It was ladies’ night at the Golden Globes. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler took over hosting duties from Ricky Gervais, who, as Fey put it, “couldn’t be here because he is technically no longer in show business.” After Bill Clinton presented the Best Picture nominee Lincoln, Poehler enthused, “That was Hillary Clinton’s husband!” Lena Dunham‘s groundbreaking show Girls won the award for Best TV Comedy. And then there was Jodie Foster, who at 50 picked up the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B. DeMille Award and used the occasion to make a confounding speech. Did she come out? Announce her retirement? The show was over and the blogosphere was still spinning.
Considering all that, it was hard for the dresses to measure up. The color of the evening was red. Jennifer Lawrence won her first Golden Globe in Dior Haute Couture and Claire Danes picked up her fourth (her second for Homeland) in Versace. Also opting for scarlet were nominees Zooey Deschanel and Marion Cotillard, whose own Dior was so similar to Lawrence’s, let’s just hope they didn’t bump into each other on the red carpet. Among the other trends: gold embroidery as seen on Michelle Dockery and Julianne Hough, and thigh-high slits that made you miss Angelina Jolie.
It was a chilly night in L.A., so Naomi Watts, Julianne Moore, and Helen Mirren were all clever to wear long sleeves. Watts’ Zac Posen belongs in the win column, even if the designer’s rather stiff floor-sweeper for Lena Dunham does not. Note to stylists: Nix the ball gowns next year. As it goes for speeches, so it goes for dresses at the Globes; understatement is usually best. The evening’s hits were Nicole Kidman‘s wasp-waisted Alexander McQueen, Anne Hathaway‘s sparkly, strapless Chanel, Fey’s black and white L’Wren Scott, and Amanda Seyfried‘s age-appropriate Givenchy Haute Couture.
Jessica Chastain walked off with the Best Actress in a Drama prize in pale blue Calvin Klein Collection. Picking up on the theme of the evening, she thanked her Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow. “You’ve done more for women in cinema than you take credit for.”
