Oscar, You’ve Got Style
It’s official, Oscar.
After decades of hosting parades of style on the red carpet, you’re getting a fashion award: the Trova, a silver-winged statuette from some highfalutin’, high-fashion folks in New York City.
The Academy Awards show is the first awards program to receive such an honor from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. And just for “creating the world’s most glamorous fashion show.”
Did you hear that? You are the Mr. Universe of Style. The Global Guru of Glam. Not bad for a bald, 71-year-old naked guy who hangs out in a Koreatown Dumpster before going home with Hilary Swank. As everyone knows, Oscar night is not just about the flicks, but about those fabulous frocks. (With the possible exception of Angelina Jolie, who looked like Elvira in a skintight Versace number at last month’s show at the Shrine.)
Still, the council is a forgiving bunch, and it wants Oscar’s creators, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to know that it couldn’t be happier to honor the show that attracts 1 billion worldwide viewers tuning in to get the goods on all those glamour pusses.
As for the folks at the academy, well, they were as surprised at Wednesday’s announcement as Willie Fulgear was when he found 53 of the 55 statuettes in that Dumpster last month.
“I had no idea about the award,” said academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger after we broke the news to her.
“It’s a lovely honor, and it’s nice that the CFDA is impressed with how their industry has found itself intertwined with ours,” she said. “But obviously the Academy Awards are not held for fashion purposes or should be a fashion show. That’s not something that the academy has created or sought to do.
“At the end of the day this is still an organization about honoring film.”
Council President Stan Herman said that each year since the awards began in 1981, the council has tried to honor “something that influences fashion.” Last year, InStyle magazine, the publication that chronicles the who, what, when and wear of star style, received the award.
“The exposure that the Academy Awards gives to designers in the world of fashion has made a deep impression on those who make fashion and buy it,” said Herman, adding that Hollywood has always had a connection to fashion through such costume designers as Edith Head and Adrian.
“We may be in New York, some 3,000 miles away, but this award has been in the air for some time. Hollywood--and the Academy Awards--has become a global store in itself and because of that has had a very important influence in society.”
On June 15, Oscar will join the ranks of fellow honorees Bill Blass, Valentino and Liz Claiborne, who will receive special awards at the American Fashion Awards bash at Lincoln Center.
Oscar, honey, we think it’s time you put on a tux.
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Michael Quintanilla can be reached at michael.quintanilla@latimes.com.
