Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson

It seems fitting to open with these two, basking in Hanx's Best Actor win, given that they recently returned to Los Angeles after their battle with Covid-19. I hope someone is able to test them to see if it conferred immunity. I mean, I guess we have to invent that test first, but what better motivation is there than INTERNATIONAL TREASURE TOM HANKS?

Rita's dress had a surprise back.

Sharon Stone

SPEAKING OF SURPRISES: Sharon leaned into full white satin, and yes, it's floor-length and large. She's like Wedding Marmee March.

Uma Thurman

This is Uma and her dad, Strom Thurman. ZING. I'm kidding. His name is Robert. This whole look really also feels so David's Bridal.

Fran Drescher

So no capes in 1995, but lots of scarves.

Angela Bassett

I think she would still wear that. She SHOULDN'T, but she would.

Madonna and her brother Christopher

Madonna was about to film -- or was filming -- 2006's Evita, so this whole dramatic Hollywood look very much tracks.

Winona Ryder and Dave Pirner

You might remember Dave as the lead singer of Soul Asylum. (He also has a cameo in Reality Bites.) Wino Forever was nominated for Little Women, and it's interesting to see that her tastes even then ran toward streamlined black dresses.

Anna Paquin

She'd won the year before for The Piano, for which I believe she wore the little blue beret that matched her outfit, so it makes sense that she'd go with another bold accessory.

Robin Wright Penn

Is Robin dressed AS Anna Paquin from 1994?

Jessica Lange

She won for Blue Sky, which felt like an upset to me at the time, but I also didn't pay much attention back then and hadn't heard of it. She beat Winona, Jodie Foster for Nell, Miranda Richardson for Tom & Viv, and Susan Sarandon in The Client. That... seems like a weak field for movies, maybe?  I'm not saying those weren't good performances, but do you EVER hear anyone talking about The Client, for example?

Dianne Wiest and Tommy Lee Jones

Dianne won for Bullets Over Broadway. (She beat Helen Mirren, for The Madness of King George, and Uma for Pulp Fiction, among others).

Laurence Fishburne and John Singleton

Look at young Larry!

Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford

Y'all, Helen tried. She REALLY tried to make formal hats happen in Hollywood. But even Helen could not make the Oscars turn into Ascot.

Denzel and Pauletta Washington

These two look slick.

Andie MacDowell and Paul Qualley

Andie is here with the father of her three children. She looks like she's angling for a Jane Austen flick.

Steve Martin and Diane Keaton

These two were finishing Father of the Bride II. Diane looks like she might break into the Charleston.

Shelley Long

Shelley was in the midst of The Brady Bunch Movie at this point. The two halves of this dress are not speaking particularly fluently to each other.

Debbie Allen

That's not really a cape, either. More of a formal floor-length cardigan.

Ian Ziering

"This party is dead. GET ME STEVE SANDERS."

Natalie Cole

That is BRIGHT. But I know myself well enough to acknowledge that if someone wore that skirt now we'd probably like it

Oprah

Why is Oprah pooping tulle?

John McEnroe and Patty Smyth

HOW YOUNG WE ALL ONCE WERE.

Annette Bening

She should wear this again! Maybe without the tights/open-toe shoe combo.

Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley

I mean, look at Hugh's floppy hair. In some of the afterparty photos, which I forgot to download, he's wearing the giant glasses his character has in Four Weddings and a Funeral. I think this is before we knew Hugh might be a bit of a cad.

Holly Hunter

She'd won for The Piano the previous year, so she wore THAT to present the Best Actor Oscar to Hanx. So this is basically what you'd have seen on the telecast. HOLLY. IT'S A PLAYTEX BRA.

Prince

This outfit is a RIDE. Oh, Prince.

Whitney Houston

This slideshow is a one-two punch of sad losses, though.

Joan and Melissa Rivers

A TRIFECTA OF TRAGEDY, in fact.

Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson

One more for your feelings. 

Jane Fonda

I put Jane here so that you would feel laughter again after the four sad slides.

Sally Field

Yes, Sally, I DO really like you. But that needs a hoik and a half.

Cameron Diaz

Is that her party wristband?!? You don't see that in photos nowadays, really, do you?

Tippi Hedren

I am surprised Melanie Griffith hasn't borrowed this.

Kim Cattrall

I'm not sure WHAT this is. I also forgot Kim was ever brunette.

Kurt Russell

SMOKING! INSIDE!

Kelly Preston and John Travolta

I sincerely thought that was Gillian Anderson for a second.

Jodie Foster

"Yeah, I didn't really like Nell, either! What can you do!"

Claudia Schiffer and David Copperfield

Claudia in that tiny preppy cardigan is HILARIOUS. Was the red carpet ever so quaint? YES IT WAS.

Sigourney Weaver

I believe Sigourney and Joe Simpson are still married. I am pleased she kept him and not the dress.

Margaret Cho

Was there ever so '90s an ensemble?

Marlee Matlin

I thought THIS was Rachel Dratch for a second.

Jessica Capshaw

Aw, it's baby Arizona Robbins!

Emma Thompson

Emma... are you holding that closed because you are not wearing a shirt?!?

Ellen Barkin and Gabriel Byrne

Ellen looks very glam, and the erstwhile Professor Bhaer looks bored.

Courtney Love

"I look like Madonna, right? I do. Like Madonna. Yes."

Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley

Jon's long wavy hair is sadly also a relic now.

Ben Stiller and Jeanne Tripplehorn

I forgot these two dated. Did I ever know it? Good question.

Sarah Jessica Parker

SJP's right boob is about to make a run for it, y'all.

Dolly Parton

I wish this photo were not so blown out. I've decided it's because Dolly glows too much in person for some cameras to handle.

David Letterman

This was the infamous "Oprah, Uma, Uma, Oprah" year that Letterman hosted, and he was a HUGE fan of the word Buttafuoco if I remember correctly, which may be why...

Joey Buttafuoco and Mary Jo Buttafuoco

... THESE TWO attended. I mean, Mary Jo got shot in the face by Amy Fisher, so I'm GLAD she got to hit up the Oscars in a gown. But it was a very random discovery on this quiet Sunday night on which I am typing, and now if you'll excuse me, I probably have to go topple down an Amy Fisher wormhole. Mary Jo looks very nice and also sort of like Joan Lunden? Joey looks like Danny Aiello, kind of.

Judd Nelson

That glint is not, I'm sorry to say, the diamond earring from The Breakfast Club still sitting in John Bender's ear. It's just a trick of the light. Le sigh.

Julianne Moore

LET US ALL JOIN HANDS AND SHRIEK.

Flashback Fug: The 1995 Oscars

They were 25 years ago almost to the day.