Oscar red carpet: Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock, more stars shine in white and pale gold

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Some of the most striking dresses on the Oscar red carpet lack bold color completely. Shades of snowy white and champagne on everyone from Meryl Streep to Sandra Bullock seem to create a glow around the ladies and let their hair and makeup shine for an overall elegant look.

Kate Winslet has the most amazing pale-gold column gown on with an art deco pendant that falls perfectly at the top of her strapless dress. Winslet looks like the female incarnation of Oscar, striking enough to be made into a little gold statuette.
On the other hand, Cameron Diaz’s gold Oscar de la Renta gown with a lot of sparkle and voluminous skirt was a miss. The actress tends to look better in a column of something more fitted, not the overtly feminine frock she chose tonight.

-- Melissa Magsaysay

Photos from left: Meryl Streep, credit: Matt Sayles / Associated Press; Cameron Diaz, credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images; Kate Winslet, credit: Matt Sayles / Associated Press

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A new Times database puts readers on the sidewalks of Hollywood, using more than a century of archives to track the lives of the stars, including current Oscar nominees Jeff Bridges, James Cameron, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep.