Gown and out in Los Angeles

Oh, to be in Los Angeles, now that the Oscars are here. The time difference means that the red carpet begins at 11.30pm our time tomorrow while the awards ceremony itself kicks off at 1.30am on Monday UK time, finishing at around 5am – far too late/early for most of us, but at least we can look forward to seeing the best and worst outfits of the night (and the Oscars award winners, of course) first thing in the morning, on TV and all the social media channels (the best part is watching the TV presenters, done up in their shiniest, trying to grab the celebs on their route between ceremony and after party – such fun).

There’s a new host this time in the form of Gone Girl and How I Met Your Mother actor Neil Patrick Harris (a man who really knows how to wear a suit), taking over from Ellen DeGeneres (who also wears fabulous suits).

Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel – which will compete for the prestigious Best Picture prize – are both nominated in a total of nine categories, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, followed by The Imitation Game – starring Benedict Cumberbatch – with eight nominations. Jennifer Aniston, Sienna Miller, David Oyelowo and John Travolta will be presenting while Jennifer Hudson, Anna Kendrick, Jack Black, Rita Ora and John Legend will all be giving musical performances on the night.

The one list that most of those attending will not want to find themselves on is the Worst Dressed of the Night. Previous nominations for the worst fashion abominations on the red carpet have included Cher in her strange and stringy black widow spider outfit, Demi Moore in a truly hideous black 
mini dress with ballooning half skirt (to be fair, it was 1989), Bjork’s neck-strangling swan dress, and who could ever forget Celine Dion in her back-to-front white tuxedo suit topped with a comedy stetson?

It’s probably not going to be as much fun these days, as fashion stylists stress themselves silly trying to dress the most fabulous stars in the most fabulous gowns, although the translation from runway to red carpet doesn’t always flow smoothly, resulting in some interesting interpretations of directional fashion trends.

So far this year, we’ve had the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors’ Guild awards and the Baftas providing us with a steady stream of stunning, high-glamour fashion. The world’s leading designers will have been battling to dress the top five nominated actresses in a leading role – Marion Cotillard, Felicity Jones, Julianne Moore, Rosamund Pike and Reese Witherspooon.

In particular, it will be interesting to see what Brits Jones and Pike choose for their Oscar moments, since they both had slight fashion wobbles at the Globes, especially Pike in a white Vera Wang dress that was precariously attached to her torso with what looked like dental floss. Jones wore a huge teal Christian Dior gown (or rather, it wore her). Assuming she is there, Amal Alamuddin, AKA Mrs George Clooney, will undoubtedly cause a stir – she wore black Dior Couture to the Globes, with curious long white wrinkled gloves. Which was a look that maybe Marion Cotillard, who is an ambassador for Dior, will be able to show us just how it should be worn.

Julianne Moore tends to look totally fabulous at all times, at the Globes in silver mermaid-style Givenchy and at the Baftas in a red plunging ‘70s glam inspired dress by Tom Ford. Can she go one better? She’s madly tipped for the Oscar, but on the red carpet... who knows.

Twitter: @YorkshirefashQ