Not a princess dress, of course. That dress is a perfect example of what people mean when they say a piece of clothing is ‘art’. Lainey touched on it a little, but the outfits are a big deal that take a lot of effort and preparation—we can still acknowledge that, especially since they take a lot of people’s very hard work. In Charlize’s case the dress seems like it’s more than the sum of it’s parts, like it might not be so incredible on anyone else.
But also the jewels, the hair—they all seem like decorations on the core Charlize. In fact, they all seem like they come together to make Charlize happy and beautiful and the force that she is. As though she was the Riley in Inside Out. But…different. Like, because all the elements are perfect, Charlize is at peace. If they weren’t, we’d be in a different story. She just doesn’t strike me as an easygoing individual, you know?
There was a time in the pre-show when she consented—how?—to do one of those in-the-theatre interviews that are really just time filler, and is steely-eyed while the interviewer does his initial preamble about how she’s an Oscar winner, and what can she tell upcoming winners about the night? She nods, confident:
“The hamburgers”, she says, making eye contact not with the interviewer but with the sandwiches that are ten feet away. “I like the little hamburgers”.
And as she and the camera drift inexorably toward the burgers, I understand that she might have only agreed to do the interview if it was near the burgers in question, and that possibly nobody even thought to find out what would happen if that were not the case.
