We are definitely missing some Cate Blanchett this awards season. With Cate, it’s almost never boring. Even when you don’t like it, it’s not boring. Ugly is better than boring.
This dress is not ugly, not at all. It’s Christopher Kane. Hilariously some people online are saying she’s wearing the Infinity Stones. Sure. Why not? She’s part of the MCU. She’s an Asgardian. There are all kinds of connections there.
What I appreciate about this look is that she doesn’t look laboured. Stones like that on a dress can be heavy. And they can LOOK heavy. On some people, this dress would have worn them down. Cate, however, has the constitution to be able to carry it. I’m not talking about height or build, necessarily, but about attitude, and poise. There’s something regal about this kind of embellishment, like those old ass royal portraits you see in castles when the young princes or princesses are weighed down by 30 pounds of jewellery and show-off-ness to represent their noble status. Cate has played a queen, twice. She knows how this works. She knows exactly how to sell a dress that requires the right posture, the right stateliness to pull it off.