Beyoncé started it, of course. Obviously there’s much more discourse on that elsewhere, and obviously it’s not like anyone knew that ‘tennis ball’ was going to be the colour of the night.
But leave it to this, the absolute hands-down weirdest Oscars ever to be the riot of colour that feels directly aimed at me. It’s a relief after whole years where the only colours were red or ‘foundation garment’ – and while I don’t think they have to also be architectural, I don’t hate it – I feel as though nobody knows what’s happening with silhouettes now that we’re out of our sweatpants, so I appreciate this level of play:
At one point, H.E.R. got turned around onstage, later quipping that it was about showing off her outfit, and she had a point, it was worthy, and then some. Meanwhile, Daniel Kaluuya’s blue silk gave me full-on jazz choir vibes (that, let’s be honest, were unnecessarily resurrected in the In Memoriam segment); like his was also architectural but in a way that seemed entirely unnecessary?

Then of course there was this acid yellow from Queen Latifah (see what I mean, there are so many architectural swobes this year!):
Halle Bailey (who was presenting on her birthday!) went for a full icy cerulean, whereas her sister Chloe had a deeper, Prince-ian purple happening:
.@chloebailey arrives in purple to the 2022 #Oscars. See more of tonight's red carpet arrivals: https://t.co/ElHxk5otfZ pic.twitter.com/QwPSrlHeZT
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) March 27, 2022
But the biggest riot of colour happened during “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”.
Caught the Bruno dancers before they went in to perform. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/p9Z66KQfad
— Rebecca Ford (@Beccamford) March 28, 2022
I wanted it to go on forever, and for us to actually be able to see Diane Guerrero’s (that’s Isabella to you) gorgeous multicolour gown from that sequence, but it still gave us so much. Like Megan Thee Stallion having a verse!?
. @theestallion the proudest of you 💛 pic.twitter.com/P0rqQOeP3n
— 🎀CAI🎀(fan account) (@AKISTALLI) March 28, 2022
Again with the yellow and the architecture – though she went for softer Easter colours both before and after the show, I think we can agree she liked this one best, right?
Megan Thee Stallion at the 2022 Oscars. pic.twitter.com/TEOftvEguq
— Stallion Access (@stallionaccess) March 28, 2022
(Who am I kidding, she looks like she looooves that last one – it’s very Vanity Fair.)
So, coming from someone who just polished off a whole box of Mike & Ike sours, these greens and yellows and blues are a very welcome arrival, and maybe a chance people aren’t taking themselves so seriously? Then on the other side of things, imagine if people remembered that pinks and purples and even oranges could be fun too? It doesn’t have to be full ‘Bruno’, but we’re gonna get there next year, right?