For the second year in a row, #OscarsSoWhite has gone viral with some black A-List actors boycotting the ceremonies on February 28. Last year I opted to change the narrative by making that divisive hashtag about the color of the frocks of the attendees, and not about the color of the skin of the nominees.
This year I want to expand the color choices to include black, the symbol of elegance. This is part of my continuing series of “wish” articles for non-Hollywood-based Filipino designers to dress up Oscar nominees. My other wish series, on Filipino designers dressing up our Binibinis when they compete internationally, has since been granted with the Albert Andrada-Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach and Leo Almodal-Janicel Lubina winning collaborations.
We don’t care much about what the men will wear. Best Actor frontrunner Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant) wore Armani at both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, while Best Supporting Actor shoo-in Sylvester Stallone (Creed) wore a Brunello Cucinelli single-breasted tuxedo in navy. But his best accessories were former supermodel-wife Jennifer Flavin and stunning daughters Sistine, Sophia and Scarlet.
Alicia Vikander, frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl, wore a white sequined gown at the Globes and a painterly, color-blocked dress at the SAG, both by Louis Vuitton. She would look lovely in a white Mark Bumgarner x Love Marie confection with dainty details on the bodice. Her style ancestors and fellow Swedish screen goddesses Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman would be proud.
Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs) wore navy Ralph Lauren at the Globes and green Giorgio Armani at the SAG. Both dresses were of the classic mold, so an Erwin Tan number would do her womanly figure justice.
She’s not only a Vogue cover girl but she’s also on the cover of a Vogue book (The Editor’s Eye), so Rooney Mara (Carol),who wore blush Alexander McQueen at the Globes and black Valentino at the SAG, should look like she belongs on a fashion page, like wearing a Lyle IbaNez for Esac creation.
Jennifer Jason Leigh (Hateful Eight) is hardly a red-carpet habitué. At the Globes, though, she wore a fitted Roland Mouret dress in white. She might choose the same shade come Oscar night, this time in an Odelon Simpao body-conscious number with splashes of colorful lines.
It won’t be a Morticia Addams moment for Rachel McAdams (Spotlight); Angelina Jolie did that already back in the day. She wore rose print Lanvin at the Globes and a lacy Elie Saab at the SAG. I’d dress her in a vampy Avel Bacudio creation, the better to lure back former beau Ryan Gosling (who will be a presenter).
For the Best Actress contenders, Brie Larson (Room) is the favorite. She wore Calvin Klein at the Globes and Versace at the SAG, both very sexy dresses. She might want to bare her shoulders this time in a Jaz Cerezo with a flowing cape as she navigates the steps of the Dolby Theater stage to pick up her gold statuette.
Jennifer Lawrence (Joy) will be wearing Christian Dior, predictably, as will presenter Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road). Another ingénue, Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn), who wore pink Michael Kors at the SAG and Grecian white Yves Saint Laurent Couture by Hedi Slimane at the Globes, will look sensational/virginal in a Jerome Salaya Ang layered dress.
Always a class act, Cate Blanchett (Carol) wore Givenchy fringe at the Globes. She didn’t show up at the SAG. On Hollywood’s Big Night, the style icon and two-time winner might flaunt her slim figure in another Mark Bumgarner x Love Marie creation.
Then we come to the eternally stylish Charlotte Rampling (45 Years). She wore an Armani jacket with peplum and pencil skirt at the Oscar Nominees luncheon and a Yohji Yamamoto ensemble at her film’s premier in Berlin. All clothes—nary a ballgown—most likely coming from her closet and not selected for her by some high-priced stylist. “Her style is immaculately unstyled in a way that we rarely see on the red carpet anymore,” red-carpet commentator Jessica Morgan told The New York Times. So, a Randy Ortiz suit it is.