golden girls?

Uh, fashion-wise, there weren't too many, since most of the looks were quite safe. Which you could say is a classic moment, very "golden" indeed.

But as I watched the ceremony (and pre-ceremony), the thought struck me - why, with all the gorgeous, inventive, evening dresses available out there by very talented designers, did all the actresses go for some kind of sleek, safe, drapey column? Long and drapey is fine, but why couldn't I have seen more of these -

Narciso Rodriguez

Vera Wang

Ralph Lauren

Derek Lam

Jenni Kayne

Carolina Herrera

Jean Paul Gaultier

Instead of the endless parades of this sort -

Kate Winslet in Loris Azzaro

Rachel Weisz in Bill Blass

Angelina Jolie in St John

I did like Annette Benning's look -

Very tasteful, elegant, great Art Deco-ish details, and it suited her. You can do sleek and simple with character, without being bland.

Sleek also worked here for me -

Plenty of glamour in this Valentino gown, and Jessica Biel manages to wear it without the dress wearing here - she's also got the strong looks to tone down what could otherwise be too much of a throwback to the 1930s screen siren look.

Meryl Streep also looked wonderful, instead of going for the big ballgowns she's gone for in the past, she went for this graceful Carolina Herrera.

Perhaps vaguely limpid for a woman of such character and force, but it's much less dowager-ish.

Some gravitated away from sleek and went for volume, but not always successfully -

She frightened me a bit, truth be told - I contemplated not putting up this picture because I don't want such a scar on my blog but words failed me. The frilly look (by Valentino) just makes it seem like she's trying very hard to look a certain way, but it's just...wrong.

Maggie Gyllenhaal picked a fairly nice one from Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche -

But her posture leaves much to be desired. I mean, why does anyone voluntarily slouch to give the illusion that their breasts are sagging and causing their stomach to protrude?

Short dresses were spotted here and there, but again, with so many interesting short looks for evening out there, why did everyone go for the strapless cocktail satin?

Sarah Jessica Parker in L'Wren Scott

Renee Zellweger in vintage Christian Dior

Reese Witherspoon in Nina Ricci

Not ugly, certainly, but how boring, like attending a bridesmaid convention. Short for evening can look like this -

Marc Jacobs

Lanvin

Burberry

Balenciaga

Balenciaga

But no one in Hollywood seemed interested.

Hilary Swank and Penelope Cruz showed up in Chanel Haute Couture, but with all the loveliness available at Chanel, such as these -

They went for these -

Yawn.

Now I didn't necessarily like Rinko Kikuchi's outfit (from Chanel) here (the pom pom-festooned strips on her shoulders are a bit redundant) -

But there's so much more personality. Likewise Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin here -

I like the print of Ms Sevigny's YSL gown, and the colour and length of Ms Goodwin's Dolce & Gabbana dress feels fresh.

The red carpet feels like such a great opportunity to show off a bit of personality and indulge in a bit of fantasy we all need in our lives. It's so boring to be dissing Hollywood fashions and stylists and all that, but I can't help but think it's true that it's deadly dull and incredibly silly for entire magazines to exist and devote themselves to so-called celebrity style.

Nonetheless, maybe it's time for the media to stop this obsession with "celebrity style" and quite hyping people up unless they deserve it. The whole circus takes away from the fact that some of these actresses are deeply talented, and they shouldn't be judged solely on their dress sense anyway. Think of it as a bonus and a thrill to see a stylishwoman; try not to be too hard on those who excel elsewhere.

Pictures from www.style.com