Good, Bad & Ugly/ Berry, Washington were dressed for Oscar success

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 26, 2002 by The Gazette

Halle Berry was luminous. Gwyneth Paltrow was just plain loony.

As usual, Sunday night's Academy Awards served up a mixed bag of classic elegance and several, well, questionable choices.

But most stars played it safe, with a prevalence of black and pale, pale pinks.

Joan Rivers - the czarina of Oscar fashion - will issue her final opinions next week on the E! cable network, but we sought out our own fashion experts, asking three local folks to make their picks. Our experts are John Aquila, co-owner of Veda Salon & Spa; Chris Colean, owner of Colorado Co-op; and textile designer Rebecca Yaffe.

Here's what they said.

BEST FEMALE OVERALL - Halle Berry's sheer, wine-colored ball gown was lauded by two panelists, who praised the Oscar winner for her entire look - hair, makeup and dress. Colean preferred Cameron Diaz's vintage-style floral kimono by Emanuel Ungaro Couture.

BEST MALE OVERALL - Colean says Lead Actor winner Denzel Washington conveyed the best "Oscar attitude," while Yaffe says Robert Redford, at 64, still looks great in a tux. Jon Voight was Aquila's pick, for his neat tux and trademark scarf.

WORST FEMALE OVERALL - Plenty of options here. Aquila slammed Gwyneth Paltrow for a too-sheer black bodice and painted-on makeup; Colean was disappointed in the usually stylish Jennifer Connelly's choice of "layered chiffon melting around her ankles"; and Yaffe put herself in the mind of Barbra Streisand: "So, a funny thing happened on the way to the Oscars. I passed this Lebanese rug merchant on the side of the road, and I traded the dress I was going to wear for ..."

WORST MALE OVERALL - Colean's thoughts: "Poor Tom Cruise! Fresh off the set from 'Born on the Fourth of July,' neither shaved nor combed, wearing his prom suit." Yaffe's thoughts on Ethan Hawke: "The Oscars didn't start until 5. I am sure there was a one-hour dry cleaner in Los Angeles who could have ironed your tux - and you could have even shaved while you were waiting." Aquila was aghast over the fringed tuxedo worn by Richard Taylor, who won Best Makeup for "The Lord of the Rings." "(He) did a great Gene Autry impersonation, without the horse."

HONORARY BJORK AWARD ("What the Hell Were They Thinking?") - Jennifer Connelly comes up a loser again in Aquila's book, while Colean refers to the show's hostess as "Whooping Goldberg Crane." Yaffe says of Cameron Diaz: "We knew she had a flair for the dramatic. We just didn't know she had a flair for dramatic irony."

BEST HAIR FEMALE AND MALE - "The chignon was de riguer last night," says Colean. "Sissy Spacek did it best!" She also liked Ben Kingsley's stylin' soul patch. Aquila praised the well-coiffed husband-and-wife duo of Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon. Yaffe loved Halle Berry's short 'do paired with her husband Eric Benet's beautiful long dreads.

BEST COUPLE - Yaffe melted when Phil Bronstein said of wife Sharon Stone, "I love any chance to go on a date with my wife." Aquila says nominee Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith shone, and Colean was wowed by Halle Berry and Eric Benet.

BEST OLDER FEMALE - Colean loved every wrinkle on Maggie Smith's beautiful face, while Helen Mirren's white satin Armani impressed the other panelists.

BEST GOLDEN ERA HOLLYWOOD STYLE - Reese Witherspoon's cap-sleeved black lace dress was Yaffe's pick. Aquila loved actress Laura Elena Harring, who wore a 77-carat diamond worth $27 million, $1 million stiletto sandals and a strapless floral Armani. Colean says the "stunning" Jodie Foster "wore the only glittery Hollywood-style dress that didn't look like a ceiling fixture."

SLUTTIEST - Colean was downright miffed. "Gwyneth Paltrow is another example of the screen's most beautiful women in entirely the wrong outfit. Her lingerie-style bodice revealed more than I cared to see, and her posture indicated that she had forgotten her undergarments." Yaffe says Nicole Kidman's pale pink dress made her look positively naked. And perennial fashion disaster Sally Kirkland was slammed by Aquila for her bizarre outfit with mechanized moving ruffles.

TOO MUCH SKIN - Colean was shocked by Uma Thurman, who was practically falling out of her low-cut dress. Yaffe says of Paul McCartney's fiance Heath Mills' navel-baring number: "Evening gowns, unlike swimsuits, should NOT come in two-piece." Aquila thought Jodie Foster's skinny frame was all wrong for her slinky short dress.

NOT ENOUGH SKIN - Colean says there's always enough skin at the awards. Aquila says Sissy Spacek, while not an ingenue, was overly dowdy. Yaffe took a different tack on this award, saying: "Personally, I think Hugh Jackman could have come to the Oscars dressed in boxer shorts and a bow tie, and that STILL wouldn't have been enough skin for me!"