Dressing celebrities for the Oscars is always a big competition among designers up until the very last minute. In most cases, the arrangements are made in advance, but from to time it occurs that celebrities change their mind five minutes before stepping onto the red carpet.
Virginia Madsen dropped a remark on ABC that she had selected her strapless blue Versace sheath at the last moment. On Friday night, Cate Blanchett, one of the major nominees, was still undecided what to don and agreed to wear Valentino as long as the house promised to dress her alone.
"Focusing on one person is so much better because with many of these actresses, you never know until the last moment. Her boyfriend can say, 'I'd rather see you in pink,' or her dog will bark twice and its all over," said Carlos Souza, a Valentino spokesman, according to The New York Times.
"It is the only moment we see this fake reality," Mr. Costa also said before the ceremony. "They are all in borrowed shoes, borrowed jewels and borrowed dresses. It gives the world a sense of beauty, but it's a little odd, too."
Hilary Swank, winner of the Best Actress Oscar, who has an advertising deal with Calvin Klein, for two weeks has been consulting with the company’s designer, Francisco Costa, on the Oscar gown and was set to wear an alluring number inspired by the 19th-century portraits of Madame X, featured by Giovanni Boldini and John Singer Sargent. But suddenly the actress changed her mind and arrived at the 77th Academy Awards wearing a dark blue backless gown from Guy Laroche.
"We wish it could have been our dress, but sometimes this happens," said Kim Vernon, a senior vice president of Calvin Klein. "At the last minute, she said this is what she really wanted to wear today."
Among other celebrities who chose variations of the popular blue color were Kate Winslet in violet-blue Badgley Mischka number with plunging neckline, Melanie Griffith in a swirling sea-foam Versace halter gown, last year's best actress winner Charlize Theron in a powder-blue tulle dress by Dior, which the company said required 650 hours and 300 meters of tulle fabric to create, and Salma Hayek in a dark blue Prada gown with black beading and bows.
Another biggest color trend on the red carper was black. Annette Bening looked sharp in black jersey from Armani's new couture collection, Kirsten Dunst chose a sophisticated black lace Chanel and singer Beyonce appeared in black strapless vintage Versace.
Many ladies went for the strapless look -- Gwyneth Paltrow in nude silk Stella McCartney, Emmy Rossum in red Ralph Lauren, Renée Zellweger in raspberry Carolina Herrera, Oscar nominee Natalie Portman in a Grecian-inspired olive Lanvin, Penelope Cruz in gold Oscar de la Renta and oversize diamond earrings, and Laura Linney in a strapless, flesh-coloured J. Mendel sheath with beaded bodice and chopped bottom frill.
Many male nominees, including Johnny Depp in a navy blue tux with black piping, Jamie Foxx in a peacock blue tux and Oscar winner Morgan Freeman in a black Richard Tyler suit, opted to go without ties. Both Oscar host Chris Rock and Sean "P. Daddy" Combs wore black velvet Sean John tuxes, while Spike Lee donned a white Dolce & Gabbana suit paired with Michael Jordan sneakers. Leonardo DiCaprio showed up with his supermodel girlfriend, Gisele Bundchen, wearing a Prada suit.
"Overall it was a very disappointing year," The Australian quoted New York fashion critic Diane Clehane as saying. "We count on people to look like movie stars at the Oscars and except for Cate Blanchett, who really looked the part, pretty much everyone else let us down. Halle Berry did not set the world on fire as she should. [She was in silver Versace.] You really notice it when big fashion icons like Nicole Kidman and Sharon Stone are missing."