GIVE THEM THE BOLD SHOULDER
THE thigh-high split, the big bow, the train, the mermaid dress and the ubiquitous nearly naked numbers, over the years awards seasons have thrown up all manner of trends.
But last weekend I believe we witnessed a new one, or at least the return of a very old one: the bold shoulder.
Thanks to some bizarre scheduling, Sunday saw the Grammys and the Baftas take place on the same night on different sides of the Atlantic (you’d think the organisers might talk to each other, wouldn’t you?).
The Grammys have long been an opportunity for music stars to let their fashion freak flag fly, so much so that in 2013, the TV network broadcasting the show sent out a missive requesting attendees made sure that breasts and buttocks were adequately covered.
In contrast, the Baftas have usually been a more conservative affair, stylewise. Dodgy scriptwriting aside (poor Joanna Lumley did her best), there’s generally little chance of us witnessing a boob at our home ceremony.
But on the red carpet at both shows this year, celebs – well, their stylists – decided that shoulders deserved to be the focal point.
Janelle Monae gave Joan Crawford a run for her money Stateside with high pointy ones on her Jean Paul Gaultier dress, while Heidi Klum’s shoulder treatment bordered on angel wings and even Miley Cyrus’s Thierry Mugler tuxedo packed a sizeable pair of shoulder pads.
Here in the UK, the success of bold shoulders was a little hit and miss. The Duchess of Cambridge in Alexander McQueen, Salma Hayek in Gucci and Eleanor Tomlinson all wowed wearing asymmetric dresses with shoulder details, while Amy Adams in Prada and Glenn Close in McQueen had more subtle but no less effective shoulder adornments.
Sadly for Margot Robbie, her Chanel Haute Couture dress with its oversized blue net shoulder trims, may have taken 690 hours to make, but it took just minutes for it to land her on the worst-dressed lists where she was compared to everything from a flying fish to a sparkly car wash. Rachel Weisz, who took home a Bafta for her role in The Favourite meanwhile, struggled to curry favour with her frou frou Gucci gown.
Still all power (shoulder) to Margot, Rachel and the rest of them for taking fashion chances. Awards season would be a duller place without them.
It will be interesting to see whether we see more of the same at next weekend’s Oscars or whether stars choose to shrug off this tricky trend.