And the Best Dressed Goes to...

The 87th annual Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars aired live last night on ABC. The show was filmed at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Aside from watching to see who won, I also watch to see what they wore. Here are my picks of the ladies who turned head on the red carpet. And the best dresses goes to....

 

America Ferrera looks great in Jenny Packham. The belted teal flowing dress was a refreshing pop of color.

 

Zoe Saldana looked gorgeous in her fitted blush Versace. The fabric draped across her body beautifully. And the train was a nice addition.

 

As soon as I saw Naomi Watts in her metallic Armani, I knew that she was a contender for one of the best dressed.



Presenter Sienna Miller was wrapped up like a present in her black Oscar de la Renta. I loved the bows at the neck and the waistline.

 

Jennifer Lopez presented the award for the best costume. This was very fitting because she won best dressed in my book. She looked so lovely in her Ellie Saab blush ball gown. I loved everything from the plunging V-neck to the beading to the fullness of the tulle skirt.

 

 

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Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon

Essence hosted their 8th annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon Thursday. Every year the magazine honors important ladies in Hollywood that might otherwise be ignored during other award ceremonies. And since I love TV and films, I had to write about those whose work I admire.

The luncheon was held at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. This year the honorees included British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw from Belle and Beyond the Lights. She won the Breakthrough award for her two very different roles.

 

 

Veteran actress Regina King was awarded the Fierce and Fearless prize for her lifetime of industry jobs in front of and behind the scenes. She started acting as a child on the hit show 227. I love this picture of her playing around in the photo booth. 

 



Costume designer Ruth Carter has recently worked on Selma and The Butler. She posed on the red carpet before receiving her Visionary award. In her career she has been nominated for Academy Awards for Best Costume Design for Amistad and Malcom X. Ms. Carter looks very fitted for a luncheon in her winter white Alexander McQueen dress.

Seven members of Netflix's Orange is the New Black won the Vanguard award. On stage to accept are Samira Wiley, Adrienne Moore, Danielle Brocks, Lorraine Toussaint, Laverne Cox, Vicky Jeudy, and Uzo Aduba.

Short film contest winner Iman Milner also received an award Thursday. She looked lovely having a great time in her red dress in the photo booth.
Make sure you watch the special on the OWN network tonight at 10 PM to see highlights from the luncheon. Enjoy!

Orange is the New Black cast
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It's NY Fashion Week! (Recap 3)

 

There were so many wonderful pieces in Angel Sanchez's collection. The gold flowed down the runway like liquid. And the leather mesh and leather fringe were nice touches.

 

I especially loved the black and white prints and the long red gown at the end.

I only need one word to describe Dennis Basso's fashion show. Fur. There was fur in every color from white, brown, red, blue, lavender, grey, and black.

But my favorite pieces were the beautiful gold gowns with the polka dot texture.

Naeem Khan kicked off his show with a graffiti artist finishing his backdrop. Then came the beautiful gowns.

I'm not exaggerating when I say all of the gowns were pretty. I loved the feather dresses the best. Oh, did I mention the big fur hats? I would love one of those too.

It's NY Fashion Week! (Recap 2)

Actress Kelly Rutherford was on the front row of South Korean designer Son Jung Wan's show. Attending a great show during New York Fashion Week is a wonderful way to spend Valentine's Day if you ask me.

 

The thing I liked the most about her collection was the creative way the designer paired different textures together. There was wool with fur and sequin with knit.

I had to include designer Ranfan because I loved the outerwear in her show. The colors and prints she used weren't your usual choices for fall.

The pops of reds, oranges, and blues with accents of piping and fur would be nice pieces to add to your coat rack.

I have featured South African designer David Tlale on my blog before here. Once again, I loved his collection.

There was a gradual shift between brown print, pewter, and black fabric. I especially loved the grouping of daring sheer black tops.

More recaps coming soon!

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It's NY Fashion Week! (Recap 1)

New York is very busy this time of because once again it's Fashion Week for fall 2015. Here is a recap from the first days of collections that I liked. First up is designer Tadashi Shoji.

A few words to describe his collection are fur, feathers, appliques, and sheer. The collection started out black and white and then transformed to beautiful jewel tones. I loved all of the free flowing long chiffon dresses in the collection.

 

 

 

New York Fashion Week wouldn't be the same without Go Red For Women Red Dress Collection. Some of the top female celebrities wear famous fashion designers red gowns for the American Heart Association event.

 

Cynthia Bailey, Star Jones, Barbara Eden, Carla Hall, and many others wore gowns by Oscar de la Renta, Michael Costello, Carmen Marc Valvo, Nicole Miller, and other great designers.

 

 

Monique Lhullier didn't disappoint with her collection.

The solid colors pieces were bold and the floral prints were even bolder for next fall. I really loved the greens in the collection.

Stay tuned for more recaps coming soon.

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Never Doubt Writers!

I don't know why I waste my time doubting writers. When I see previews for new TV shows, I ask myself, "How are they going to make an entire show about that?" So of course when I saw commercials for NBC's miniseries The Slap, I asked myself the same thing. Curiosity got the best of me so I recorded last night's premier. Now I'm asking myself, why do I doubt writers? We are very creative human beings, we can make just about everything work.

 



 

 

The American version of The Slap is based upon Christo Tsiolkas' book by the same name. Christo is an Australian author with Greek heritage. The Slap was originally adapted for TV in Australia with a different cast. NBC's version has a great group of actors including Thandie Newton, Peter Sarsgaard, Brian Cox, and Uma Thurman. 

 

 

The show starts out celebrating Hector's fortieth birthday at his house in Brooklyn. And while that seems simple enough, of course it's not. The house is full of family and friends with many different personalities and lots of issues between them. There's infidelity, jealousy, overbearing parents, and work related stress just to name a few. So when you throw in a spoiled home schooled little boy who is too old to still be breastfeeding and he is swinging a bat at the other kids, it's not going to be pretty. But it brings up the question, is it okay to discipline another person's child? What do you think?

 

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The Grammy Awards Red Carpet Bests

The Grammy Awards is called the biggest night in music. It's also a big night for fashion. Here are my picks for the best dressed on the red carpet last night.The very first dress that caught my eye was on Kat Graham. She wore a long sheer black gown with a big white floral design on it. It was designed by Yanina Couture. 

Katy Perry did a great job last week as the half time performer for the Super Bowl. She looked nice in her Zuhair Murad knee length dress that was dripping with crystals.

Singer Jessie  looked drop dead gorgeous in her black Ralph and Russo gown.

I saw her in concert one year and I've loved her every since. Singer Lalah Hathaway looked stunning in a chocolate and ebony beaded off the shoulder gown. I love her locs up in a bun.

Iggy Azalea looked great in her blue Armani Prive dress. Her hair looked nice as well up in a braided crown.

This year there were a lot of pretty black gowns. Nicki Manaj wore the best one in my book. Tom Ford designed her body hugging plunging V neck gown.

Jessi J, Lalah, Nicki photos
Katy, Kat, Iggy photos