Our resident hair expert Scott Cornwall gives his views on the much talked about Oscar’s styles.
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Anna Kendrick
I don’t quite know what happened here with Anna Kendrick, but her hair is looking (quite frankly) a little messy. Although to be fair it was raining quite badly, but even so! Anna’s hair seems to have been arranged into a bun at the back with (no doubt) tons of extension hair to give extra volume and shape. However, these loose sections around her face are just hanging. Maybe they originally started as big curls and the stress of the day has caused them to flop. What I really dislike about these curls is they appear to have been achieved with a straightening iron, for me the biggest red carpet faux pas. Straightening irons create square ugly curls, which are completely incompatible with red carpet events. Perhaps her stylist was trying to achieve a romantic, tousled look- either way, it’s always a gamble choosing very loose and unstructured styles for long drawn out events. Exactly the same can apply to weddings or long evening functions. If you fancy that natural swept up and cascading look, make sure your hair can withstand the time frame you are placing on it to be behave itself.
Mo’Nique
Mo’Nique looks fanstastic with this incredibly simple but highly elegant look. Her stylist has used the classic chignon style popularised in that golden era of Hollywood and applied it with spot on precision as the cherry of the cake on top of this nominees entire outfit ensemble. The style has simple been achieved by using long wefts and sleeking Mo’Nique’s natural hair back into the bun. The hair wefts have been attached as a long ponytail and then neatly rolled around each other and secured with pins to create that big final result. The vibrant white flower not only gives balance to the heavy amount of artificial hair used, but also gives Mo’Nique a soft and delicate edge, which is a huge contrast to the hard faced and dour character she plays in Precious.
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Don’t get me wrong, I really like what Maggie Gyllenhaal has done here, it’s certainly red carpet- but I’d hoped she might have gone a little bigger and bolder. Maggie has soft facial features and deep but delicate colouring and women like her really do come into their own on red carpets. They can do big, lustrous romantic old school Hollywood hair and I would have loved to have seen Maggie with perhaps a lot more hair arranged at the back in a rounder fuller bun or even a long cascading curl affair. What I do really love (which perhaps says something about Maggie’s personality) is that her whole look is classy and understated. The hair stylist has very flatteringly pulled the top sections of hair back into the bun, rather than ’scraping’. The bun has either been intricately created in a time consuming effort by the stylist (using many pins and starting on the inside and working out) or Maggie’s stylist has cheated and affixed a bun hair piece to the back of her head. Bailman do such pieces (for around £45) and they are great for achieving glamorous hair quickly.
Carey Mulligan
I’ve really not taken to Carey’s elfin cut and it’s done her no favours with her dress selection, as her soft muted blonde hair is clashing with that dramatic black gown. I feel her look in the movie (with the longer cut and bunt fringe) proves a far more romantic and versatile style for her to play with and it’s such a shame that her hairstylist didn’t have this length to work with for Carey’s big red carpet moment. Short gamine cuts can be fun and funky for some events, but for nights like the Oscars they are completely incompatible with dressy glamorous gowns. My inclination would have been to crop Carey’s hair shorterr and bleach it to a more definite dramatic pale shade and put her in white and diamonds. Alternatively, if she wanted to wear the black they could have washed in a dark brown Wella colour fresh into that short hair, it would have covered perfectly to create a rich velvety chocolate colour far in keeping with that gown. And she could have washed it out easily the next day! I’m not sure if Carey is having to wear this hair for a part, but if she isn’t then to cut it that bit shorter and bleach it for one night would have been easy to reverse with a few weeks growth and a tonal semi permanent hair colour, to reclaim this soft warm blonde shade. It’s a shame, because I feel Carey will look back on that hair in years to come and regret pairing it with that midnight dress.
Helen Mirren
This is by far my most favourite Helen Mirren red carpet hairstyle. In the past Helen has been slightly blase with her hair and worn it loose in a soft bob. Whist the bob looks good on Helen, the problem with award ceremonies is that hair gets windswept and dishevelled and can end up looking quite messy. Here Helen has really gone to town as a nominee and gotten her stylist to arrange her hair in a fantastic pleat with a lot of fulness and elegance. It’s sharp silver pearl shade matches Helen’s selection of gown perfectly. The icing on the cake is that loose sweeping fridge that stops Helen from looking aged and resembling the character she played in the movie! This is such a great example of how women over 60 can wear longer, more glamorous hair and look equally as good and fashion relevant as peers 30 years their junior.
Gabourey Sidibe
This was the look I was waiting to see. Gabourey is playing the red carpet glamour to the hilt with this dress and her hair is also no exception. The warm dark brown hair colour is shiny and healthy and her stylist has used a tong to create deep waves and curls in the hair. There is only minimal pinning and securing going on here and that’s great because I was worried they might give Gabourney a very sculptured style that wouldn’t suit her at all. It is possible to achieve this style using medium sized heated rollers and applying into very slightly damp hair. You roll the fringe and then follow the same pattern around the head. You then leave the rollers to set for around 45 minutes and carefully remove.
Meryl Streep
I quite like this look on Meryl; she’s firstly chosen a really vibrant gown and opted for a hairstyle that harmonises with it. Meryl never particularly goes to town with her hair, however I much prefer her hair up and dressed as opposed to down and loose. The hair is quite elegantly styled into her crown. Ideally, I would have pulled the hair off the face but I am liking the fact that she has opted for an edgier look this year. She could have possibly gone with more of an S wave in that front section, but with Meryl’s bone structure she doesn’t suit anything that it too set.
Penelope Cruz
I think Penelope had such big flamboyant hair in Nine that she has opted for a really simple and discreet style for her Oscars outfit. Penelope is really letting her burgundy outfit do all the work for her hair. It’s worth giving a nod to Penelope’s hair in Nine when singing ‘a call from the vatican’ as it’ so workable and contemporary for todays styles. The movie stylists achieved this ‘out of bed 1960’s’ look by filling her long wavy hair with tons of clip in hair wefts in blonde and light brown shades. You can achieve the same look by buying hair wefts and cutting them to around 4cm in length with the grip in the centre. You then randomly insert them throughout the hair and finish by tonging them with a large iron.
Sigourney Weaver
This is a great example of how you don’t have to do curls or hair up to look great at an awards ceremony. Sigourney is a natural like Sandra Bullock and these women don’t tend to suit big red carpet hair, however Sigourney looks so elegant and classy with this chic, shiny blow- dry. Because her hair is naturally curly it’s a great touch to keep some movement in the hair, however the overall blow-dry is smooth and sleek. Sigourney’s shade also has a gentle warm light brown tone which stops this blow dry looking helmet like.
Molly Ringwald
I can’t believe this is Molly Ringwald, she hasn’t ages at all. What I love about Molly is the way she draws attention to her legendary red hair colour. This purple dress works effortlessly with her natural colouring and more importantly Molly’s style is so simple yet really impressive. It’s basically a long bob cut with a sharp fringe, however Molly’s rich auburn hair colour does all the work and once again shows women everywhere how red heads really are ruling the roost when it comes to hair colour nowadays.
And Finally the award for best hair goes to….
Sarah Jessica Parker
This look is pure SJP! Sarah has taken the look Mo’Nique is also sporting but multiplied it by a thousand. Her hairstylist has taken very long full hair wefts and attached them into the bun at the back of Sarah’s head. In all, I would hazard a guess that there were five wefts in total. These wefts (which have been expertly coloured and blended to match Sarah’s own shade) have been created from human hair and have also been hair sprayed and rolled to create thoso gigantic Princess Leia danish pastries in a halo around her head. These is no other time of the year that an actress can really crank up the glamour to this level, but Sarah knows the Academy awards are the place to do it, and she’s done it well.
