LOS ANGELES, California — “This is our super bowl," says WKYC Style Contributor, Hallie Abrams, and founder of The Wardrobe Consultant. "If you're a fashion nerd like me, you've been foaming at the mouth, ready for it."
From the films to the fashion, this year did not disappoint at the 94th Academy Awards.
Some may remember this year’s Oscars from the memorable moments, like when Will Smith hit Chris Rock on stage after a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. But perhaps, fans will remember all the celebrities who demonstrated their fashion style in big, new and unique ways.
“For some reason, a lot of people on the red carpet were wearing red,” says Abrams. “Most notably, Ariana DeBose – she was watering this beautiful Valentino – sort of pantsuit set with a cape – so, it took pants, and made it formal."
Tracee Ellis Ross, Kirsten Dunst, and Amy Forsyth, to name a few, were seen on the red carpet ahead of the awards show styling their red attire.
"Marlee Matlin, from CODA was also wearing red, which looked beautiful,” Abrams said. “And Simu Liu was wearing an Atelier Versace red tuxedo, so that looked really interesting. Plus, with the black accessories, the black shoes, and the black bowtie. Then, of course, Jennifer Gardner was wearing Brandon Maxwell, who was one of the commentators on the red carpet."
We also saw many black dresses and tuxedos on the red carpet, but Abrams says that’s predictable for Oscars fashion. As for all the red, she adds it brought out an "Old Hollywood" vibe.
"I think people were really ready for color; the whole dopamine dressing, dressing for joy, so adding red is almost like a safe alternative to black,” says Abrams. “Very often, the Oscars are a little more boring in terms of fashion – they’re elegant and they’re beautiful – but the Grammy Awards or the SAG Awards are usually the places where celebrities push the envelope a bit, and this year, ‘Young Hollywood’ was like ‘we’re doing it out way’.”
Several celebrities also showed a lot of skin, in their Oscars attire.
"We saw it with Zendaya, who literally broke the internet, I think, before the whole Will Smith hitting Chris Rock – that broke the internet,” WKYC's Style Contributor says. “She was so gorgeous, so beautiful with that crop top and that long sequence skirt by Valentino.”
Zendaya's co-star in Dune, Timothée Chalamet, also showing a lot of skin during the Oscars.
“He has never been worried about following the pack and pushing trends and being his own person,” says Abrams. “And he decided to wear almost like a gender, non-conforming tuxedo – so showing total skin with some lace on the sleeve – and then a beautiful Cartier necklace, I thought he looked gorgeous, to be honest.”
The Bailey sisters, Chloe x Halle, also showing skin – sporting a high leg slit. But, that’s not all.
"Instead of wearing something long, Kristen Stewart decided to wear shorts,” Abrams says. “So, it was again, gender neutral, a tuxedo, with a very deep V. She's a Chanel ambassador and she has been for 10 years, so they not only had Chanel clothing, but Chanel jewelry."
Although there were mixed reviews on Stewart's look, Abrams says, she thought it looked really "cool."
“I thought her entire look, especially with her hair, said ‘I’m cool, I’m edgy, I’m still wearing Chanel,’” Abrams explained. “Her [Stewart’s] stylist, Karla Welch, is also the stylist for Justin Bieber, so she has more of a rock and roll edge anyway.”
And, of course, when we think fashion, best and worst dressed comes to mind. Abrams calls these categories somewhat polarizing, since a lot of the times people sit at home dressed in their pajamas and judge everyone's look on TV.
"I don't think there were a ton of 'worst dressed'," Abrams says. "But I do know a lot of people were mixed on Billie Eilish and her wearing Gucci, more because you couldn't really see her – she just got lost in all of that detail – the dress didn't really do anything for her figure."
The Wardrobe Consultant went on to explain how Eilish won her first Oscar and is known to do things a little on the wild side, like showing up with slime green hair in other years. Abrams also says Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Chastain, and Jada Pinkett Smith also had debatable dresses at the Oscars.
"It just looked very stiff," Abrams explained speaking about Gyllenhaal's dress. "I saw a comment somewhere someone said 'it looked like she had door knockers down her whole dress'." It was a little edgy, but a little uncomfortably different."
Although Abrams loved the color of Pinkett Smith's dress and the way it accented her, she says the bottom of it was a bit much.
"The Jean Paul Gaultier [dress] was just heavy," she says. "It almost looked like she was uncomfortable walking in it, so for me, that's a big reason it made the not-well-dressed list."
As for Jessica Chastain, Abrams says there were a lot of mixed reviews she saw online.
"Her Ombre Gucci gown looked beautiful on the top, especially with her red hair, it's just a little overdone at the bottom," Abrams says. "It almost had a little too much going on."
We asked Abrams what we favorite look of the night was and she replied, "Zendaya."
"She definitely had my top choice in terms of her look," says Abrams. "I thought it was interesting, unexpected, edgy – I even loved that she wore those bangles up her arms that picked up on the silver of the dress."
More Oscar coverage: