Oscars fashion through the years: The great and the puzzling
A radiant Grace Kelly glided from her seat, pulling up her long opera gloves, her little evening bag balanced on one arm, as she collected a best actress trophy for “The Country Girl” at the 1955 Academy Awards.
She kept her speech short and sweet: “The thrill of this moment keeps me from saying what I really feel. I can only say thank you with all my heart to all who made this possible for me. Thank you.”
It was a moment that might not have endured without the cool mint satin gown designed for her by Edith Head. At the time, Kelly was the screen’s most memorable blonde, radiating a sophisticated glamour pre-Princess of Monaco. Today, the thin-strapped gown is among the top fashion moments in the Oscars’ 90-year history.
It was also an inspiration for designers to come, said Hal Rubenstein, who wrote the book “100 Unforgettable Dresses.” The gently draped sheath with a near-bustle effect received a riff in soft pink by Ralph Lauren for Gwyneth Paltrow (albeit a little saggy up top) for the 1998 ceremony. Escada’s take in sherbet green was made for Kim Basinger’s Oscars turn the year before.
Kelly wore the gown two other times, at the film’s premiere before the Oscars and on the cover of Life magazine after. It offered a level of glamour that didn’t exist in 1929 at the very first Academy Awards, when best actress winner Janet Gaynor wore a simple skirt and sweater with a casual scarf draped cross her shoulders.
“Edith Head was a costume designer rather than a couturier. Worn with elbow length gloves and little other adornment, Grace Kelly set the bar for a new modern glamour and yet the color is deliciously unorthodox,” said Jo Ellison, fashion editor at the Financial Times and author of the book “Vogue: The Gown.”
The 1960s and ‘70s provided some fashion wow, of course, but red carpet frenzy reached stratospheric heights among designers in the 1980s, Rubenstein said.
“If it wasn’t for Armani, nobody would have cared,” he said. “He’s the one who discovered the PR quality in dressing people for the Oscars. He’s the one who latched on to Anjelica Huston and Jodie Foster and Michelle Pfeiffer.”
Among Ellison’s top Oscar moments: Lauren Hutton in 1980, in a shiny gold short playsuit by Zoran.
“Wearing gold to the Academy Awards is today such a cliche. I hardly notice, but this gold lame stops me in my tracks every time — the glossiest, most glamorous and most glorious gold outfit to grace the red carpet ever,” she said.