Purple reign

Purple is the color of royalty. Purple is another red. This color works on most skin tones and looks stunning on most people. Oscars 2011 witnessed some purple beauties sashay down the Red Carpet looking very royal. This color was the crown jewel this year as Natalie Portman, best actor winner in female lead received this very coveted award in a stunning purple Rodarte.

Dolce and Gabbana designed a lacey, sexy, backless number for stunning Scarlett Johansson (wish she had brushed her hair though...)

Then there were variations of the shade, it's spring in LA (well, almost) baby-faced Mila Kunis was spotted in a flowing lavender gown with a plunging neckline by designer Elie Saab.

Green was seen!

Green is in. In More ways than one. Everyone is going green, or at least trying to. Some find it hard to go the green way and some do it so effortlessly.

Take some of the Hollywood beauties for example. At the Oscars 2011, they came, they saw and they conquered the green cause!

This year among other things, such as cap sleeves, natural makeup, out-of-bed-hairdos one more thing stood out. No jewelry or minimum jewelry. Most ladies were seen wearing just ear studs or only necklaces.

Then there were some who made news because of their jewels. Amy Adams, whose dress by L'Wren Scott with cap sleeves failed to impress but the Cartier's emeralds worth $1.35 million that she flaunted were definitely noticed. Wish she wore a better outfit to do justice to sparkling, royal jewels.Celine Dion’s gorgeous broach necklace was designed by Bulgari. Very well worn.

Reese Witherspoon’s choice with her black and white dress was impeccable, designed by Neil Lane. The design looked stunning.

Anette Benning's bulbous dangling emeralds were crafted by Lorraine Schwartz. Definitely eye-catching!
These actresses were spot on on the trend-mill turning many non-greens green, with envy.

Shimmer and Shine...

So what happens to the trends we see on the Oscars Red Carpet? After the party is over, the real stuff starts. Some call it trickle down effect. Besides being a feast to the eyes, apparently these colors, cuts and styles dictate the designs for upcoming year's prom-dresses, wedding gowns and the knock off specialists, including some high-street retailers and small ateliers.
One strong trend that could potentially influence the party dresses and wedding gowns this year is glitter and glow! Who would miss a bride in a shiny champagne or cream with sequence and crystals splashed all over the gown!
Halle Berry is known for her stunning style on the Red carpet. She's a trend setter. Is this the first time she made heads turn, no. Is this the first time she wore nude/champagne, no. But despite her style-repeat did she stand out or what in her gorgeous, shimmery, beaded dress by Marchesa? Yes, she did!

In the past she's worn Elie Saab and Versace gowns in similar tones, the gold shimmer totally compliments her warm-olive complexion. And she knows it!

Hillary Swank wore metallic silver-grey with feathers by Gucci and looked every bit lovely!
Then there was Mandy Moore fresh-faced and freshly dressed in her clean, nude, sparkly column-shaped, flared and chiffoned at the bottom dress by the designer Monique Lhuillier.
When it comes to the perfect fit, Armani does it so effortlessly and who can carry shining white better than Celine Dion (yes darlings, we have put her 1999 white tuxedo facing backwards faux pas behind us) so here she was looking svelte in a classic Armani.
Gwenyth Paltrow looked oh-so Greek goddess-like in a silver sequined gown by Calvin Klein, yes, we very much like the side-brooch detail on the belt. One trend that I see taking off in a big way.
Shimmer didn't stop at nudes and golds. Oprah chose a sparkly black-grey Zac Posen and the talented and this year's strong contender for best actor in female lead, Anette Benning chose a shimmering black and silver Naem Khan gown.
Trend lesson - yes, we very much like it when shining stars cascade down the red carpet.

And the Sirens Sizzle...

Quick recap of the events. Me and my husband return home after spending a great Sunday out in the sun. Actually I drag him back to see the start of the Red Carpet with me. We go online to watch the event LIVE, pay an all access fee and boom! Nothing.. Just an access to thank you and press cam! No... I want more... I want to see the gowns, the jewels, the hairdos! I want James Franco... Husband puts his geek hat on and soon we have a live stream of the Oscars coverage flowing into our living room straight from Albania! Yayy! I can watch in peace.
We forget about our winning color bet the moment we set our eyes on sexy siren Sandra Bullock in a gorgeous red number by Vera Wang. Smoking hot! I am still surfing the net to see what hostess, Anne Hathway wore - of course red again! It's a Valentino - never mind the billowing around the knees, let's just love it! After all her stylist is Rachel Zoe and apparently she got paid a six figure amount for the event, so yeah we love the Valentino dress!
Siren # 3 Jennifer Lawrence! How sleek was the Calvin Klein swim err... gown. Move over Pam Anderson, we have a new babe on the bay to join the lifeguards team.
Jennifer Hudson showed up in a Versace tomato red. Man! This woman has lot some serious weight and looked radiant in this warm shade of ornage'ish red. Well, I was close on this one. (I predicted orange as the color of the evening..)
Can we count Penelope Cruz's L'Wren Scott sequined number in the red category? Yes, safely. Cruz's big smile and post-baby glow was good enough reason to keep eyes off her plunging neckline and the perfectly hidden-behind-Spanx-belly!

Oscar-night drama!

I had a bet with my husband on Oscars night. We predicted the colors for the evening on the red carpet. Being the fashionista that I am I like to flaunt my fashion knowledge as and when possible. Let me tell you something, if I am a fashionista he is no less. If I go to school and talk to all the cool kids and faculty about what's hot and what's not he despite a demanding job and career likes to keep up with fashion and trends trends too!

I picked orange or some variation of orange. He picked green.

Our Sunday was planned around the red carpet opening. After an ariel bay tour on the gorgeous day we managed to come home just in time to tune in to Oscars Red Carpet! We buy our all-access pass on Oscar.go.com and lo and behold - the wait starts... It's 5 and we are excited, bet conditions are finalized, it's 5.30 no sign of celebrities sashaying down the carpet, just thank you camera! It's 6 pm I start getting that bad feeling that there's something fishy! I am panicking at this point - how can I miss Anne Hathaway's grand entrance or not be the first one to spot those newest, trendiest, sexiest much-talked-about gowns!

Husband tries to salvage the evening (and my mood). We surf online but in vain... all sites lead to Rome... err... to Oscars official home page. He manages to find this live streaming from some Albanian channel. Well, after the bet conditions are reset we sit down to watch the glorious evening unfold before our eyes. Let's see who wins the bet.