Mindy Kaling in custom Prabal
My theory: Mindy contracted with Vera Wang for two Oscars dresses, and Vera went rogue by deciding to make the same one in two colors, and Mindy got stuck with Vera's whole "duality of both colors, eternal sophistication" artistic B.S. Nice of her to defend it -- that's what you'd do, to be polite -- but this custom Prabal is CLEARLY SUPERIOR and I feel like if she had been allowed to wear it the whole night she SURELY would have?!?
Michelle Yeoh in Armani
And HERE is the reason Armani threw her a pre-Oscars party. This is fabulous, and much better than her floaty Dior, which honestly -- Michelle Yeoh can do anything, we know this, but that whole look (including the styling) felt like it was on Dior's vision board for, like, Elle Fanning, or Natalia Dyer, or Yara Shahidi. One of the ingenues. This is so sophisticated and that one really wasn't.
Stephanie Hsu
This, to me, is the perfect example of an outfit change: Her ceremony dress was amazing, but probably heavy and would be tough to wrangle without damaging it at a crowded party like this, so she switched to something that will ALSO let her dance.
Ana de Armas in custom Louis Vuitton
Yeah, I wish it were lined, maybe? It may not need it. She looks like a stained-glass window, in a good way (is there a bad way? I guess... if we were talking about makeup), and I think a) it's far more interesting than her ceremony dress, and b) the details on the bottom of that one were all likely to get knocked around here.
Kate Hudson in Tamara Ralph
In terms of practicality, this change makes no sense. In terms of "I had two dresses and I couldn't decide so I wore them BOTH," hooray. I prefer this to her silver one -- I think it's so joyful. I might have worn this to the Oscars, and the other to this party, BUT never with the ruffles. I didn't notice she'd removed them, so bless Jessica's eagle eyes; it's much less droopy.
Deepika Padukone in Naeem Khan
She looked pretty at the ceremony, but HOW FUN IS THIS.
Angela Bassett
This, sniffle, seems like she picked it so she could hold her Oscar and still have a hand free (because it wouldn't be busy holding a train). That is smart planning, and again, the classic reason to have two outfits on this night. I don't like this better than the purple, and I'm not sure I love it, period (the pants look... crunchy), but the mentality was correct. I am sad for her that it didn't come to pass, and sadder that people are being mean about her DARING to have a brief fleeting feeling about losing before recovering and moving on with her night (which required her to sit there for THREE MORE HOURS before she could have a feeling again).
Rooney Mara in McQueen
This isn't really a change -- Rooney's dress is the same, and she donned that coat during the telecast, but we didn't have an audience pic to show you. WELL. Doesn't that coat make this entire endeavor so much better? It's very similar to a McQueen she wore in 2015, but this is an improvement over that whole outfit. Also, for a fun illustration of 7 years of eyebrow changes, here's a close-up of her.
I love the back of the coat, also. I do not like how her skirt looks, dumping out from the back like that, but... can't be helped. I wish someone had made her a bustle, because heels are gonna rip that thing to shreds.
Andrew Garfield in Valentino
YES SIR. Snappy red coat.
Jennifer Connelly in Louis Vuitton
It's not the dress of my dreams -- I would have loved this with slightly less severe hair, also -- but she was right to change. That beaded chunk would have made eating and drinking very annoying. It would have been, dare I say it, a highway to the Danger Zone.
Greg Tarzan Davis, Danny Ramirez, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joseph Kosinski, Jay Ellis. and Monica Barbaro
Many a Top Gunner also changed. Greg, we missed yesterday, but his suit was all black and I like this for him. Danny switched from black to white, and deployed the nipple. Jerry and Joseph, no idea, sorry, totally blew past them on the red carpet. Jay put on a more Fashion kind of jacket that makes no sense to me but will show fewer crumbs than black, I guess? (Food is life.) And Monica's Oscars dress was gorgeous but would have been a pain to wrangle, so a sleeker silhouette seems smart and she looks fantastic.
Brian Tyree Henry
I loved his other jacket, and I love this one, which will stand up to spills better. Two scores. I am suddenly confused by the quilted section, but I've decided to ignore it.
Allison Williams in Galvan
I thought her giant pink opera coat and beaded dress were OTT on her, but even if you liked it, I suspect you will ALSO like this and see the wisdom of changing. (And when you really stare at it, the base dress on that one seems heavy and not as delicately lovely as it could have been -- see Fan Bingbing for a better version -- so I don't blame her for just doing the coat-check.) Also the way her hair flows into the dress is gorgeous.
Zoe Saldana in Cartier (top) and Kors (skirt)
Well, whoops. I just spotted her nipple. But it's a measure of how much I disliked her Fendi dress that the nip doesn't change my verdict that this is an improvement. Also interesting that the whole TOP is credited to a jeweller.
Halle Bailey
MILES prettier and fits like a dream. The bodice of her blue one was just off.
Danai Gurira
I moved this back and forth, and back and forth, before keeping it in this slideshow. Silhouette-wise, changing into this was a smart pick, and I LOVE the glitter and the purple and what a loose disco feel it all has -- it's literally letting her hair down after her amazing Oscars ensemble. But can one REALLY party so freely when you are SQUOOSHED like that? A question for the ages. Ultimately, the pros outweighed the cons.
Kaia Gerber in Celine, and Austin Butler
Hear me out: Yes, it's a satiny shirt with a tongue, but while a classic tux is always handsome, it's nice to have a little fun too. Austin did a LOT of the former, so good, experiment now, sir.
Andrea Riseborough
Hear me out again: The actual base dress, without the dingy ruff, is better than the lace frock for me. It's more interesting and looks less like it is peeling off of her. EVEN with the neck piece, I think this better showcases her sartorial personality and is a wise trade.
Hong Chau in Maison Rabih Kayrouz
Hear me out AGAIN again: Yes, this is maybe a bit of a cocoon, but she's selling it. I prefer all that to the boob darts, even if the shoes are wrong. It has movement and grace to it that the stiffer, boxier Prada did not.
Malala Yousafzai (in Jil Sander) and Asser M
HEAR ME OUT AGAINNN: <>a href="https://www.gofugyourself.com/photos/silver-and-gold-at-the-2023-oscars/95th-annual-academy-awards-arrivals-los-angeles-california-usa-12-mar-2023-69">I loved her silver dress and you would have had to cut me out of it, but if she wasn't up for partying in full sequins -- after sitting on them for three hours -- then I am not mad at her switching into something that's equally well-tailored.
Jessie Buckley in Rodarte
Please continue to have patience with me: She might have given me the most amusement of the entire night. And I mean that in a way where I think she is amused WITH me, because these are kooky frocks. I of course don't get changing from one Rodarte into another EXTREMELY SIMILARLY BANANAS Rodarte, but I actually like this one better? The other one, the detailing looked like it had been growing under the sea. This seems more alien, in a delicious way.
Kerry Condon
I expected her to wear this to the Oscars -- like, when I pictured her in my head, she was basically in this. The yellow was fresh for her, but this one must have been a lot easier to wrangle. It's ALL about the passed apps.
Molly Sims
I loved the color and the vibe of her ceremony dress, but this is also really snazzy.
Upasana Kamineni, left, and Ram Charan
They both de-glammed a fair bit, which you don't as often see -- I wonder if someone neglected to tell them that this party is just as fancy as the Oscars themselves, or if they just were like, "We are TAKING OFF the 400 rubies and we are NOT staining the delicate gown and we are going to DANCE AND HAVE FUN." I applaud it. His coat here is handsome. (HE is handsome) I bet they had a blast and I hope he did do the RRR dance just for a little bit. Just to be like, "Yep, I've STILL GOT IT."
Laverne Cox
She's in here by default, really. I don't think this dress, inherently, out to be an upgrade -- except that her Vera Wang from the telecast barely even looked COMPLETE. The only way was up.
