37th Annual FiFi Awards

The FiFi Awards, is fragrance industry’s equivalent to the Oscars, where Paris Hilton was honoured with “Female Celebrity Fragrance of the Year” award last night.

This is the first time in along time that I love what Paris is wearing.
Out goes the billowing dresses, and jeweled headbands, and in comes this Georges Chakra Fall 2009 Couture purple dress, with draping, navy bows and jewel encrusted details.
She completes the look with her favourite Gina heels.

Who would have thought Queen Latifah and Paris Hilton, would share the same taste in designer?
Queen Latifah befit her regal name, by looking breath-taking wearing a charcoal grey lame dress, from Georges Chakras’ Fall 2009 ready-to-wear collection.
I love the sleeve that drapes over her shoulder, and the smokey eyes.
Along with Paris, she is up for Best Dressed of The Week.

Senior Vice President & Creative Director of Estee Lauder, Aerin Lauder, opted for a blue Lanvin leopard print dress.
This is not an easy look too pull off, but I would have worn it without the belt.

Mary J Blige wore a watercolour print Roberto Cavalli maxi dress, with the signature gold serpent.
Her gold drop, emerald stone earrings, complemented the look perfectly.

Hilary Rhoda wore a beige strapless fitted Jacques Fath dress, with a peplum at the waist, plus an origami pleated detailing trimming the neckline.
As much as I love her dress, I also love her gold chandelier earrings, and her black Jimmy Choo strappy sandals.

Unfortunately Kate Walsh’s look is really not working for me.
Not the lurex pink Hugo Boss dress, nor the hairstyle.

Giorgio Armani Spring 2009

"This collection confirms a style that has changed the face of fashion," the program notes stated. That's not too bold of a claim when it comes from a designer like Giorgio Armani, the man who rethought the modern suit, then put his own sparklingly sinuous stamp on red-carpet wear. His Spring collection had both of those signatures in spades.

The show opened with elongated one-button jackets in traditional suiting fabrics. The ones that followed had a similar slight flare below the waist or a ruffle of pleats at the back, but they were made in fluid jerseys and shown with pleated and tapered silk pants, long shorts, or tucked-hem skirts. The wet-look hair and glistening makeup that was perhaps conceived to reinforce the show's breezy "Joy to Wear" message was too much of a good thing, but it was refreshing to see some big-name models on Armani's runway.

And speaking of big names, how fitting that Cate Blanchett was in the audience today: Armani has no better emissary for the sort of body-skimming beaded stunners in which he specializes. He sent out one-shoulder cocktail dresses and wispy chiffons in soft pastels, but they were just an opening act for his finale: a parade of beaded and embroidered long dresses that glimmered without veering into glitz. Had the timing been different, Jessica Stam's strapless number would certainly have surfaced on the red carpet.

Miu Miu RTW Spring 2009

"It's an investigation of our history, of our European past." With that big idea in mind, Miuccia Prada sent out a focused collection of nipped-waist dresses, as well as tops and skirts in pleated burlap or silk, most of them layered with a low, hip-slung apron. Sometimes the fabrics were dotted with fraying holes, as if moths had descended and started munching en masse. Other times it looked as if spray-paint artists had gotten their hands on them, dipping the ridges of a pleated brown frock in a rusty red or scrawling graffiti squiggles across the front of a skirt.

The history part came in with prints that looked like painted Roman tiles; they magnified as the show progressed so that faces in profile eventually abstracted into random assemblages of square dots. They made for an interesting juxtaposition with the images on the walls of the Avenue Foch mansion, which provided a look at Miu Miu's own roots in the form of Warhol-esque screen prints of ad-campaign stars including Lindsay Lohan, Kim Basinger, and Kirsten Dunst (who was in the audience).

Prada's perforated tops and skirts last season have proved to be quite influential (witness all the laser-cut materials on Spring's runways). So—who knows?—maybe there's hope for bulky burlap and aprons. But in an uncertain future, the odds look better for the less-challenging and sexier silk numbers.

Oscars: Best and worst dresses at the Academy Awards 2009

The gowns ranged from architectural origami to black and blue all over. Read our list and post your best and worst picks

Best

Marisa Tomei - She looked toned, tousled and terrific in her white Versace gown with more folds than an accordion. Its one-shoulder design showed off her perfectly refined deltoids, it clung sexily and its intricate pleats were interesting not fussy.

Viola Davis - While she didn't win best supporting actress, the veteran actress channeled old Hollywood style and made sophistication look easy in a dusky gold Reem Acra.

Heidi Klum - The supermodel displayed her credentials with an architectural asymmetrical red gown, split to the thigh (she revealed on one pre-Oscar show that she'd had to ride over balanced on one bum cheek to accommodate her dress).

Taraji P Henson - Her strapless Roberto Cavalli off-white gown had irregular layers that gave it texture, set off brilliantly with a statement Fred Leighton necklace and a sleek hairdo.

Sarah Jessica Parker - We would expect no less from the era's most high profile fashion plate: a Dior Haute Couture gown in "barely mint". Plus, we had no idea her breasts were so big, or high.

Evan Rachel Wood - Her Art Deco-style gown in pale satin and chiffon was lovely and romantic, if a bit white-on-white against her pale skin and blonde hair.

Meryl Streep - With her bespoke Alberta Ferretti dress, the actress proves that you don't need a hardbody and a skintight corset to look sexy. Just do way off the shoulder, upswept hair and a smile.

Anne Hataway - The “Rachel Getting Married” star wowed the crowd in an eye-catching ivory Armani Prive Spring ’09 gown which was covered in Swarovski crystals and clear paillettes.

On the fence

We just can't decide about...

Queen Latifah - The big screen star didn’t do herself any favors in an ill-fitting blue frock from Georges Chakra’s Spring ’09 collection.

Kate Winslet - Online fashion pundits were of two camps about our national treasure, but the grey and black Yves Saint Laurent gown - paired with the severely sculpted hairdo - seemed a little too tepid for what has been a banner year for Kate. Compare with Helen Mirren in 2007.

Freida Pinto - A royal blue success with an interesting neckline or a fussy style too dowdy for the young actress? Tell us what you think.

The Worst

They've got it all - beauty, brains, talent, but not necessarily canny dress sense, at least when it comes to the Oscars this year.

Beyonce Knowles - She was smokin' once she changed into her red fringed and sequined leotard for her singing performance where she put Hugh Jackman to shame. But on the red carpet, her black gown with swathes of brassy gold flowers was off key.

Natalie Portman - Purple-pink Rodarte, with criss-crossing straps on the bodice interspersed with what looks like hundreds and thousands. Colourful yet somehow boring.

Melissa Leo - The actress, nominated for her role in Frozen River, wore a Badgley Mischka gown in a glum shade of brown and in a style that announced "my dad took me to prom".

Jessica Biel - The draped Prada piece worn by Justin Timberlake’s lady love looked ludicrous, as did her messy mane.

Marion Cotillard - Last year she won the Oscar for her role in La Vie en Rose and won accolades for her Jean Paul Gaultier "mermaid" dress. This year she looked ill at ease in her Dior dark blue and black gown - a mashup of sequins, tiered net and regret.

Melissa George - The “Grey’s Anatomy” star took trashy to a whole new level in a lingerie-like Dolce & Gabbana mermaid gown gone wrong.

Most distinctive

There are some looks that just wouldn't work on anyone else. These celebrities are in their own category, style-wise.

Whoopi Goldberg - She's cool, she's funny and she looks good with her own inimitable style, in a wafty leopard-print dress that revealed a long shoulder tattoo and tinted John Lennon glasses.

Tilda Swinton - In contrast to her look last year - red hair, black gown - Swinton wore the same designer but with a whole different style. This time round her Lanvin was an off-white shirt and dark skirt but with blonde hair and bright red lips.

Penelope Cruz - Ruched tulle, lace, big full skirt. A bit safe perhaps, but Cruz does pretty poufs with aplomb.

Angelina Jolie - Black. Sleek. Showed her tattoos. Jolie's Elie Saab gown with deep sweetheart neckline and green Lorraine Schwartz jewelry was entirely appropriate for the occasion, but in a year when many of the nominees were overflowing with enthusiasm (Winslet, Cruz, everybody from Slumdog), it felt just a little too…subdued.

Halle Berry - Hollywood’s hottest mom was the epitome of elegance in a sleek ‘n’ strapless Marchesa brocade beauty.

Jennifer Aniston - The former “Friend” attempted to give her arch nemesis Angelina Jolie a run for her money in Fred Leighton jewels and a lovely column gown courtesy of Valentino.

Golden Globes’ Worst-Dressed Ladies: Marisa Tomei, Sally Hawkins, Renee Zellweger And More

Sure, a lot of people rocked the Golden Globes red carpet last night, especially Amy Adams whom we named the belle of the ball. But there were the special few who decided that this was their big chance to make statement. And there were some statements we wish were kept silent.

8. Marisa Tomei: Sometimes, costume-like fashion works. Then again, sometimes it doesn’t. Marisa, this didn’t work. Are you angling for a role in the next “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie? If not, there’s no excuse for this.

7. Jennifer Lopez: In what appeared to be an attempt to re-live her glory days, Jennifer Lopez showed up in a gold number with the same plunging neckline that made headlines at the 2000 Grammys. We know recycling is in, but not on the carpet!

6. Heidi Klum: Her dress was bizarre and screamed prom dress, not to mention the flower detail was like something Carrie Bradshaw would wear under some psychedelic influence.

5. Cameron Diaz: Her dress was wrinkled, her hair apparently hadn’t been colored or brushed in months, and that shade of pink was a bit overwhelming for the fair Ms. Diaz.

4. Sally Hawkins: The “Happy-Go-Lucky” star may have won a Golden Globe, but she was really losing in the fashion department. Her garb looked like it was something that would have been worn in “Interview with a Vampire.”

3. Miley Cyrus: Mind you, we regret a lot of stuff we wore when we were 16 too, but she’s got the money to really shine. Instead, the only thing shining about her look was the strange material under the split in her gown.

2. America Ferrera: Being fashion-forward can be cool. But, America looked too far into the future in an attempt to find a new trend and seemed to buy her dress in outer space.

1. Renée Zellweger: This dress caused a visceral reaction when she popped up on the carpet. Between her and Sally Hawkins, we wondered if there’s some vampire movie being cast that we don’t know about. Are they angling for roles in “New Moon”? Perhaps she should have looked in the mirror first. Wait, vampires don’t have reflections. That explains a lot.