Some couples stepped out at the 4th annual Academy Museum Gala, starting with Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song. They were at TIFF together, too, since Brenda stars in The Last Showgirl, which is now set for a limited release on December 13, courtesy Roadside Attractions.
That means it’s full steam ahead for the Pamela Anderson Oscar bid, and Brenda will be along for the ride as one of her co-stars in the film. Hopefully, with Mac in tow because they’re adorable. Also, Brenda is nailing old Hollywood glamour in that gold gown (by Zuhair Murad) and carmine lip. Somewhere, Jennifer Lopez is mad she didn’t get to this dress first, but it looks amazing on Brenda.
Another power couple that made an appearance were Jesse Plemons (in Prada) and Kirsten Dunst (in custom Gucci). Here’s my thing with Kiki’s dress—I love it, she might be my best dressed for the night, but it the red carpet is doing it NO favors. For proof, here she is beforehand, modeling the look against a neutral background:
That shade of cinnamon POPS against her fair skin and hair, and it stands out boldly against the neutral background. But on the gala’s red carpet, the red is swallowing it, and it’s losing some dimensionality.
But that dress IS amazing, and Kiki looks incredible, with the draping and the contrast of the high neckline and low back. I just hate that the red carpet is, like, eating it. I wonder if that was a consideration, that this shade of brown won’t be seen to its best advantage against scarlet, but they decided they didn’t care because the dress is so beautiful, and Kiki looks like she feels amazing in it. Also, it does look great with Jesse’s navy tux. I feel like THAT was definitely considered.
Another color mystery on the red carpet is Gabrielle Union’s Elie Saab gown. At first, I thought it was black, then I saw more photos and thought dark red, but then in other photos it looks dark purple. I’m inclined to think this is more on the purple end of the spectrum, though, for the association with royalty and Gabrielle and Dwyane Wade’s status as red carpet royalty. Should we call this color mulberry?
Also making an appearance were Sarah Paulson (in Prada) and Holland Taylor. This is also a relatively normal look for Sarah Paulson on a red carpet, she often wears wacky fashions, but she looks great keeping it (comparatively) simple in this two-piece gown which is definitely black.
And then there are a pair of lowkey comedy power couples, Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen—who are slowly morphing into everyone’s eccentric aunt and uncle—and Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. Emily is having a similar problem to Kirsten Dunst, which is her dress is disappearing into the background. It looks like she’s wearing the drapes. It seems to be a nice dress—velvet, capelet, very “holiday bash”—but it’s hard to make out details because it literally looks like this dress is made of the same material as the red carpet. I usually like red on the red carpet, but it has to be a contrasting shade. Otherwise, it just looks like you showed up wearing the carpet.
