks! Just look at this award schedule:

Satellite Awards (International Press Academy) – December 16National Society of Film Critics Awards – January 5Critics’ Choice Awards – January 10Golden Globes (Hollywood Foreign Press Association) – January 13Producers’ Guild Awards – January 26Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG) Awards – January 27Directors’ Guild Awards – February 2BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards – February 10Writers’ Guild Awards – February 17Independent Spirit Awards – February 23Academy Awards (Oscars) – February 24

And this list doesn’t even include some of the more limited awards and ceremonies, like the African American Film Critics Association (December 16), the Annie (Animated Feature) Awards (February 2), the Boston Society of Film Critics (December 9), the Florida Film Critics Circle (December 18), the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (December 9), and the Women Film Critics Circle (December 22).

As an example of what actresses (and to a lesser extent, actors) have to go through during the awards season, let’s look at last year’s Best Actress Oscar winner, Meryl Streep, and Best Supporting Actress, Octavia Spencer. These two provide contrasting examples of an experienced, established Hollywood legend and a new, rising star. Because it sets the bar, let’s begin with their Oscar night dresses:

Both gowns are elegant, glamorous, flattering, and age-appropriate, with tastefully understated hair and makeup and minimal accessories. They both did it right on the Big Day.

 

Now, let’s go through several examples of their other big red carpet appearances.

BAFTA:

Streep has - appropriately enough - a touch of the Iron Lady with her classically upswept hair, regal train, and sexy/demure corset-and-jacket combo, while Spencer goes a bit overly casual in a crisp white shirt and feathery long skirt. They both look lovely, yet somewhat out of character and even a bit out of place.

 

 

Golden Globes:

Streep took a big fashion misstep at the Globes with a cowboy-styled gown with pockets (!?! yes, POCKETS) while Spencer hit a home run with a flattering ruched lavender gown with just the right touch of bling.

Screen Actors Guild:

Streep opted for a quirky yet stylish and flattering draped and belted grey number while Spencer hit it out of the park once again in a sparkly, demure Grecian gown.

And a few of the smaller, less formal awards:

 

The New York Film Critics Circle - Apparently Streep was late because she looks like she had just gotten off the bus and hadn't even had a chance to take off her coat or put down her bag.

the Writers Guild Awards - Spencer dazzles again with a lace underlay covered by champagne draping.

 

 Women in Film - It's not clear whether Streep was receiving an award or taking meeting minutes.

 

The NAACP Image Awards - Spencer finally broke out of her subtle neutral/pastel colors with this vibrant turquoise satin gown.

After realizing the pressure they must be under to come up with that many fancy, flattering, and appropriate outfits within a very short time, I am somewhat inclined to cut them a bit of slack in my fashion critiques.

But don’t worry, I expect I’ll be over it by this weekend’s Golden Globe broadcast (and, of course, the succeeding fashion blog)!