Best actress winner Julianne Moore's Chanel Haute Couture gown was made for her by Karl Lagerfeld but while it ticked all the right boxes – Chanel! Glitter! - it failed to really wow. The shimmering white did little for her skin tone and the dress looked stiff and uncomfortable.
Everyone's favourite red carpet siren, Emma Stone, wore custom Elie Saab and will undoubtedly top many of the best dressed lists today. The long sleeved green gown perfectly complimented Stone's creamy skin tone and dark red hair. Less successful in the green stakes was Scarlett Johansson figure-hugging Versace gown worn that managed to be both sexy and dull at the same time.
Felicity Jones' dress was a tale of two halves. The best actress nominee looked bridal from the waist down but beautiful from the waist up. The Alexander McQueen number was detailed with thousands of pearls sitting in what the designer called 3D flowers,. The neckline perfectly highlighted Jones delicate shoulders, and the heavy fringe combined with smoky eye added a touch of edge to an otherwise princessey ensemble.
Jones wasn't the only member of the 'big skirt brigade'; Jennifer Lopez was perhaps THE golden girl of this year's awards in nude-toned Elie Saab Couture. The huge gown also featured detailed appliqué and seemed to match almost exactly her glowing skin tone. The ever present awards guest let her dress do the talking with a simple ponytail and make-up.
The other Jennifer wore a Versace gown and Fred Leighton jewels. Her look was typically Anniston, with a mermaid cut dress and golden glowing pallor. Her 'undone' hair was perhaps a little too 'undone' for a night like The Oscars, but the overall look felt very easy, breezy and, perhaps disappointingly, her.
Last year's Oscars red carpet star, Lupita Nyongo, was a pearly queen in a custom gown created by Francisco Costa. The dress featured more than 6,000 pearls and looked like it weighed a ton, but Nyongo pulled it off with a grace only she could manage.
“Wild” nominee Reese Witherspoon didn’t get an Oscar but her white gown with black trim was one of the winners of the evening for just being, well, simple and classy. The Tom Ford dress shows how two-tone can be brilliant rather than boring.
Only Keira Knightly could carry off such a confection – a floaty Valentino number embroidered words and flowers. On her it looked gorgeous and poetic. On anyone else it would be spell disaster.
Naomi Watts shimmered from head to two in silver with diamonds to match The Armani Privee held up by shoestring straps was looked sinuous and sinfully expensive.
Oscar night novice Dakota Johnson of "Fifty Shades of Grey," was channeling the scarlet women with her clingy,Yves St Laurent gown with its single jewelled shoulder strap. With messy hair, red lips and a split from ankle to hip, this was a determinedly sexy look from the 25 year old.#
Rosamund Pike, a nominee for "Gone Girl," chose a siren-red strapless lace trimmed gown from Givenchy Haute Couture with a deep slit revealing flawless legs and break-neck scarlet sandals.
Not forgetting the men of the night, Jared Leto was his usual 'quirky' self in a powder blue suit with white shoes. Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor and our hearts in navy Alexander McQueen and recently married Benedict Cumberpatch followed the theme and wore white. Selma actor David Oyelowo was our best dressed man of the night, taking a risk in red Dolce & Gabbana with a jewelled brooch.
