The Film Experience

by Cláudio Alves

After an awards season full of Zoom ceremonies and no red carpets to speak off, Oscar night was a breath of fresh air. While most stars have spent the past few months attending shows from their homes, that didn't mean there wasn't fashion to appreciate. However, there's something special about the spectacle of the red carpet, something ineffably magical. With that in mind, I decided to explore, list, and rank the best looks of the night. From ingenues to aged thespians, male provocateurs, glamorous goddesses, there was much to appreciate.

First, though, I'd like to make an honorable mention…

Since Zendaya wasn't up for any award, it's natural that the actress chose to forego more ostentatious styles in favor of a breezy slinky look. The simplicity of garment and styling makes it hard to rank her among the ten best looks of the night, but she deserves some praise nonetheless. Walking the carpet as if swept by her own wind machine to add dramatic effect, Zendaya was a dream in her citrusy Valentino and major bling. She also sported one of the most unexpected trends of the night with a midriff-baring design. I preferred her version to the oddly proportioned choices of Best Actress nominees Carey Mulligan, Andra Day, and Vanessa Kirby.

With that out of the way, let's delve into the top ten proper. We start with:

10) Mia Neal

Along with Jamika Wilson, Neal became the first Black woman to conquer an Oscar in the Best Makeup & Hairstyling category for her excellent work in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Historical achievements aside, the hair designer looked incredible in a structured gown whose sculptural asymmetrical collar made for one of the boldest fashion choices of the night. Best of all, it never looked as if the dress was wearing her despite the tricky design elements. I wish more movie stars would choose risky designs like this, though it's easy to see why classic glam tends to prevail.

9) Marlee Matlin

Case in point, Matlin looked incredible in a very traditional but exquisite design. I've long considered the Children of a Lesser God star to be one of the worst-dressed Best Actress champions on the night of their victory, so it was nice to see her get some sartorial redemption. The Vivienne Westwood gown is draped to perfection, with billowy sleeves and a metallic finish adding just the right amount of opulence to the ensemble.

8) Emerald Fennell

Throughout this season, Fennell has chosen to confront the challenge of promotional fashion by creating quirky characters around which her looks are constructed. Imagining herself as "your pottery teacher who has a business proposition for you that is absolutely not a pyramid scheme," the Academy Award winner delivered a look of floral whimsy with a retro bohemian twist. The Stepford Wives aura is counterbalanced by comfy shoes, poppy makeup, and uncomplicated hair. In some mysterious way, it feels like the perfect look for someone collecting trophies in the name of Promising Young Woman.

7) Viola Davis

Davis never looks bad, though I don't always zing with her fashion choices. This season, the star of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom embraced a taste for dramatic silhouettes and bold palettes, wearing her best ensemble ever when she donned on Lavie by CK for the Golden Globes. This Alexander McQueen design is much more subdued but no less interesting. Pulling back on color and dramatic proportion, Davis opted for a gown that shines through its interplays of structure and soft fabric, the stylized cage-like design of the bodice and the elegant simplicity of an unadorned skirt. It's subtle, but it captures attention and lets the eye travel in search of aesthetic tensions, precise details. Top it off with great hair and matching jewelry, and you have the actress' best Oscar look yet.

6) Alan S. Kim

Sometimes, looking adorable and devastatingly stylish aren't incompatible concepts. Alan S. Kim proves it so, modeling the most perfectly tailored Thom Browne mini-suit I've ever seen. The designer's penchant for stark, sharp, almost rigid tailoring makes the outfit a game of contrasts between wearer and ensemble. Best yet, it manages to circumvent the fate of looking like a school uniform, in part thanks to Browne's trademark use of asymmetric geometrical motifs, like those military-looking stripes in just one sock. Bonus points for Minari producer Christina Oh's chicness in a men's Hanbok-inspired suit.

5) Lakeith Stanfield

While women's fashion tends to change quite often and embrace outward expressions of spectacle, the precepts of masculine formal attire rarely change and lean towards the conservative. That being said, recent trends in red carpet style have opened doors for more freewheeling experimentation on the part of men, and some movie stars have embraced such possibilities. One of them is Lakeith Stanfield, who showed up in a groovy Yves Saint Laurent jumpsuit whose cut hints at 1970s dandyism. He looked cooler than everybody else attending.

4) Colman Domingo

Still, nobody pushed the boundaries regarding what's expected and accepted of men walking down the red carpet than Colman Domingo. Domingo would have been one of the actors nominated for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom in my ideal world, but he didn't let such an inconsequential matter as a lack of nomination stop him from making one hell of an entrance in Versace. As one of the first guests to arrive, Domingo set the stage for a night of glamour, the likes of which we haven't seen since the pandemic started, wearing hot pink and glittery crystal embroidery. Perfectly tailored, wonderfully flamboyant, paradoxically relatively restrained, this look's one for the ages.

3) Youn Yuh-Jung

Sometimes, not even the glitziest glamour can beat modest chicness. Bedecked in Marmar Halim, Youn Yuh-Jung looked perfect as she accepted a well-deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Simple as the design may be, there's a richness of details that elevate it above unmemorable minimalism. The texture of the textile, its stiff heaviness, conveys rectilinear lines to the bodice contrasted by the skirt. The shininess of the body is highlighted by the addition of a stripe of light-absorbing velvet in the form of a belt, while oversized pocket flaps add a necessarily wrinkle to the clean lines. It reminded me of Bette Davis in All About Eve, paired with a perfectly chosen bracelet and a messy hairdo that suitably balanced the strict lines of the outfit. It's brilliant in a severe, understated manner.

2) H.E.R.

Paying homage to Prince while wearing purple-y cobalt blue, H.E.R. truly felt like a music diva shining brightly amidst a sea of serious cineastes. The theatricality of the train and hood is enough to make me fall in love with the Dundas ensemble, but all the details take it to another level altogether. There's the sparkly pattern which suggests an abstraction of leopard print, the interplay of volume between drapery and hairstyle, the sunglasses, the bling, and, above all else, the lyrics to her Oscar-winning song embroidered along the hem of the cape-like construction.

1) Regina King

I knew King would top this list from the moment the show began in a tracking shot following the actress-director as she walked across Union Station towards the Oscar stage. On the red carpet, the Custom Louis Vuitton Gown dazzled, but, on camera, it was positively miraculous. The satin structure covered in 62,000 silver sequins and 8,400 crystals remind one of butterflies taking flight, a gorgeous portrait-worthy framing of King's visage. The choice of a simple hairdo to pair with the attention-grabbing outfit was genius, as is the fit of the whole thing. Looking sexy, powerful, imperious even, King set the standards sky-high for a new decade of Oscar fashion. All that, and she walked the red carpet with the best accessory of the night – dreamy Aldis Hodge in a tight white tuxedo. King's name rings with royal gravity, and her style follows suit. She looked like a queen.

The last time I did something similar to this, you guys didn't particularly appreciate my sartorial taste. Hopefully, my choices are less contentious this time around. In any case, feel free to sound off in the comments.