Extra damming opinions ended up saved for the year’s finest supporting actress, Jennifer Connelly, who opted for a dishwater-coloured tulle gown and not-quite-matching scarf (a shade explained by Smith as “pale dung-coloured,” and by Scripps Howard news company as “phlegm-colored”). In other places, Cameron Diaz divided thoughts in a floral print gown, ’80s Oscar-nominee Sally Kirkland sported an ill-advised bejeweled bindi and Religion Hill took a painfully literal technique by teasing her overall performance of “Someplace Above the Rainbow” with a strappy rainbow-coloured Versace gown.
Variously described as “pale dung-coloured” and “phlegm-colored,” Jennifer Connelly’s robe was one of the night’s a lot of flops. Credit history: Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Illustrations or photos
The night time will, on the other hand, always be remembered for one particular of the most maligned outfits in Oscars background: Gwyneth Paltrow’s infamous “goth” dress (pictured prime). The formless Alexander McQueen generation showcased a scrunched-up taffeta skirt and sheer bodice that remaining small to the creativity. The actress’ significant eye make-up and milkmaid braid assisted safe the outfit’s area on “worst-dressed” lists for yrs to come.
There was, arguably, worse to arrive. At the Vanity Truthful afterparty, “Meet Joe Black” star Claire Forlani wore what can only be explained as a sequined breastplate held up by perilously skinny string ties Selma Blair arrived in a hardly-there fringe gown that seemed much more like a shabby tablecloth and Heather Mills opted for a strange midriff-bearing two-piece. Actress and creator Suzanne Somers’ gown could simply have doubled up as low-cost curtains, and Tv host Daisy Fuentes confirmed up in jeans and a shirt, as if she experienced neglected it was one of Hollywood’s most unique get-togethers.
The afterparty observed even a lot more traditional Y2K design and style, like Claire Forlani’s open-backed crop top. Credit: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage/Getty Images
Most monotonous ‘of all time’
This was no justification for Menkes, even so. Contacting attendees’ endeavours “the most unexciting Oscar outfits of all time,” the critic singled out Naomi Watts’ unadventurous corseted gown from a “sea of black,” creating that “even Gucci, usually a dead cert for sexy dresses” experienced manufactured the star glance “sedate.”
Naomi Watts was one of numerous stars opting for small-hazard black robes. Credit history: KMazur/WireImage/Getty Pictures
“There grew to become a realization that people dresses were going to outline you. And I think it experienced additional to do with the rise of style as a pop-lifestyle force — and a real-time force — and acknowledging that people had been sat at property judging these outfits.
“There was no E! and no pre-exhibit right up until then, and I feel that choices had been probably safer simply because of not realizing how to navigate that.”
As for the riskier seems to be, Critchell theorized that lots of famous people ended up “enjoying towards form” by offering a thing surprising or distinct from former outings. Nicole Kidman’s frilly pink Chanel gown contrasted with the elegant chartreuse Dior costume she famously wore to 1997’s ceremony, even though Jennifer Lopez’s vintage robe and bouffant hairstyle was juxtaposed against the raunchier appears to be she’d turn out to be recognized for.
Sally Kirkland sports a bejewled bindi as portion of her gold-and-silver glimpse. Credit rating: David Lefranc/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Photographs
Even Paltrow’s outfit can be viewed as an attempt to keep away from remaining pigeonholed, Critchell explained. “She experienced been the princess a number of decades before (in 1999) in that pink Ralph Lauren costume, and I think she was enjoying towards that,” she included.
“Superstars failed to have a chance to display their other sides in the way they do now. You currently know them, you what their design is, you know their belief on almost everything. But it was not unusual in 2002, or any of individuals other (pre-social media) many years, for an individual to play versus what they did before, due to the fact they failed to want to be stereotyped.”
Rays of hope
A person of the night’s couple winners: Halle Berry in Elie Saab. Credit rating: Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Visuals
There was genuinely only just one winner, while — on each the purple carpet and the awards stage. On her way to getting the first Black female to declare the Academy Award for most effective actress, Halle Berry shocked in gown that remodeled the fortunes of its designer, Elie Saab. Like Paltrow’s outfit, it consisted of sheer top and taffeta skirt, while Berry oozed glamour in crimson and champagne, with strategically put floral detailing finishing the appear.
“I feel Halle Berry’s outfit has stood the check of time,” Critchell claimed. “It’s not a gown an individual would put on nowadays, but she was the belle of the ball. She was predicted to gain and, as vogue writers, we were all waiting around for her transform. It fulfilled the minute it was memorable, and it was ideal for a greatest actress.”
But, while the outfit is now considered between the Oscars’ greatest-ever seems to be, it wasn’t a hit with everyone on the night time. The Guardian’s Cartner-Morley wrote that Berry’s outfit, finish with its “gaudy embroidered internet bodice,” had provided “a good deal to cringe about.”
Relevant video: A brief historical past of the crimson carpet
Her contrarian just take serves as a reminder that very good purple carpet type is in the eye of the beholder — and hence the question of irrespective of whether 2002 was the Oscars’ worst 12 months is dependent, as at any time, on who you ask. In fact, specified the latest curiosity in all matters Y2K — a revival that has heralded the return of reduced-rise jeans, crop tops and butterfly clips — the power of hindsight (and the views of Gen-Z trend-watchers) may possibly be kinder to 2002’s outing than one particular could anticipate.
“I don’t feel it was the worst-dressed,” Critchell reported. “I you should not know if there would at any time be a instant you could outline as that. But it was a distinct time.”
