Designs on Oscar

Toronto-born fashion writer Bronwyn Cosgrave has lived in London, England, for the past 16 years where she’s made a living pontificating about designers and style for Harper’s Bazaar, BBC4 and, for several years, as British Vogue’s features editor.

Cosgrave recently put her fashion smarts to use in the book Made for Each Other: Fashion and the Academy Awards, a look at Oscar fashion that reaches all the way back to the early days of Mary Pickford and Marlene Dietrich. “I was working at Vogue and covering the Oscars for BBC TV,” Cosgrave says over the phone from her London home. “I’m a fashion historian so decided to do some research…. I had this amazing Vogue library at my disposal and started looking through biographies, and fashion books and back issues of Vogue.”

So we asked Cosgrave to identify designers who are red-carpet mainstays at the Academy Awards. You know, those names you hear over and over again on the Oscars Pre-Show. With her help, you should be able to recognize some of these designers’ creations before their names even slip from the starlets’ lips.

Marchesa

What typifies a Marchesa dress: colourful, vaguely costume-like, ethnic chic, beadwork, embroidery, younger take on the red carpet

Who wears Marchesa: Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Sienna Miller

Bronwyn’s take: “Marchesa is a label that is designed by two girls, Keren Craig and Georgina Chapman, and Georgina Chapman is the wife of Harvey Weinstein, they married last year, and it’s a bit of a controversial one because people say that everyone just wears Marchesa because they want to keep a good relationship going with Harvey. But I do think that the dresses are very opulent.”

Jean-Paul Gaultier

What typifies a Gaultier dress: risqué, sexy, inventive, proper couture, takes risks, the closest you’ll get to avant-garde at the Oscars

Who wears Gaultier: Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman

Bronwyn’s take: “I think what’s great about Jean-Paul Gaultier, his dresses do look sexy, but women who are going to the Oscars never want to look too sexy. It’s a very fine balance, they don’t want their dresses falling off when they run up to the podium.”

John Galliano for Dior

What typifies a Galliano dress: inspired by Old Hollywood, glamorous, huge bows, trains

Who wears Galliano: Diablo Cody, Charlize Theron, Gisele Bündchen, Heidi Klum

Bronwyn’s take: “Last year, Diablo Cody wore this leopard-spotted number which was very wild and theatrical. John Galliano is a very theatrical person, he dresses up for all of his runway shows. When he takes a bow he’s always dressed in some sort of costume.”

Valentino

What typifies a Valentino dress: elegant, Roman, lace, red, coral, classy, fits like a glove

Who wears Valentino: Cameron Diaz, Calista Flockhart, Julia Roberts, Miley Cyrus

Bronwyn’s take: “He’s one of those designers who romanticizes Hollywood and it goes back to his childhood. He opens up his archives. He has an old-school approach. He will send his tailor to Hollywood to fit the stars. I think the thing about his dresses is they’re rich, there’s a richness to them.”