Oscar hits and misses

The Oscars may have been Sunday, but the fashion world is still buzzing.

It’s as if each spectacular dress was charged with energy, a battery that refuses to die out until next year’s Academy Awards roll around.

Everyone is still convinced of their favorites, namely Jessica Chastain, Charlize Theron and Jennifer Aniston. Each actress wore a relatively simple, custom-made dress.

Chastain wore a nude embellished Giorgio Armani, Theron chose a sleek white peplum by Dior while Aniston went out on a limb — for her, at least — in a poppy red Valentino Haute Couture gown.

Aniston’s look can sum up all of the night’s best looks. Straying from her usual black columns, she embraced a trendy color and let smaller details — like a matching clutch — maintain her subtly chic look. Simplicity was key, and stars who embraced it ended up, ironically, standing out the most. For an awards show usually associated with all-out glamour and over-the-top embellishment, this was refreshing.

One of the main goals of minimalism is to appear effortless, as if getting dressed is a natural, painless process. Chastain, Theron and Aniston certainly seemed to fit this mold, though we all know they had several arduous fittings — it’s the final result that counts. Uncomplicated hairstyles and accessories topped off their unfussy looks, especially Theron’s super-short pixie cut. She not only looked chic and graceful, but undeniably cool, too.

The night’s worst looks had the opposite effect. Maybe Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway and Kristen Stewart didn’t get the “minimalism” memo, or they got dressed in front of funhouse mirrors. Their stylists misinterpreted the season’s trends and pushed excessive embellishments, odd jewelry and mismatched metallics.

Bullock was like a Van Gogh painting gone terribly wrong. From far away, she looked decent — granted, nothing all that special — but upon getting closer, she skyrocketed to the top of my Worst Dressed List.

Her beaded Elie Saab Haute Couture dress was OK, but if she stood anywhere near, say, Rose Byrne’s crisp Lanvin column, she would look embarrassingly overdone. An oddly-placed diamond hair clip didn’t do anything for her boring straight locks, and the worst part of the look was a seemingly-unnoticeable tiny clutch. Who knew something so small could ruin an entire outfit?

The bag’s chain hung down in a sloppy, careless way, and — wait for it — the beaded creation was a awful shade of yellow gold. Yellow gold against a shimmering gunmetal dress. The clashing was almost too much to bear.

Hathaway, on the other hand, lost points when it came to her necklace. Hathaway earned mostly good reviews for her petal pink Prada dress, which fell squarely in the “minimalist” camp. The only issues were the weirdly placed darts, a messy bow in the back and her jewelry.

Hathaway topped off the square-necked dress with a large jeweled necklace, which just felt strange against the high neckline. What’s worse is that the necklace drooped down the back of her neck, bumping into the X-straps of her dress and looking very, very wrong. She would have fared better choosing large earrings or a statement-making bag — or maybe just wearing one of the other two dresses she changed into that evening.

But compared to Kristen Stewart, Hathaway really didn’t look so bad. Stewart was a limping train wreck, attempting to walk the red carpet on crutches. We all know Stewart likes to generate this carefree, anti-glamour spirit — but crutches? Everyone was confused.

On top of her awkward entrance, Stewart’s frothy, ill-fitting Reem Acra dress was seconds away from sliding off — and it looked terrible. The lace and tulle gown was nothing like Stewart’s usual red carpet picks, and while it would probably look okay on someone more feminine, like Kerry Washington, Stewart just couldn’t pull it off. Her perpetually messy, unkempt hair wasn’t doing her any favors, either.

We can all take a lesson from the Oscars. No matter the occasion, sometimes less really is more. Consider Jennifer Lawrence’s unfortunate blunder — tripping on her Dior ball gown as she went to claim her golden statue. She could have avoided all that embarrassment with something sleeker and easier to walk in.

You know what they say — hindsight is 20/20. Especially when it comes to fashion.  

­— emfarra@indiana.edu