The 95th Academy Awards will find their owners this Sunday. The main event of the industry is watched not only by sophisticated moviegoers, but by the whole world. For 94 years, the Oscars have become an arena for public speaking, musical performances, and fashion experiments.
Year after year, A-list stars show up on the red carpet in incredible dresses and suits from legendary designers. While the black tie dress code is formally featured at the ceremony, everyone interprets it in their own way, adding bold details and accents.
On the eve of the award, we decided to dive into the history of the Oscars and recall the most scandalous, non-obvious, bold and simply beautiful images that have forever gone down in history and even changed red carpet traditions.
Audrey Hepburn at Givenchy (1954)
In 1954, Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar at Givenchy for her performance in Roman Holiday. It was a replica of the outfit Audrey appeared in in the final scenes of the movie. The actress changed the top, line of the corset, making it more feminine. Long held in the Hepburn family, it was auctioned by Kerry Taylor in 2011 and sold for $131,000.
Grace Kelly in Edith Head (1955)
Kelly has appeared twice in this creation by Hollywood costume designer Edith Head. The actress wore a blue silk dress for the first time at the New York premiere of The Country Girl. And just a few months later, Kelly appeared on the Oscar’s red carpet, completing the image with long seals. This debut of the future princess is still considered one of the most elegant awards in film history.
Cher (1986) as Bob Mackie
In 1986, Cher impressed all the guests of the award with a shocking image of designer Bob Mackie (a student of the aforementioned Edith Head at the beginning of her career). She designed a stone-embroidered black skirt and top for the singer, as well as a hood made of 800 rooster feathers. By the way, in one of the interviews, Cher said that she finds the image extremely unsuccessful. But despite this, the creation of Bob Mackie went down in history forever.
Madonna as Marilyn Monroe (1991)
In which images have we not seen the pop music icon Madonna? During her long career she managed to visit a geisha, a disco queen, a gothic icon and even Marilyn Monroe. In the image of the legendary actress of the 1950s, Madonna appeared at the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991. A white bodycon dress embellished with rhinestones was created for her by the same designer, Bob Mackie. And Harry Winston’s platinum curls and rhinestones turned Madonna into a mid-century diva.
By the way, the singer made a real performance from her appearance at the awards. She announced that she will come with the most popular actress of the period a few days before the Oscar. And she didn’t cheat. Michael Jackson accompanied him on the red carpet.
Nicole Kidman at Christian Dior (1997)
“This color makes me want to vomit.” This is what comedian Joan Rivers said about Nicole Kidman’s dress at the 1997 Oscars. Created by John Galliano, the Christian Dior dress made a huge splash and changed the red carpet tradition forever. Some said that it was a real victory, while others absolutely refused to accept such an image. The actress was one of the first to move away from the basic color palette and decided on an atypical mustard color for red carpets.
Meanwhile, Kidman had doubts about the dress that evening and was afraid they might not understand it. However, after Kidman’s appearance at the ceremony, Galliano received his first recognition on the world fashion scene and became the unspoken king of the red carpet.
Sharon Stone in Gap and Vera Wang (1998)
In 1998, the Basic Instinct star walked the Oscar red carpet in a lavender Vera Wang satin skirt and Gap’s plain white shirt. This image was truly revolutionary and went down in history. Let’s explain what’s going on. Dress codes used to be stricter than they are now. No guest could afford to come to the event without a suit or evening dress. No guests other than Sharon Stone. Before that, hardly anyone combined the mass market with heavy luxury. Although now many star stylists use this technique.
By the way, the idea for such an image came to the actress’s mind in 1996, when the courier accidentally dropped a box with an evening dress by Vera Wang, in which Sharon was supposed to appear on the red carpet. Stone then turned to Basic Instinct costume designer Helen Mirojnick for help. She managed to get out of the situation by choosing an image for the actress in a Valentino skirt, Armani jacket and (again) Gap turtleneck. And so, in 1998 Sharon decided to repeat this trick.
Celine Dion in Christian Dior (1999)
Celine Dion’s debut reaffirms the unspoken rule that there is literally one step from failure to victory. In 1999, the singer chose a white trouser suit from John Galliano, which she wore backwards for the Oscars (this decision was suggested to her by Galliano). Fashion critics immediately called this image a failure. At least because the dress code doesn’t allow trouser suits, especially when dressed the other way around. However, 20 years later, they started to talk about this exit again, but in a completely different way. The Loewe SS21 and The Row Pre-Fall 2021 shows featured “false” glances backwards. At the same time, all authoritative glossy publications began to offer to stylize their output in this way.
Björk in swan dress (2001)
One of the most obvious images in film award history is of singer Björk, who appeared on the red carpet in 2001 in a swan gown and even laid a few eggs (performing, not otherwise). Björk explained her choice herself this way: “I thought this would be my first and last appearance at the Oscars. I decided that this time I had to make an important contribution.” The singer found the swan dress in the collection of Macedonian-born British designer Marjan Pejoski. Björk’s debut had a huge impact in society: some were quick to add an unusual dress to their worst rating, while others described Björk’s image as a canonical phenomenon in fashion.
Jennifer Lopez in Valentino (2003)
In 2003, J. Lo appeared on the Oscars red carpet in a Valentino gown, making it one of the most-quoted of Valentino Garavani’s career. However, few people know that this image is a direct quote from Jackie Kennedy’s image during his visit to Cambodia. She then appeared in the same mint stone embroidered toga dress by Garavani. This dress has become a symbol of the long friendship between Jackie and Valentino.
Angelina Jolie at Atelier Versace (2012)
In 2012, the whole world discussed Angelina Jolie on the Oscar red carpet. More specifically, his right leg (which spawned a lot of memes on the Web and became the main topic of interest). The fact is that for the ceremony, the actress chose a black velvet Atelier Versace dress with high slits and openly showed her leg throughout the evening. Needless to say, everyone managed to joke about such a pose. By the way, Angelina Jolie’s leg even has an account on social networks, to which more than 30 thousand users are subscribed.
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Source: People Talk
Elizabeth Cabrera is an author and journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a talent for staying up-to-date on the latest news and trends, Elizabeth is dedicated to delivering informative and engaging articles that keep readers informed on the latest developments.
