Prior to the Oscars we write up the categories we’re covering ahead of time, and I of course had a whole post pre-written for Viola Davis taking home the lead actress statue. I really expected her to win, but I luckily wrote up a backup story for Meryl winning just in case. I was surprised and delighted that it went to Meryl, although Viola would have made me just as happy. Honestly I only saw Viola’s performance, and while I think she’s an excellent actress I didn’t love The Help.
Let’s talk about Viola’s lovely styling. As Kaiser mentioned over the weekend it was nice to see her ditch the wigs, especially for such a momentous night. She went natural with her hair and looked much younger and more striking as a result. It may have been a natural progression for her. Viola told Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet that she gradually learned to “step up” her game. She said “There was a lot riding on this character being portrayed in a way that wasn’t stereotypical, so I had to step up to the plate. In the course of that, this whole season I felt like I had to step up to the plate, and I just emerged, my confidence… At a certain point you have to represent something bigger than yourself. That’s what the movie is about.” Doesn’t it sound like she’s talking about her hair a little too, or am I reading too much into it?
In terms of the dress I liked the color but not the style of her Vera Wang gown. I think it has a cheap-looking bustline and a bizarre hemline area that tries to make the dress elegant by design and doesn’t quite do it. It’s like it starts as one dress at the waist and then cuts away to another style entirely. Business at the waist, party at the bottom. I would have guessed it was Marchesa. We saw Viola’s ladies on full display on the red carpet just last week and I was hoping she’d go for something more demure, like the gorgeous Grecian Pucci gown she wore to the Globes. It wasn’t Viola’s night last night, but I hope we see more of her, and I hope she gets more chances to shine at the Oscars.
I agree, love the colour on her, the earrings, the makeup, but not the cut. Doesn’t look like a classic Vera Wang and the bust line looks cheap.
it was for someone flat-chested, I think. After few dresses I really think, that Viola has problem with bust area in her red carpet outfits
I wish she’d dye her hair in a more natural color for her: brown or black.. I hate it when someone’s hair color matches their skin tone. The color and dress do look good on her.
she looks really beautiful without a wig
the colour is a bot off for me… it should have been moer intense, jewel like. this green is a bit washed out, or is it the photo?
The bust line of the dress makes it appear that her dress had slipped down to expose a jewel encrusted bra. The stitching down the bust seam looks like the piece is inside out.
I don’t much care for the built-in belt looking waist.
The little mermaid lower half of the dress appears that it was torn open and is sliding off of the rest of her dress.
I simple don’t care for dress, aside from its lovely shade of green.
Beautiful green color wasted on a really ugly dress. Too much going on, beading ruffles, seaming. Disappointing vis-a-vis some of the beautiful things Viola has worn for other events leading up to the Oscars.
From the neck up, it’s perfection. She’s pretty and happy. But the dress is a mess.
Love the colour, but the dress looked cheap—too cheap for someone who was in contention.
She looks awesome, love the dress. I would have been really scared to move my arms in it though!
disappointing. I do love the color and beading at the top, but this dress can’t seem to decide what it wants to do. It takes away from Viola’s beauty.
Her skin is glowing
Yeah, problem is, it’s glowing bright orange and sparkles. The problem with “mineral” makeup (I put it in quotes because most makeup IS already made of minerals so it’s a misnomer) is that when there is some photo flashing going on, especially on dark skin, it flashes an unearthly color because now they put all this sparkly dust in it. Ruins photos, in my opinion. People usually only do it once before they see their photo, and then never do it again.
Otherwise, she looks fantastic!
Pretty face, body, stance.
Dress only MEH
Her natural length hair is working for her.
In these pics she looks like an attractive woman. Much better than recent pics.
We will definitely see more of her (just not in this style dress hopefully).
Without the wig she looks completely different and 1000% better. So glad she went “natural” with the hair. Setting a good example, imo.
I do agree on the dress – not her best. The cut isn’t great and the color is just a little too dark.
But she looked so happy and confident.
The dress is absolutely gorgeous on her. Her hair color I’m not feeling.
i do think she may have been talking a bit about her hair too, and i love that she went to the oscars natural, because had she won, she would have been receiving that award without any of the frills that black women often think are necessary for acceptance. I get so sick of people saying that natural hair isnt nice or professional, and black women are the only people who are told that the natural state of their hair MUST be altered in order to gain acceptance. sorry guys. hot button issue for me. Sad she didnt win, but i love Meryl Streep too.
Same here!!! What a horrible thing to be tied to wigs. They are terribly hot, and really, women should feel free to not encumber themselves with a wig and feel the fresh air on their scalp and not have to worry about the many daily issues that come with dealing with the fake hair.
I was underwhelmed with this dress. The color is bad and the fit in the bust area is worse. It looks like a bad pageant gown. For some reason I am a little angry that Vera Wang actually put this dress on Viola and deemed it cute enough to go to the Oscars. I don’t know if it is even right to blame her or Viola for choosing to wear it, or both.My reaction to this outfit is perfect caught by the woman standing behind her in the first photo on the left. Her hair is awesome and the earrings are sick, but this is probably one of the worst of the night.
I think the dress is pretty and I love the color. The jade green color looks great on her. I like her hair natural, but she should go with a couple shades darker. I was disappointed that she didn’t win the Oscar, but she had some stiff competition.
Loved the look and the color of the dress. Thought she looked beautiful with her natural hair color and style.
i’m so sorry but that hair is just awful. no wonder she used wigs before
YOU try wearing wigs and nothing but, and then come back and tell us how great it is. It ain’t great.
What is it you find “awful” about it? The texture? The length? What exactly?
Disappointing. The dress just looks cheap. Great colour though.
Love the color, and her hair, but I didn’t care for the styling of the dress. The top made me worried she was going to have a malfunction any moment.
I really love Viola so it pains me to say anything negative. I think her hair/make-up are beautiful. And though my initial impression of the dress was favorable (esp the color), I now can’t stand the cut or the fabric. The stomach area looks like the material used to train guard dogs (as if there is some kind of stuffing in it). And the cleavage is just tasteless.
I am not crazy about the dress. Like many of you, I don’t like the bustline. Having said that, though, I don’t hate the dress.
The one thing about Viola is that she unafraid of color. I like that she changes it up and doesn’t shy away from bold colors. It’s a lesson I should use in my own wardrobe. Maybe I’ll use her as an inspiration!
who cares about her dress when she didn’t win the oscar?
Agreed-I think everyone-including Meryl-was shocked that Viola didn’t win.
this is why i never liked anything vera wang does anymore. she should stick to ice skating costumes where her tackiness will actually be appreciated.
I love everything expect the boobs mushed together. It tackifies the whole look and she doesn’t deserve that. Davis is beautiful so in the end, overlooking the boobs, she looked lovely. Not great, just lovely which is fine.
viola is so beautiful.
why a designer would put a gown like that on an oscar contender is mind boggling. a wasted opportunity. WASTED. vera wang is an idiot and her company’s value will drop even more because of this dress.
I don’t like the color on her. It does nothing for her beautiful complexion. Pretty dress but wrong one for her.
I thought she looks stunning! That green! Wow! The one and only part of her whole look that I disliked was the bust part of the dress. It didn’t look like it fit quite right. I’ve seen worse but it did stand out as looking kind of odd.
But yes, she totally wowed me when I saw her. Beautiful!
Love the natural, but not the tint. Don’t like the dress, including the color. I don’t think that shade suits her skin tone, and she had too much shine on her skin, too.
Violas beauty shone from within.
It is a shame that this BEAUTIFUL WOMAN had such bad make-up and a tacky dress for her big night. Shame on Vera Wang.
Love her natural hair style, but the color is too light and orange, her skin has too much shimmery bronzer dust, but mostly the look is ruined by too-heavy eye make-up. Needs less eyeliner and more defining shadow on the lids. A deep burgundy lipcolor would help a LOT, too, that’s where the sparkle should be, to go with her own natural radiance.
At least she looks happy!
Super-dishy fella with her, too!
Who is that dashing man?
Her hubby.
I don’t love the design of the dress, but from the neck up she looks beautiful.
The dress is meh, she could have done better. By I am so happy that she chose to wear her hair natural. It looks great! I went natural about five years ago and I love it. However, I’ve gotten some pretty rude comments. One ignorant white man said “straighten your f….n hair.” An ignorant black man hollered out “nappy hair!” And an ignorant bunch of Latinos laughed and pointed at my hair (I don’t speak Spanish, but I could tell from the tone of their voices that what they were saying wasn’t too nice). I’ve even had black women give me disapproving looks! The lesson that can be learned from this is : ignorant azz people come in all colors and nationalities!
You have to learn to ignore that ish. When I went natural there were folks including family members) who made ignorant and uninformed comments about it. Cut to almost 9 years later and quite a few of the female members of my family who had their negative comments are now natural as well. I get compliments and appreciative looks more than I get disdain. And those who don’t like it can kick rocks AND pound sand.
Ass**les are what they are. I’m sure your natural hair looks -and feels!- great. I have a few friends who have gone natural like Ms Davis and they just love it. They look gorgeous, too.
She is absolutely stunning here ! Perfect make up, the color of the dress is very flattering on her, the short haircut and natural hair really suits her.
That’s a HIT. Too bad she did not win!
She looks great EXCEPT for the hair color…mistake. Just because a hair color is in fashion, doesn’t mean it will look good on YOU or someone with your coloring. She would have looked much better with a darker, more natural hair color, hands down! With this color, she looks much too faded :- (( Too bad, otherwise, she has a great smile and has everything else going for her. Hair color is at least easily changed, where body shape is not.
Loved the color, meh on the dress design. Liked her makeup with the dress and loved her hair.
Loved what she had on her arm. Quite the accessory. He is divine.
HATE the dress – love the natural hair
She’s gorgeous. The dress is well fitted but not at all exciting.