If there was one unifying trend among celebrity starlets walking the Oscars red carpet, it was…bland.
From high-necked gold column gowns to traditional silhouettes, the ladies of Hollywood donned a series of dresses that showcased designers’ ingenuity, but not much else. In a year when political protest threatened to overtake artistic honors, it seemed almost required that women keep it safe.
Dakota Johnson channeled the Golden Girls, both literally and figuratively (that neckline is pure Bea Arthur).
Kirsten Dunst, who is representing Hidden Figures, donned a wonderful dress – for attending a very fancy funeral.
Chrissy Tiegen, whose husband John Legend was nominated in the Best Song category, is normally a red carpet risk taker, but she kept it safe in a Zuhair Murad gown that looked a little like a cross between a mother-of-the-bride dress, and a figure skating costume.
Even A-listers were making the crowds yawn. Nicole Kidman and Emma Stone both wore well-accentuated gold gowns, with incredibly beautiful details that were almost lost in the very neutral hue. Other stars went even simpler, with white column gowns that showcased their figures, if nearly nothing else.
Only Scarlett Johanssen wore color – a pink Azzedine Alaia confection that had a lot of volume.
The fashions were so boring, at least two stars showed up wearing nearly identical outfits: Michelle Williams, in Louis Vuitton, and Emma Roberts, in vintage Armani Prive.
There was one other splash of color: the ACLU support ribbon.
Stars from Lin-Manuel Miranda to Busy Phillips sported the blue ribbons with “ACLU” printed on them on the red carpet, as both a protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, and also as a show of solidarity with the public interest legal organization that is pursuing several lawsuits against Trump executive orders.
