An Oscar Fashion Flashback

Fashion and Hollywood have come a long way since the first Academy Awards banquet in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where an understatedly dressed gathering of 14 men and Best Actress Janet Gaynor collected their awards in four minutes, 22 seconds. A fashion moment it was not. But over the years, as the event drew everybody who was anybody, the stars started taking their glamour seriously.

In 1940, when Hollywood did its best to provide a bit of wartime fantasy, stars such as Vivien Leigh drew cheers when they emerged from their limousines in full-length ermine. Later, screen goddesses pulled out all the stops. Joan Crawford flaunted curve-hugging white crepe and silver bugle beads. Loretta Young dazzled in green taffeta ruffles. While many celebrities sought the expertise of studio costume designers such as Adrian, Travis Banton or Jean Louis, others shopped off the rack. Still others--Celeste Holm, for one--whipped up their own creations. “Really, it was the world’s largest fashion show,” costume designer and eight-time Oscar winner Edith Head once remarked about the annual style free-for-all.

In the decades that followed, each ceremony continued to have its scene-stealers, from the elegant and tasteful to the daring and totally outrageous. Who could forget when Audrey Hepburn showed up in a wasp-waist Givenchy gown and Kim Novak slinked onstage in skin-tight sequins? Or when Elizabeth Taylor flashed a 69-carat diamond necklace and Cher wore a wisp of black sequins and beads? Today, for better or worse, who wears what has become as much a part of Oscar-watching as who wins what. And even if the stars’ wardrobes have fallen under the cookie-cutter influence of top designers and become less and less a statement of personal style, Oscar night remains the one night when Hollywood glamour rules.

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Photo research: Leslie Rubinoff