As the returning Best Actress winner, attending just to present Best Actor, Cate Blanchett was under no obligation to wow us. But still, she’s Cate Blanchett, a goddess walking among us. Of course we believed that she was going to look amazing. And I think she did! Cate wore this Maison Margiela by John Galliano. Galliano is one of her favorite designers, and she has a history of wearing Galliano’s designs to the Oscars in particular. Even after Galliano’s troubles several years ago, he’s kept the loyalty of several big-name fashionistas, and I have to say… this dress makes me miss Galliano’s designs. The gown is understated without being boring. It suits Cate perfectly. The details are interesting (the fringe at the shoulder!) and the cut is flawless.
Cate paired her simple black gown with a big turquoise statement necklace from Tiffany’s. That was it. That was her only piece of jewelry. I kind of like how undone it is, but I wouldn’t have minded seeing some earrings. The big necklace was a trend last night too, and I think Cate was one of the best examples of it. Also: she seemed almost tender and motherly with Eddie Redmayne. She gave him such a big hug when he won!
Meryl Streep wore this custom-made Lanvin which is kind of boring, but it’s Meryl and she’s done this literally fifty million times, so she probably just wanted to be comfortable. I’m sort of surprised that her husband Don came out!
This is going to sound rude but I honestly mean it as a compliment: I love Oprah when she’s bigger. Truly. I think she looks so beautiful these days. Oprah was one of the producers on Selma, so she got the Oscars invite and she came out in this petal-pink Vera Wang gown, custom-made. I think she looks great, right?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
This is the best red carpet look I’ve seen from Meryl in a long long time.
Actually a lot of the fashion at the Oscars this year was really good compared to several other recent occasions. Most of the major stars looked really wonderful. Cate Blanchett is almost always pefection & didn’t disappoint this time either. Julianne Moore also looked really lovely, as did Laura Dern, Faith Hill, Jessica Chastain, Emma Stone, La Lopez & Naomi Watts. The great Meryl as always was inimitably Meryl!
I would exclude La Lopez from the people who looked good, but yeah, it was a decent red carpet, not many wow dresses, but not many terrible looks either.
I was SO disappointed in Cate’s dress. She usually wears such beautiful, interesting dresses, and this look was so bland and boring. Plus I hated her necklace. SIGH.
Cate is beautiful as always but the colour of her necklace doesn’t quite go with the rest.
Meh – I’m over Cate and her Woody Allen-loving self. The fawning over her on this site is ridiculous. And this dress/look is not cute.
Agree, and her look is a total yawn. She stuck a bobble necklace on a basic black dress but she’s awesome. Anybody else would have been called bland. Because she looks completely bland.
Well, then I guess you’re over 60 percent of Hollywood because most of them worked with Allen.
So what’s your point? I don’t like anyone who works with Woody Allen. I’m fully aware that most of Hollywood fawns over him and ignores the fact that he married his children’s sibling and took nude pictures of her when she was underage and molested his daughter. It’s a nauseating fact that I’m sure Santia is well aware of also. I used to love, LOVE Colin Firth and I’ll never look at him the same way again. I promised myself I wouldn’t comment on it again because it’s just exhausting, but I had to agree with Santia that it’s very hard to take Kate being held up as someone who can do no wrong when she made a choice to work with such a sickening excuse for a human being to further her career. So what if 60% of Hollywood has done the same? Many of them did so before this all came out, and the rest of them should be ashamed of themselves.
Cate loves Galliano, too. She once said it’s her obligation to bring “beautiful” babies into the world. Oh, yeah.
Yes her look is definitely NOT cute. It is actually called CLASS & UNDERSTATED ELEGANCE. BIG difference.
@Tristan – tomato, tomahto. I don’t like the look; you can like it all you want. Still doesn’t change my mind about it.
@GNAT – exactly! You articulated my thoughts on Cate and Woody Allen exactly.
I would hardly call that necklace “understated.”
I’m so mad that Joaquin Phoenix is working with Woody Allen…I hate to have to cross him off my list of favorite actors….
Wasn’t Blue Jasmin filmed in 2012? And, Dylan’s confirmation of abuse out in 2014? It seemed to me that Cate was more so just trying to through her press duties for Blue Jasmin with minimal scandal. But if the Cate hate goes beyond that, then ignore me
GNAT, I love you! I echo your sentiments on Woody Allen and those who work with him. I avoid watching movies with actors who’ve worked with him, especially those who gush over and defend him.
Agree with Santia and GNAT. Glad you spoke up.
What bugged me was her hair-it looked like it either wasn’t styled or was styled but with the wrong “product”.
I agree about Cate’s necklace. Maybe a strand of pearls would have worked better.
Actually all Three Ladies this round Looked DELICIOUS! Seriously she wasn’t a nominee so this is really good and occasion appropriate *coughJLOcough*
Yes I agree! They all look wonderful! And Eddy looks dashing in that suit as well
Agree. And the back of Cate’s dress was fantastic. She has a beautiful back.
^Agree^ with everything QQ said.
That is what I like about her. She is always appropiate in any venue.
She was actually one of my favorite looks of the night. This year was sorta blah for fashion.
Disliked Cate’s look – the enormous tacky necklace, the armhole fringe that make it look like she has giant furry armpits.
Nothing tacky about a Tiffany turquoise and diamond necklace, lol.
Tiffany is not exempt from tacky – a giant turquoise necklace is tacky.
I think Tiffany makes a lot of tacky jewelry. Just because you pay 50% more to say it’s Tiffany doesn’t mean it’s tasteful. They have, for example, those vulgar and ridiculous “return to Tiffany” pieces, whose sole reason for existence is so everybody will know you bought your ugly necklace at Tiffany’s.
I wanted to take my sewing machine to the armholes.
It was boring, but classy. She wasn’t a nominee, so it was appropriate. *side-eye to JLo*
I think it was more timeless than boring.
Cate Blanchett could make a sack look like the classiest thing in the world so am not surprised that she pulls off a dress this simple.
I thought she was really cute with Eddie! Can anyone remember how any scenes they had together on the second Elizabeth movie?
And the fact that he tried to kill her in the golden age is funny if you saw how happy of his win. Both very cute.
I loved Cate’s look. Simple, elegant, dash of flair/drama with that necklace. Fab.
Boring overworked Wang on Oprah and she needs to stop leaning towards the camera! On the plus side, I am glad she stopped trying to diet into a size six. No shade, really glad – not everyone is meant to be a size six. She looks good and happy. But I still hate that dress.
ITA regarding Oprah’s zaftig shape – she’s got a nice hour glass. I like the cut of her dress, but that blush color is too pale – she looks so great in vibrant colors. She looks super happy 🙂
I love CB’s elegant and minimalist approach – the cut of the dress is flattering and the necklace is gorgeous.
Agree- I like the cut of Oprah’s but the color I found very dull.
Cate’s look is great. She often goes for something avant garde, so this was a nice change of pace for her, and she looked gorgeous as always.
And we have a winner for best dressed. Seriously, I will always think velvet is the most elegant fabric in the world and this is ni exception. I’m also having mayor lust for that Tiffany’s necklace (so Millicent Rogers) and of course that face.
I think Cate can pull almost anything off. I love her look the dress, her skin she looks great.
Her complexion is the best in Hollywood. What kind of budu she does? It’s not fair.
She’s promoted that SK-II range for years. Based in Cate Blanchett, I’m temped to go check it out (so £€¥$$$ though…)
St. Catalina saves the night. Really this is how you stun without looking desperate or overdone.
Lol St. Catalina indeed. I will borrow that nickname for Cate.
WTH? on Oprah’s facial expression.
I can’t agree about liking Oprah bigger, just because I know it makes her unhappy and how hard she struggles to lose weight. I think she looks beautiful, and I love her dress, but I know she’d rather be a bit thinner. She has talked about it for years.
Most women would like to be thinner, but some actually are at peace and happy with their true size. I imagine many women who are thin from stress, worry, illness, or because they starve themselves. Is that true happiness? Oprah, like many women of color, is a naturally curvy woman. To be thin would mean her going against her natural size with strict dieting and over exercising. I imagine that is what Jennifer Hudson, America Ferrara, Kelly Osbourne, Kate Winslet, and a lot of other naturally curvy women have to do to remain thin and yet they are still considered curvy and chubby in Hollywood. It seems like Oprah is at an age where she has embraced her natural body and doesn’t really care about starving herself to look like someone she really isn’t supposed to be.
I hope so, Kibbles. I think she looks beautiful. The last thing I heard her say about it was around 2-3 years ago, and she was disappointed because she had to take some medication that made her gain all of her weight back. She had worked so hard to get it off. Not by starving, but by eating right and exercising. I agree she knows she will never be skinny, but I had the impression that being this size was not acceptable to her. Of course, I’ve never met her so could be totally wrong. I think we all need to embrace and love ourselves , but sometimes that’s at war with being the person you know you can be. I’m not judging her, or saying she SHOULD feel bad about being this weight – I just had the impression that she DOES feel bad about being this weight.
@kibbles: Oprah isn’t naturally heavier, she’s talked about the fact that she has really poor eating habits when she’s not dieting. It’s exactly why extreme diets don’t work: they’re impossible to maintain long term and they don’t address bad eating habits. For someone so wealthy and successful she’s still pretty clearly seeking that validation and it’s nice to see her not flogging herself to try to fit into a dress, but I have a feeling it may still happen again depending on the occasion. It’s hard to watch someone that so clearly has everything and who has been so open about not being comfortable in her own skin.
I loved the fabric of Cate’s dress and I adored the necklace but I was not fond of the undone hems at the shoulders. Frankly, it looks itchy. Oprah was the best last night with all of her faces and the reactions when the camera was on her! She is so witty and I agree she was glowing. And Meryl jumping up from her seat happened at the same time that I jumped up off of my couch while watching Patricia’s speech. It was really moving! It cracked me up when the camera kept panning by her and Jennifer Lopez talking and laughing. What an odd pair!
I thought Cate looked nearly perfect. Dress, necklace, hair & m/u…but on such a simple, clean, tailored dress, I don’t get the ragged armholes. It looks like someone ran up and ripped off her sleeves! I understand that unfinished look on certain things, but just really NOT this particular dress.
The picture of Cate looking understatedly fierce next to lovely Eddie is my favorite one of the night so far.
Oprah looks AMAZING. Hair, makeup, dress…love!
Cate is damn near perfection, but you are right – wouldn’t have minded a chunky ring or two to round the look out.
I love Cate’s necklace, but this seems more like a SAG look to me. A Little underwhelming for the Oscars.
i disagree. I find her look super boring. Don´t get me wrong Cate looks very elegant but absolutely unspectacular. It´s just a black dress (and way too fluffy for my taste), nothing we haven´t seen 1000 times before.
Did anyone notice Meryl’s somewhat frozen face but only in some carefully chosen places while she presented? She demonstrates how to have good work done.
Also love the idea of Meryl to her husband “honey do you want to come to the oscars this year?” Him “eh what the hell, why not?” Please adopt me and tell me how to be fabulous.
I think turquoise always has a funky, casual vibe, so even if it was a statement necklace from Tiffany’s, I don’t think it looked good. It was more jarring to me than attractive, and I thought Cate’s dress was boring, except for the fringe at the arms, which wasn’t particularly attractive. Oprah looked great, but could have used a little color on her cheeks. I was appalled at Neil Patrick’s joke at first, because I thought he was making fun of Oprak’s weight, but then he said” Because she’s rich”, but how weird was that?
i think cate looked lovely as per usual
Cate can’t do wrong ever in my eyes, love her. Meryl and Oprah have good looking arm candies! 😀
Underwhelming effort from Cate. And even though I like big, bold jewellery, the turquoise statement necklace has been done a lot. Sofia Vergara, Eva Mendes, Heidi Klum, before that Cameron Diaz…. Cate is usually more original.
I would have been batting at that shoulder fringe all night.
Cate is perfection. But I am a sicker for a great black dress with a pop of color. My favorite Oprah moment was whe NPH made the “cause you’re rich” joke and they cut to Oprah and she’s all, “Yes, I am.” Very matter of fact. That slayed me.
Agreed: Perfection!!! I WANT her style, sigh.
Black and a pop of color will always be a winning combination.
I too thought Oprah looked quite lovely—and I’m no fan of Oprah. (I know someone with some insider information about what it was like working on her show, and apparently she –and Gail wink, wink– could have done THe Devil Wears Prada.) And let’s talk about her most used accessory–Steadman. I always thought he was a good looking man. Still do. But all I noticed about him last night was he was constantly slack jawed, mouth dangling…and he just looked one second away from drooling (and not in a lascivious way). In a mouth breathing way. This pic pretty much captured how he looked all night long. It was distracting and very unattractive and just plain ewwwwww.
Cate is beautiful and amazing but not everything suits her. I’m sorry but she did not look amazing at all. Her dress was awful, cheap-looking, and did I say awful? That big necklace didn’t help, although I love the colour, but it didn’t go with the dress AT ALL.
Her hair was ok-ish, but her make up too undone.
I kind of want to yell at Cate and her people, were they blind when they dressed her?
Oprah’s dress was gorgeous on screen. Just lovely. I liked Cate’s outfit but her hair was distracting.
This is descontructive fashion at it’s finest. I just love the undone look of it all, so effortless yet you see the craftmanship is gorgeously detailed. Never has black look better since Katharine Hepburn used that underrated black dress in Adam’s Rib.
Also, I love her mood last night. Chilling around with everyone and even making Anna Wintour laughed a lot.
I don’t know how but she is more beautiful now than back in the nineties. Back then she was very pretty but now for me is one of the most physically beautiful women. Just oozes sensuality and grace, even if I find her very cold and aloof (she seems to be quite unaprochable).
Nothing really special about the dress, if she was using it as just a backdrop for the spectacular necklace then the neckline should have been a little lower to match the exact lie of the necklace.
That said she looked good, classy and not over done. Certainlyleaving the try-hards in the shade.