SOCIAL CLIMES / THE OSCARS : GOVERNORS BALL : Under the Big Tent: Armani and Bad Hair

The Scene: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors Ball. This is the 800-pound gorilla of Academy Award celebrations. Oscar-goers would have had to go out of their way to skip it as the entrance to the tent on the Music Center plaza was 100 feet from the front door of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Who Was There: Everyone under the sun.

Dress Code: Lots of bad hair, lots of Armani. The custom of wearing red ribbons for AIDS awareness seems to be firmly on the way out. Most prized accessory--the all-access pass, like the highly coveted “Backstage Generic.”

Quoted: Of the lack of good roles for women in Hollywood, best actress winner Emma Thompson said, “They’re perfectly capable of writing them, but this year hasn’t been very good at all.”

Sound Bites: “I wish you all had Oscars too,” a gentlemanly Al Pacino told a group of four admiring women. “How do we get out of here?” wailed Sarah Jessica Parker to Matthew Broderick, as the two were ambushed by a clutch of photographers on the way to their car. Jaye Davidson’s summation of the evening: “This sucks.”

Crashability: Nice try. Better luck next year.

Exit Line: “I still haven’t seen ‘The Crying Game,’ said one man. “So what’s the big secret?”