Gowning around

Now, as we've already established, many times on this blog, I'm a sucker for a pretty dress. My inner princess is literally screaming to get out, swathe herself in layers of tulle and silk and dance about singing "someday my prince will come". Sadly, when you live in merry old Liverpool, there's not a lot of opportunity for that kind of madness (at least not that I know of...). So I tend to spend my days, living vicariously through the people who do get to dress up all fancy-like on multiple occasions; celebrities. Which is why, when awards season comes around, I start getting a bit bloody excited. Couture gowns, sparkly, sparkly diamonds and plenty of preening and posing? This is my heaven.

You may remember that last year, I did a post about my favourite picks from the Oscars and, where I could, I tracked down the original catwalk versions of the dresses that the various stars wore. Well, I've decided to do this again, because I think it's really interesting to see how things are styled differently, and also, it makes me feel like a special fashion detective, trawling through images of dresses on style.com until I find the correct one. I wish I was a real detective...

First up we've got the Queen B herself, Leighton Meester in a Burberry Prorsum dress from the 2011 pre-Fall collection. It took me a while to work out whether this was the same one as the dress on the right, but it definitely is, they've just pushed the sleeves up and teamed it with a thick black belt. I prefer the way Leighton's wearing it though; the long sleeves and high neckline make her look positively demure, while the sheer fabric and thigh-high split keep it youthful and the right side of sexy. Very pretty.

Lea Michele has fast become one of my favourites on the red carpet, but I'm assuming she's got a seriously good styling team behind her as she ALWAYS looks perfect. Seriously, go to her IMDb page and look at the photos of her from different red carpet events, the girl has never once hit a bum note. (pun intended!) This pink Oscar de la Renta gown from the Spring 2011 show is super girly and by teaming it with gently tousled curls and soft, feminine makeup Lea is definitely channelling her inner princess. It may not be the 'edgiest' gown on the red carpet, but she looks beautiful and, honestly, what girl WOULDN'T want to dress like this for a day?

Lea's co-star, Dianna Agron, is another lady who always gets it right on the red carpet. This Grecian-style J Mendel dress from the 2011 pre-Fall collection is a subtle but glamourous choice, and I love how she's glammed it all up with a vintage-inspired hairdo and lots of diamonds. Is it just me, or is the model in the second photo actually quite terrifying? Smile!

Pink and champagne seemed to be the hottest colours on the night; aside from those I've already mentioned, we also saw Megan Fox, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Clare Danes and a whole load more sporting pale, feminine shades. The stupidly beautiful Mila Kunis, however, went for a vivid jewel green Vera Wang gown. I searched for a while to find the original version and I'm guessing that it's this one from the Fall 2011 Bridal collection; the bodice and shoulder detaling are the same, but it's been made in a different fabric, so the draping is a lot looser. I don't really know how it works when a celeb wears a "custom" gown; did Vera just offer to make it? Or did Mila give her a call and go "hi Vera, listen, this dress, I mean, it's great and everything, but I was thinking, could you do one in green? Yeah, thanks!" Either way, the green is a perfect choice against Mila's skin and dark hair and provided some much needed relief from the sea of pink/champagne. (oooh! A sea of pink champagne! Yum!)

Looking a lot less frilly and flouncy but still bloody gorgeous, was Easy A star Emma Stone in a very simple peach Calvin Klein dress. This is another dress that I simply could not find in the Calvin Klein archives, so I'm guessing it's also custom or a secret dress that nobody knows about. Emma's become famous for being this cool, indie chick, so I think it's quite fitting that she wore something a lot more modern and edgy. It's ultimately a very long t-shirt, but I think it works! Though I do prefer her as a redhead.

I know we shouldn't poke fun at other people's fashion choices, but I feel that I had to show this because it serves as further evidence that Heidi Klum is completely and utterly mental. Heidi, listen up, ok? Last year, we thought "oh Heidi, so what if she's dressed as a mermaid? It's ok, she's still beautiful. Maybe she's gone for a whole underwater motif, because her husband's name is Seal." But now, Heidi, we're all really starting to worry. You can't just drape yourself in some old curtains, tie a sash around your waist and call it a dress. That's not how it works, not at the Globes. And asking your kids to do your makeup was silly, wasn't it? You know better than this, Heidi. YOU'RE better than this. There, I've said what I needed to say, now let's move on...

There's only one way to end a post like this and that's with a photo of a man in a suit. I was torn between who to pick but ultimately settled on Joseph Gordon Levitt because he's adorable. I don't care what designer he's wearing, you don't care what designer he's wearing, let's all just have a good, long stare...

Who do you think was the best dressed? Even better, who do you think was the worst dressed??? Is anyone else REALLY excited for the Oscars now?!

Red carpet images from IMDb, catwalk images from Style.com, Vera Wang image from the official Vera Wang Facebook page.