How Oscars are losing the old Hollywood charm

In fashion, you are overdressed for some and underdressed for few and for some you look fine either way. It’s freedom for some and remains a containing factor for many.

Social critic and author Camille Paglia recently wrote an article where she talked about the glamour quotient at the Oscars and how it has changed over a period of time: “As I was growing up in the drearily conformist '50s and early '60s, it was hard to find information about popular culture, which wasn't taken seriously. Deep-think European art films were drawing tiny coteries of intellectuals to small, seedy theaters, but flamboyant mainstream Hollywood was still dismissed as crass, commercial trash.”

She also mentions Elizabeth Taylor's 1961 win as "a huge cultural watershed, a prefiguration of the coming sexual revolution, which predated a new generation of hip, smart and cynical stars".

The old Hollywood charm continues to haunt us beautifully and many, in one way or the other, try to touch upon the grace and challenging elegance that the stars didn’t just portray for the camera but embodied, heart and soul.

The 2017 Oscars Red Carpet was quite a bleak reminder of the fascination we continue to adore old Hollywood for.

It was neither rebellious enough to create a new tradition nor a "trend" - a representation of what pertains to the current social and cultural climate.

It was quite safe this year. Subtle colours, not much fuss, controlled and edgy and for the love of art, we saw architectural silhouettes playing an important role this time.

Dramatic shapes, ball skirts, sculpted cuts, metallics, especially in gold, fewer slits, sheer and some fiery colour choices ruled the Red Carpet moments. There was definitely an attempt to make a statement.

Janelle Monáe’s ornate and elaborate Elie Saab haute couture fairy tale gown showed no love for the understated and made busy the most sought-after trend amid safe players like Emma Stone and Nicole Kidman, and Dakota Johnson’s sheer and sublime choices.

Naomie Harris brought simple and complicated in the right balance in a tea-length white Calvin Klein dress, while Kirsten Dunst, in Dior haute couture, and Priyanka Chopra, in Ralph & Russo, preferred interesting shapes, not too safe but enough to raise a lot of eyebrows.

Priyanka Chopra’s style, so far, hasn’t raised serious questions since her first step into Hollywood, but her choice at the Red Carpet wasn’t much applauded despite the arty edge the gown wore.

She was seen in a Ralph & Russo Spring 2017 couture gown with Jimmy Choo Lorraine Schwartz jewels. Even though one can appreciate the craft and the play of geometrical brilliance, the unique style didn’t work for her.

The architectural subtlety didn’t work as an outfit.

What was missing was the carefree - the mythical and the dreamer.

What was missing was Winona Ryder in a strapless black gown and red lips at the Academy Awards in 1990.

That made much more than just a statement, as did Sharon Stone’s original and cool quotient from Academy awards 1998, where she paired her husband’s Oxford shirt with a Vera Wang skirt.

One does miss another version of the out-of-the-bed look that Kate Moss donned in 2007 with a John Galliano sheer gown, or the powerful and playful Linda Evangelista’s retro gilded frock worn by her in 2008.

Gone are the days when fashion was owned. Now it owns you.

Also read - Best and worst dressed stars at Oscars red carpet