Talking Fashion: Movie stars fail to sparkle this year

Alex Bernstein

• Increase image
• View all images

The awards season seems to have left us all a little deflated. The Oscars in particular is the big fashion show of the year, and with the writers' strike cancelled two weeks before the event, I thought Hollywood's starlets would have had enough time to get glitzed. But on the whole, I was wrong.

Kate Beckinsale looked elegant, but she is such a beauty that I thought she would have managed a little more colour.

Fortunately there was a splash of colour from the ladies in red, which anyone could see was the colour of the night thanks to the likes of Anne Hathaway in Marchesa and Katherine Heigl in Escada. But overall black was the biggest story. Reliable and safe.

The Baftas could have stolen the spotlight, but even there I was disappointed by the scarcity of glamour icons. Even Keira Knightley, usually so reliably alluring, failed to deliver. Kate Hudson was the brightest star in her gold dress with scooped back. But even that highlighted the lack of flesh being flashed elsewhere. One-shoulder shapes apart, there was so little skin on show at these glitzy events.

As for the big winner, Marion Cotillard did a good job of impersonating an angel at the Baftas and a mermaid at the Oscars, but neither dress was exactly high street. No, the crown has to go to the regal Dame Helen Mirren, who looked fantastic in red satin.

Even though she is neither the youngest nor the slimmest, she showed how a woman can wow given the right dress. Considering that most of the dresses we sell at Bernshaw are sizes 12 and 14, I guess we did have some cause to celebrate after all. 

Alex Bernstein is director at occasionwear and eveningwear brand Bernshaw