Let’s get one thing very, very clear here. Jennifer Lopez looked stunnnning last night.
It’s not just that she’s beautiful, which she is – but that dress is a treat for the eyes. I never, ever got tired of looking at it, from every multi-faceted angle, which of course is the point but also because a lot of the dresses worn to the Oscars are designed to be analyzed and debated and seen as an indication of the wearer’s confidence in winning or not, and I know we do some of that here, and I know we all enjoy it – after all, fashion is expression and art – but when so many dresses are taken so seriously, it’s a joy to see one that’s a little more lighthearted, a bit more playful.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still Tom Ford, and could probably pay for tuition and residence at a Canadian university – but it’s not the one you would wear if you were nominated in a gritty drama, and I’m happy to see it in the mix.
What I didn’t see, though, and I’m sure people will tell me I’m wrong, is the patented JLo glow. I don’t mean her makeup or her skin shimmer (not that I didn’t hoard bottles of that stuff back in the day), but the sort of low-level beam she always seems to have in every situation. Am I wrong that I can’t see it here?
I mean, usually even if she’s doing the imperious glance thing like she is above, she has a bit of a twinkle in her eye, saying “you and I both know that you love it when I’m severe like this.” But she didn’t seem into it last night.
I’m not suggesting anything nefarious – maybe she had a stomach bug, or maybe one of her kids gave her a hard time. Maybe she, like all of us in LA this weekend, had a driver who was a liiiiitttle too heavy on the brakes. (What is it with drivers here? Why do they hate the ‘slow, consistent pressure’ method?)
Again, I’m not suggesting anything is amiss in the bigger sense – these two know how to rock a carpet, even if it’s not their favourite one:
Can you imagine just looking like that every day, when you wake up? And just deciding what to choose to best envelop your glory? The Hollywood Reporter has kind of an oral history of the dress, and it’s super satisfying, especially if you’re in sweatpants.
Here’s one thing that was fascinating to me, though – they talk about having backup dresses, which is not new to any of us, of course, but I would love to hear the oral history of who’s fighting for #2; I had assumed stylists were pulling totally different looks for the after-parties, so that it’s less about a winner and an understudy, and more so you can go seamlessly from MirrorBall to, say, strutting peacock:
I feel like the fire is returning to her eyes a little bit here. Maybe not all the way, but it’s definitely better. Clearly, ARod feels it too.
Still, there’s something, and I feel strangely sad and protective about it. I feel like I’d do a lot to see her break into a genuine, big-toothed grin right about now. Is this what it’s like to be every man – or woman – who’s ever loved her?
