Laura Dern in metallic Alberta Ferretti at the Oscars: incredible, on point?

87th Annual Oscars Red Carpet Arrivals
One of my favorite looks last night, and one that bucked the trend of off white and washed out pale colors was Laura Dern. Dern was on point in an incredible bronze strapless Alberta Ferretti gown featuring beading and sequins in a kind of intricate art deco pattern. It was interesting, it was lovely and she struck the perfect balance in a showstopper of a dress which didn’t overwhelm her at all.

87th Annual Oscars Red Carpet Arrivals

Nominee Dern attended with her son Ellery, 13, daughter Jaya, 10, and father, Bruce, who was nominated for Best Actor for his role in Nebraska last year. Last year, Laura came out to support her dad and this year he was there for her. He sounded very proud on the red carpet when he spoke of how many Oscar nominations they had in their family. (He said they had seven, so he’s counting his ex wife, Laura’s mom Diane Ladd, in there too. Laura has two nominations, Bruce has two and Diane has three.) Laura of course lost out on the Best Actress statue to Patricia Arquette, but everyone saw that coming and she looked proud just to be there.

The 87th Annual Oscars - Red Carpet Arrivals

Also not following the trends we have Naomi Watts in Armani. From the front, I thought this dress looked cool, modern and different. I really like the beading and offset stripes on this gown, which give it a kind of snakeskin look. (We know that Watts loves snakes.) From the side, though, it cuts away to a sequin bandeau top which cheapens an otherwise high fashion avant garde gown. Also, Watts gets points taken off for not bringing Liev Schreiber. I always like to see him.

The 87th Annual Oscars - Red Carpet Arrivals

Watts was of course in Birdman, which won a bunch of awards last night including Best Director and Best Picture. I was really hoping Boyhood would win Best Picture, but Birdman was clever and had some killer performances, I’ll give it that.

The 87th Annual Oscars - Red Carpet Arrivals

Moving on to one of the ladies in pale colors we have Faith Hill in a v-neck white J. Mendel gown. I love the beading on this dress, if you look at the top of the skirt and the bottom of the sleeves there are abstract swirls which are reminiscent of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. I also like how the tiny beads kind of fade down on the skirt in lines that look like rain. That’s why I love to consider the Oscar gowns, there’s such craftsmanship, planning and thought that go into the dresses. Many of us dream of someday being able to wear something like this, if only pale imitations of these gowns. There’s no shame in delighting in beautiful fashion, and #AskHerMore seems to make it sound superficial to talk about. These gowns are works of art.

87th Annual Oscars Red Carpet Arrivals

Here’s Faith’s husband, performer Tim McGraw, looking like he’s about to eat her ear.

87th Annual Oscars Red Carpet Arrivals

Oscar winner Octavia Spencer was in a pale blue Tadashi Shoji boat neck gown featuring a pleated v-neck overlay and feather-like beading at the waist. Spencer was called on throughout the show as host Neil Patrick Harris kept checking in with her to see if she was keeping on an eye on a locked box on the corner of the stage, which he claimed held his Oscar predictions. It was a stupid bit that went on too long and was arguably rude to Spencer, particularly when Harris told her not to neglect her duties by snacking. (Really?) The written “predictions” turned out to be a dumb parlor trick that went on too long and referenced many of the moments of the night, only a fraction of which were interesting. The Oscars need to cut out many of the secondary awards and hire new writers, but that’s the story every year. At least we have the fashion. Don’t try to take away our fashion.

87th Annual Oscars Red Carpet Arrivals

87th Annual Oscars Red Carpet Arrivals

Photo credit: WENN.com

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45 Responses to “Laura Dern in metallic Alberta Ferretti at the Oscars: incredible, on point?”

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  1. maria says:

    I need to know what Naomi does to make her skin look like that 🙂

    • NYer says:

      My guess is what she *doesn’t* do. Like tan.

    • Mmhmm says:

      I haven’t seen her in a while and she is so beautiful! Side note rant: I don’t think that the secondary oscars should be thrown out as this article suggests. My best friends work in technical aspects of theater and they LOVE seeing who gets those awards. Plus that need their recognition too.

  2. charlie says:

    I would prefer Laura’s look without the necklace, but she looks great.

    I hate the neckline/sleeves on Octavia’s dress, and sadly a lot of ladies had similar dresses last night, but otherwise she looks great.

    • Lucy2 says:

      Agree on both counts, I found Laura’s necklace distracting from an otherwise crazy but awesome dress. And the neckline and partial sleeves on Octavia’s are very awkward.
      I did like Faith’s dress a lot, but I can’t stand the bandeau part of Naomi’s.

  3. Tania says:

    I think they all look lovely but I did not care for Laura Dern’s dress at all. It looked like it belonged on a Game of Thrones set and if you’re going to wear something so different, then style it properly. She always has the exact same hair and make up. Octavia and Faith looked lovely and I loved Naomi’s dress. It was something different, her hair and make up were perfect and she looked amazing. My guess would be that like Julianne Moore, she uses a lot of sunscreen.

    • Nk868 says:

      Yeah, plus it’s more of a gunmetal than bronze? I might have liked this dress on someone else and styled kind of punky (maybe the girl from boyhood even though she’s usually more goth it could have been interesting on her)

      I love Naomi’s dress but out of spite for robbing us of Liev in a suit I’ll pretend I didn’t love the bandeau or how the back showed off Naomi’s insane figure

      • AntiSocialButterfly says:

        Ditto on color issue- definitely not bronze- I was thinking pewter if you had to call it a real metal, but you completely nailed it with gunmetal.
        I liked it except for the bubble on her abdomen… both weird looking and uncomfortable, I’d think.

  4. I LOVE Laura’s dress. I wish she’d done something with her hair. I think it being up, with some matching hair clips/pins would’ve made the look stronger. And her son is so cute!

    • jen2 says:

      The hair curtain was a bit much, but I liked her dress. Great fit.

    • PrincessMe says:

      I agree. I loved Laura’s dress but she should have worn her hair back or up.

      I loved Naomi’s entire look – even with the bandage thing. Her styling was on point as well.

  5. Mia V. says:

    Laura’s dress was the best of the night!

  6. Birdie says:

    Laura Dern’s hair was so annoying. It would have made me mad if there was hair in front of my eye all the time. Naomi, WHY? Awful dress. Don’t care for Faith.

  7. Kali says:

    My magpie-esque little heart loves Laura’s dress. It’s like armour. SEXY armour 😍

  8. GlimmerBunny says:

    Loved Octavia Spencer’s look! It sounds weird to say about a woman 20 years my senior but she is just so CUTE. I loved that she brought a teenage co-star as her date and made his dream come true 🙂

    • tracking says:

      Yes on all counts. I thought the color and cut were lovely on her, though she could have punched up the makeup a bit. So cute about her co-star!

  9. Charlotte says:

    Look how beautiful Laura and Ben Harper’s children are. Not that there would be any doubt.

  10. QQ says:

    Love LOVE LOVE Dern’s Dress and This pains Me Like you have No Idea cause I don’t make a Habit of Looking at Laura Dern’s Face for any periods of Time

    Naomi’s dress was better Up close Very close so as to see the embellishments cause otherwise it was like Fancy Cinder blocks dress

    I wished for more makeup for Octavia

    • Kiddo says:

      Steampunk-evening-wear. I liked it, but the diamond earrings seemed off with it.

      • QQ says:

        I see what you mean, but it’s so minor compared to a Normal Laura Dern appearance!!!

        Also she needs to pass her hairstylist number to Jennifer Aniston.. If you were going to do loose blonde this is how to do it

  11. Maria says:

    Laura and Naomi’s dresses are on point.

    That metallic is gorgeous.

  12. Applapoom says:

    She has beautiful kids. Her dress is okay, a bit 90s? Her body is fab though

  13. Ice Queen says:

    Laura Dern and Naomi Watts were for me the best dressed of all night. Beautiful.

  14. Sisi says:

    Laura’s tailor deserves an award, because that is one of the best bespoke fitted strapless gowns in a LONG time. The shape of that bust is fab.

  15. Tracy says:

    Naomi’s dress looked like bathroom tile with a trailer park tube top underneath. WTF?

  16. LaurieH says:

    I really love Laura Dern’s look. The dress fits her beautifully and her hair looks great. I am not 100% sold on the dress itself – it has a bit of a Xena Warrior Princess vibe to it – but I still kinda like it on her. I would like Naomi Watt’s dress better if the top was cut a little bit differently so that she didn’t have to wear a tube top underneath it. Ruins the dress. Faith Hill’s dress looks Mother-of-the-Bride to me and I don’t like her hair cut. It doesn’t suit her. Octavia Spencer looks beautiful; the color of her dress suits her perfectly.

  17. Marianne says:

    Octavia was wearing a very Octavia-ish dress. But I guess, do what works well.

    I loved Faith Hill’s dress.

    Naomi’s dress was kind of underwhelming for me.

    Laura Dern looked nice though.

  18. Jade says:

    I don’t normally pay attention to Laura Dern but that dress is wowing me big time. V different, striking and fresh in a good way.

  19. snowflake says:

    Love Laura’s dress. fits perfectly

  20. Jan Harf says:

    Dern’s children are gorgeous! Wow!
    And Faith was perfection. She looks SO GOOD with short hair, I can’t even believe it.

  21. tifzlan says:

    “There’s no shame in delighting in beautiful fashion…”

    THANK YOU. My roommate was on full of b mode last night and made several condescending remarks about how “not everyone’s here for the fashion, some of us actually care about the art of filmmaking” to me because i said 8.30-11.30, with a likely end at midnight, was far too long for an awards show that struggles to pull people in to watch. EYE. ROLL.

    • I Choose Me says:

      Exactly. I mean pfft. I love movies and the art of making movies but the Oscars bore me tears so I didn’t even watch the telecast. I just tuned in for the red carpet fashion then went on to watch something else.

  22. eribra says:

    Laura Deems hair for the win! I saw early reports saying she was worst of the red carpet so far (daily mail) and I was like what?!? She looked awesome, one of my favorites.

  23. Nikki says:

    I loved Laura Dern’s dress EXCEPT: the bumps on the abdomen made it look reptilian!! It’s true! Even so, the overall effect was pretty stunning, so I’d give her a win. Gunmetal, though, definitely not bronze..

  24. TrixC says:

    I’m on the fence with Laura’s dress, it’s interesting but just looks super heavy.

  25. I Choose Me says:

    Damn! Great dress. I think this is my favourite of all the outfits I’ve seen so far. She looks really rocking in it too.

  26. M.J. says:

    This is the best Laura has ever looked. I love this on her.

    I hated Faith’s dress and hair. Hated.

  27. kri says:

    Naomi Watts- I am NOT here for you. I am here because I deeply covet Laura Dern’s dress. I want this dress so bad I am going to stop paying bills so that I can afford to buy it and wear it while being escorted to debtor’s prison. This dress is everything. Lupita, Laura, and Rosamund in that order for me.

  28. Abby says:

    I loved Laura Dern’s dress!!

    Glad I’m not the only one annoyed by NPH badgering Octavia every 5 seconds. It wasn’t funny and I would be annoyed if I was her.

  29. Grant says:

    Faith and Laura look divine.