Dress or Mess?

Gaga, Nicole, Gwyneth: The Best and Worst of the Oscars Red Carpet

<p>They came, they shimmered, and some even managed to talk about their work rather than gown labels. The Oscars red carpet was a riot of rich reds, whites, and stunning (and weird) black dresses and tuxes.</p>

By Tim TeemanFeb 22, 2015

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet1_lqpaej — The #AskHerMore campaign on Oscar night, aimed at getting red carpet presenters to talk about anything but the gowns the female stars were wearing, got some big-name support in stars like Reese Witherspoon. On E!, there was no “mani-cam,” no 360-degree cam, no “pedi-cam,” no “clutch-cam.” Work and other matters were discussed with the celebrities, but so were the dresses, and the stars who supposedly felt so strongly that this was sexist nonsense all still dressed up. If Witherspoon and company want their campaign to gain traction, then they and their management and stylists should decline the whole thing next year. Jeans and sweats, all ’round. Until then...

Patricia Arquette, in a lovely black-and-white gown, escaped being asked who designed her dress on the red carpet. Instead, she talked about her work and charitable pursuits. Refreshing. (The gown was designed by her best friend, Rosetta Getty.) She won the Best Supporting Actress award, too, and gave a rousing speech in favor of women’s equality. I am still feverishly happy about that.

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet2_mpcufe — Anna Kendrick in one of the first stunning red carpet looks: a regal pinky-peach Thakoon.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet5_qicmly — I love Lorelei Linklater in her goth-black and red dress: like drips of blood across a black curtain. Dad Richard is wonderful. The designer is Gabriela Cadena, and the Daily Mail didn’t like it—so it gets an 11/10 from us.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet4_cpesi8 — Common in a velvet Prada tux, and a smile we all feel the warmth from.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet3_fxueqa — Gina Rodriguez from Jane the Virgin shows the power of deep blue. Suzy Amis Cameron’s dress is also eco-friendly...but dreary.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet6_xz4hwb — Margot Robbie in stunning Saint Laurent, chanelling Catherine Deneuve, or something that makes us want to drink with her all evening. Now. The Van Cleef & Arpels jewels were worth more than her life was worth, she said. Love this quite feverishly.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet7_vnhdup — Faith Hill in J. Mendel winningly channels Linda Evans as Krystle Carrington, 1984.
Jordan Strauss

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet8_wuaztd — Felicity Jones’s Alexander McQueen dress is a whole heap of contradictions. Gorgeous down below, and a very unattractive garrotting contraption on top. It mostly looks uncomfortable and overwhelming.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet11_tggdcm — Dakota Johnson looks like she’s having fun in red Saint Laurent, and revealed she had taken a flogger away from the Fifty Shades set.
ordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet10_jlryi3 — Rosamund Pike finally gets it right in her choppy awards season fashion carousel, in body-hugging siren-red Givenchy.
ordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet13_thi58r — Singer John Legend and wife model Chrissy Teigen, wearing a wearing a light blue bejeweled Zuhair Murad gown. Gorgeous, both. I am free for dinner when they are (Hi, John).
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet12_odeuiz — Julianne Moore in a droopy, washed-out, shimmery Chanel couture gown, which one hopes will look better on stage if/when she receives her Oscar for Best Actress than it did on the red carpet.

Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet9_cipd8f — No, no, no: Eddie Redmayne in a blue-and-black Alexander McQueen tuxedo. Enough with the blue-and-black tuxedo. The Daily Beast has had enough of the blue-and-black tuxedo.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet14_kxbkkw — Oh, Zoe Saldana: This Atelier Versace looks amazing on the bottom half, and had it been strapless, then fabulousness would have ensued. As it is, things go awry on the top half. Straps, be gone!
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet15_din53a — Naomi Watts shimmers and slinks in Armani. The dress, which resembles a Liqorice Allsort, also looks like it makes a lot of noise.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet16_fd5tkv — Well, Cate Blanchett clearly thought one thing when leaving home: “Nahh, not in the mood.” Her Maison Margiela dress has its arms roughly scythed off, and a necklace they say is “statement.” We say have fun at the after-parties, Ms. Blanchett.
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet17_augusk — Actress Sienna Miller, wearing an Oscar de la Renta gown, which is cinched, tied, and molded in the most awful places to make poor Ms. Miller look uncomfortably trussed up, like a black tube of bondage toothpaste.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet18_nztbe7 — Lupita Nyong’o in one of the evening’s show-stopping dresses—a kaleidoscopic vision in pearls from Calvin Klein Collection—and she said it was comfortable to wear.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet19_nlxwir — Jennifer Lopez in Elie Saab. Her disco inferno look of earlier award season ceremonies gives way to tulle-dreamy fairytale.
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet20_hu3ktc — Jennifer Aniston in Versace, and Emma Stone in her alarming mustard Elie Saab that was finely made but reminded us of bad ’70s drapes.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet21_szrvco — Actress Viola Davis in a “dusty rose” (best color description ever) Zac Posen, with some fine ruchey, zchuchy drama in its lower part.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet22_c8jtp1 — Reese Witherspoon was backing the #AskHerMore campaign, aimed at asking actresses more than who designed their dresses and treating them as glorified dolls. And so why she agreed to wear this Tom Ford gown and Tiffany jewels is a mystery to us.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet23_opiz0w — Adam Levine and wife, Behati Prinsloo, make even very beautiful people feel just a little bit shabby. Her red-and-black beaded Armani Privé dress was one of the most stunning, beautifully detailed gowns on the red carpet.

Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet24_jwebuz — Thank goodness, praise drama, and ladidah! Lady Gaga’s Azzedine Alaïa dress needed assistants. It was big. It had shoulder pads better suited for the Super Bowl. It reminded us that dressing down is antithetical to Gaga. It reminded us that every red carpet needs some Gaga spirit.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet25_g5r3xr — Solange Knowles in her red Christian Siriano gown had the Daily Mail frowning, so again out with the pom-poms from us. Essentially...as ever...killing it.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet26_t1bgez — Yes, Carrie Bradshaw sprouted those odd flower things on her tops for a few seasons of Sex and the City. But they never grew, storm-tossed, from her shoulders as this rose does on Gwyneth Paltrow’s one-sleeved pink Ralph & Russo gown. I don’t know. I think it was meant for Muriel’s Wedding.
Robert Galbraith/Reuters

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet27_vuhevr — I am going to say something polite about Nicole Kidman’s dress. I am going to say something polite about Nicole Kidman’s dress. I am going to say something polite about...So, the belt is nice, it’s Louis Vuitton, it’s red, and then there’s...sorry, I tried, I really tried.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet28_qnnpx7 — Kerry Washington: the epitome of safe red carpet dressing in a very pretty and very ho-hum Miu Miu gown. May the power of Gaga come to her!
Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet29_garaxt — No one took a picture of Best Costume Design winner Milena Canonero on the red carpet, so we are recording her moment of deserved glory instead, because Canonero outdressed and outclassed most others. Here is the designer accepting the Oscar for her work on The Grand Budapest Hotel. At Beast Towers, we cheered. Loudly.
Mike Blake/Reuters

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet30_huph0l — The critics did not like Laura Dern in Alberta Ferretti, but we disagree, and it’s Laura Dern, so like she cares what y’all think.
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty

galleries/2015/02/22/best-of-the-2015-oscars-red-carpet-photos/150222-oscar-red-carpet31_pww22l — Oh my goodness, be still our beating hearts. On the E! red carpet show, Ryan Seacrest’s questions were less cheesy than years gone by. Douchiness not entirely extinguished, but not terrible. And the reason he makes our gallery: the beard. The beard. The beard. And the beard. HOT. *faints*
Jason Merritt/Getty

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