All the Sparkliest, Most Joyous Fashion On the 93rd Academy Awards Red Carpet
BeautyStyle
Photo: Getty
Holy god, I cannot express how thrilled I am to see fancy clothes again in the wild, slash on my television. Pomp, bureaucracy, and mediocrity of the Oscars system notwithstanding let’s just take a little visual joy where we can get it. Steven Soderbergh is a producer of tonight’s festivities and so there is a mild chance at least something will be a little good-weird, but the anticipation of people expressing themselves nattily in public after a year at home is at a fever pitch. Let’s dive right in; as ever, this post will be updated in realtime, as attendees hit the step-and-repeat.
Above, Minari Best Actor nominee Steven Yeun and Joana Pak have procured some wonderfully fine-material masks for the occasion, and below… Yeun is looking like a goddamn James Bond.
Colman Domingo and Travon Free are already fulfilling my every wish for tonight: loads of personalize swagger and statement looks that bring a little much-needed hope to this shit. (Edit: the liner of Free’s jacket is a list of Black victims killed by police.) Domingo’s rhinestoned shoulders? Pure king shit.
Black and gold’s a win, too, particularly if this whole “roaring ‘20s” thing they’re promising comes to pass. Best Supporting Actor and Best Song nominee Leslie Odom Jr. is coming through like Oscar herself, and his wife, the actor Nicolette Robinson (right), is queenly in voluminous taffeta. Valerie Chung, with Best Director and Screenwriter nominee Isaac Lee Chung, is giving us old-Hollywood glamour with aplomb, honey.
PRISTINE. Diane Warren always does a tuxedo variation but this is the best I’ve seen, her mockneck all iced out like a bottle of Cristal; Mia Neal had the same impulse, and I hope we see more formal racerback crop tops in our futures. Tiara Thomas is an early contender for best dressed of the night; the ostrich detailing on her oversized tux jacket and the scoopneck—vest?—is such a contemporary look on menswear and it is pure luxury.
Here we’re going a bit more classic, but with a twist: Glenn Close is full boss status in what appears to be a kurta? and satin gloves; Marlee Matlin is going Iron Throne ca. 1965; Youn Yuh-jung’s classic and easygoing silhouette is bumped up a notch with extremely functional cargo pockets. As you know, I am a huge fan of pockets on formal gowns!
I’m not gonna lie, I expected the god Daniel Kaluuya to be a bit more flamboyant tonight, although I do appreciate the simple, crisp tailoring and flouting of the neck-squishing bowtie in lieu of a simple chain. Best Original Song nominee Celeste Waite is doing the damn thing in what appears to be fresh-off-the-runway Gucci—if I told you what I’d do for one of those aorta clutches I’d probably be kicked off the internet—and the entire look is very Alice in Wonderland Queen of Hearts. Fantastic. Also fantastic: the best-dressed child on the planet, Alan S. Kim, doing such strong baby swag I almost can’t stand it! Clearly he has an impeccable fashion teacher in Minari producer Christina Oh.
Love a good floral story. Set decorator Elizabeth Keenan is invoking all the plants everyone has supposedly grown in the pandemic; Best Original Score nominee Jon Batiste is giving us a pop of carnation; Best Director nominee Emerald Fennell is a vision in 1970 garden party chiffon—or at least maybe that’s what it’s evoking in me because I just rewatched the entirety of Mad Men. Betty Francis realness, though.
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