Cruella's best looks: A "complete" ranking

by Cláudio Alves

If there were any doubts that Jenny Beavan is a costume design goddess, Disney's latest live-action remake/villain origin story proves it beyond any reasonable doubt. Unencumbered by the financial restraints inherent to independent cinema, Beavan serves up an orgiastic ecstasy of excess and punk rock fashion pastiche. According to interviews, she conceived 47 different costumes for Emma Stone's redeemed villainess, making Cruella the most-dressed movie of the year. It's also a good contender for the title of best-dressed. It's fair to say that an Oscar nomination is all but guaranteed. However, since the 94th Academy Awards are still nearly ten months away, let's focus on other matters.

Specifically, let's delve deep into the matter of Emma Stone's outlandish outfits and decide which are her grandest, most devilishly glamorous looks…

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Interview: Nadia Stacey, Cruella's Hair and Makeup Designer

by Nathaniel R

Nadia Stacey talks "Cruella"

When I sat down with Cruella's Hair and Makeup designer Nadia Stacey over Zoom we just had a few minutes to talk. To break the ice quickly, a true story. When I first saw the image of Emma Stone as Cruella, my mind immediately lept to Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in The Favourite and her disgruntled "I look like a badger" quip. I had no idea why. Only when prepping for our Cruella interview did I realize the films had the same makeup designer. Stacey laughs, fondly remembering her BAFTA-winning film. "I feel like there’s a theme going on with me doing mask-kind of faces!"

And with The Favourite (a beloved favourite) duly cited, we jump right in to our conversation about her impressive filmography and her biggest assignment yet, designing Disney's live-action Cruella. [This interview is edited/condensed for clarity]

NATHANIEL: You've done a few movies with Olivia Colman and two with Emma Stone. Are you just going to keep The Favourite-ing from now on?  

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Gay Best Friend: Brandon (Dan Byrd) in "Easy A" (2010)

a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope    

Where would gay boys be without their beards?Looking back in the past for this column, it can be very easy to think homophobia in mainstream pop culture is a thing of the 90s. Obviously, the news reflects a much more grim reality, especially when it comes to racism and transphobia. However, it wasn’t long ago that Proposition 8 passed in California in 2008, banning same sex marriage. Though it would be overturned, this gives a good barometer how LGBTQ+ people were far from the mainstream well into the millennium. Even in 2010, it wasn’t easy to be openly gay, no matter how many “It Gets Better” videos people watched or “No H8” photo shoots were done.

This fact is central to the inciting incident of the Will Gluck 2010 comedy Easy A. The high school comedy and sleeper hit launched the A-list career of Emma Stone. Yet it's actually Dan Bryd’s Brandon who sets the plot into motion...

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Showbiz History: Founding of the Academy and two Golden Globe nights

7 random things that happened on this day, January 11th, in showbiz history

Hattie McDaniel in her younger years. Not sure what year in this photo, though.

1911  Hattie McDaniel, then just 17 years-old, marries her first husband. She was already a performer, and worked in carnivals, minstrel shows, and radio before hitting the movies in the early 1930s. She famously became the first African-American to be nominated for or to win an Oscar. There is, finally, a biopic happening and it will star Raven Goodwin (The Station Agent, Being Mary Jane). 

1927 The creation of AMPAS came (arguably) on this day at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles...

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Red Carpet Lineup: The Entire Actress Decade !!!

Mandatory Red Carpet Lineup Poll!

 

survey hosting

 

In case you've forgotten about our Oscar doll fantasy (You haven't, right?) the whole DECADE collection is embedded after the jump along with stats about the entire decade of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. You know you want to click for more...  

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