The real winners at this week's Academy Awards ceremony will not be the most talented, they will be the best dressed. After all, everybody knows that what counts at the Oscars is not whether you win or lose but what you wear to the party. MERLE GINSBERG reports, with contributions from BRIDGET FOLEY, GODFREY DEENY and ALESSANDRA ILARI.
NOW that Oscar ostentation and fashion faux pas are reported as much as political and sexual scandals, and crimes against nature, you would think Academy Award nominees would take a breather and think about what they are going to wear.
'Oscar arrivals should be treated as the runway,' veteran Hollywood columnist George Christie says, 'because that's really what they are.' Of course, it is hard to think clearly when most of the major designers in the world are courting you with flowers, sketches and sunglasses - not to mention free clothes - and, as a serious thespian, you are not supposed to take clothes all that seriously.
Sure. Look what happened when certain actresses decided to 'have fun' with their Oscar garb. Would Cher have worn the Bob Mackie G-string and feathers if she knew the repercussions it would have on her career? Would Barbra Streisand have donned her see-through Scaasi pants if she knew her derriere would be recorded for fashion-don't posterity? Would Geena Davis have done the Little Bo Beep look if she knew it would bring more ink than all of her performances combined? The eternal Oscar night question - 'To overdo, or not to overdo?' - has as many answers as the ceremony has viewers, which is about a billion.
So we put the question to fashion designers and show business insiders from New York, Los Angeles, and Europe, hoping for a stylish consensus for this year's crop of actresses. The result: lots of stylish advice, but little consensus.
'I liked the Oscars when you would look forward to what everyone would be wearing,' New York fashion designer Anna Sui says. 'I liked Streisand in her Scaasi outfit. I loved Cher in her Bob Mackies. Maybe an actress achieves a certain credibility by dressing in a more normal way, but why does that have to be?' Isaac Mizrahi also thinks that more is merrier at the Oscars. 'They better start getting glamorous again,' he says. 'When Geena Davis goes out on a limb, it's brilliant. But she's misunderstood, and people say she looks like a freak. Mistake or not, at least she tried. In Hollywood these days, women look like they were dressed by some committee, when I want them to look like they were dressed by the old studio system.' 'You have to dress like a star,' model-turned-designer Ines de la Fressange says. 'It should be haute couture with spangles, even if it borders on kitsch. It's Hollywood, after all - people want a spectacle and not the Nobel Prize.' 'The audience always wants to dream about superstars,' says designer Valentino, who has dressed many. 'So they should give them what they crave. Stars have begun to understand their image at the Oscars transmits their personal taste for the ultimate dreamof fans.' 'People watch waiting for the Wild One!' Christie says. 'They want to see confection - a banana split with a cherry on top and a little Hollywood hair. Cher, Geena and Demi Moore will never let you down. We need them to have something to write about.' Fred Hayman, fashion co-ordinator of the Oscars, is also fed up with the current vogue for understatement. 'Some people are too understated for words. They're nearly invisible,' he says. 'Pretty and low-key aren't enough. Fashion changes, and so should nominees.' And Giorgio Armani, the man responsible for simplifying the whole shebang, is also, surprisingly, in the go-for-the-gusto camp. 'I don't think the Oscars is about elegance and sophistication,' he says. 'When I went in 1990, there was everything from the ridiculous to the super-glamorous. It goes hand-in-hand with the lining-up of limos outside the entrance, the paparazzi desperately yelling out people's names. The fact is, it is kitsch that gives it an element of fun.' Meanwhile, the usually flamboyant Gianni Versace takes a low-key approach. 'Actresses believe that at the Oscars one must shine in sequins, while one should in fact sparkle through one's poise and personality. Fashion has recently moved toward less elaborate outfits.' Amy Archerd, Variety columnist and official celebrity greeter at the Oscars, thinks many actresses should look for help. 'Extreme decolletage is not appropriate. It's not tasteful and half the audience is looking down the star's dress just from the angle.Don't they want people to look at their faces?' Of course, a deconstructionalist designer is not going to want to deify stars. 'I like a simple dress, straight, mid-calf, made of black lining material and open in the back,' Jean Colonna says.