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The field shook itself out fairly rapidly for this year’s Oscar Fashion Photo Contest.  As ever, thank you to all the entrants, and I hope you enjoyed the opportunity to show off your red-carpet chops.

The main difficulty this year was between First and Second Places.  It could easily have gone the other way, and almost did.  A fresh evaluation gave this order, however; and I’m pleased to welcome a new First Place winner this year.

So, with further non-ado, here’s this year’s placers ….

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Last update on the 9th Oscar Fashion Photo Contest, before the proceedings close following the real Academy Awards on Sunday night.  I’m going to pass this year on doing the RL 2017 recap.

We’re currently standing at 18 entries, way low for my taste, but enough for an award pool.  There’s still several days to get your own entry in, and I hope you’ll do so.  I look forward to the difficulty of judging a large field every year.  So put yourselves together and shoot some red-carpet photos, and we’ll see what happens in the next few weeks, when the results are announced!

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Lisavet Darchiev had been invited to join the Academy from the year the screenplay for her first novel had won that year’s award.  She had begun writing her own screenplays since then, and had also attended every year since joining; and this year’s soirée was no exception.  One difference did arise from her previous attendances, though — she was escorted not by her business manager, Andrei Nekrasov.  Andrei was somewhere in the hall, accompanied by his British husband, Sascha, she was sure.  But tonight, Andrei was not squiring her.

Rather, it was someone much more satisfying than even the pretty (and completely gay) Andrei Leonovich; so satisfying that she had chosen to uproot herself and move to Los Angeles permanently ….

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I’m taking a pause in Oscar Fashion Photo Contest work to check out the bar at the Rose Theatre.  Lots of wood and chandeliers, nice atmosphere, and plenty of beer.  Stop in sometime and have a glass.

While I’m refreshing myself, here’s a quick update on the OFPC.  As of today, we officially have enough in this year’s group pool to make a full contest — eight Residents are in with photos.  But there’s still plenty of room for more, and just over a month for the Oscar Fashion Photo Contest to run, so you should get your glam on and start shooting photos.  Remember, you can submit as many times as you like, but only the most recent one will be considered in the judging, or the one you designate in the end.  Read the full rules, and ask questions if you’re uncertain!  And, of course, submit your contest entry photo to the OFPC group on Flickr.

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This year’s featured red carpet actress was a name to conjure with in the 1990s; then a combination of a career slump, personal difficulties and a conviction for shoplifting almost derailed her.  The woman is back, though, strong as ever, with her own show on Netflix, and still catching attention on the red carpet when she appears.

Let’s take a look at Winona Laura Horowitz — better known as Winona Ryder.

Born in Winona, Minnesota, Ryder began auditioning around 1985, did her first film (Lucas) in 1986, and broke out in 1988 — before she had graduated high school — with three films:  Beetlejuice, 1969 and Heathers.  The last film became one of Ryder’s signature films, the black comedy of “teenage angst with a body count” placing her in a generation’s mind. She appeared at the 1989 Academy Awards in a black velvet midi, on the arm of her Heathers co-star, Christian Slater.

Black seems to be Winona’s signature color; she’s worn it more often to the red carpet than any other color in my memory.  For instance, in 1990, Ryder came to the Oscars in this lovely strapless sheath, accented only with a bracelet and earrings ….

… and appeared in 1997 in this frock, which is actually my least favorite of what I’ve seen her in.  (This also illustrates Ryder’s taste for vintage.)

In the same year, though, Winona showed she could also rock color, at the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award for Martin Scorsese.  This is one of my favorites ….

… as is this look from 1994 (which is, I believe, at an after-party).

Finally, come forward to the 2017 Golden Globes, with Ryder the adult star of Stranger Things.  The old standby black once more — but Winona Ryder makes it shine.

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Next update in two weeks or so, then our own appearance after that.  Get shooting, folks!  And, to help you along, here’s some inspiration:  a 2017 Harper’s Bazaar slideshow of the great Oscar looks of all time to their date.

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Here they come, sashaying down the red carpet — this years placing photos for the Oscar Fashion Photo Contest!  The potential pool was disappointing this year in terms of size — the smallest slate of entries in the eight years of the OFPC — but the winners are deserving of their selection, and of the prize money (grin).  So, with further non-ado, here are our choices for this year.

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The first three entries are in the group for this year’s Oscar Fashion Photo Contest.  I really want at least five to seven more before I’d declare it a contest, so consider this your call to work up a look and make a run down the red carpet.  You’ll have a shot at a slice of over L$ 50,000, remember, so get your stylists thinking!

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Normally, I’d do a sidebar piece in this first update on one of the style icons of the red carpet, especially at the Oscars and Golden Globes.  This year, I ran out of names to consider; Jem and me will have to bang our heads together over the next year to see if we can agree on someone.  So, this year, we’ll just look at a flat-out style icon — in fact, possibly the style icon of motion pictures:  Audrey Hepburn.  Hepburn reigned as a screen fashion queen and real-life style setter staring in her twenties, with a definite knowledge of what looked completely smashing on her. And this in despite of her apparently lifelong self-image as an ugly duckling, according to an interview with BBC News.

(Be prepared if you click through; the full article is graphics-intensive.)

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The limousine let us off outside the theatre, and we slid out with thanks to the driver for his smooth service.  After running the gauntlet of photographers and reporters and fans along the red carpet, we got inside to the grand staircase, where Conan met us.  “I hope you two enjoyed the limo ride.”

“It was fairly nice,” I drawled with a smile.  “But I guess it’s time to pay the bill for it now, isn’t it?”

“Only if you want to do this insanity again.  One year of judging photos convinced me you must be out of your mind to do this contest as long as you have.”

“It’s not that bad,” Jem laughed.  “I enjoyed it.  And the posing is always fun, of course.”

Conan just chuckled.  “If you say so.  Come on; we can go up here out of the way of most everything and everyone.”

“Lead on,” I said, and we climbed the staircase.

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Tomorrow is the day!  Check Around the Grid at 7:00 a.m. SLT for a sticky article that will give you the rules for the 8th Oscar Fashion Photo Contest.  There will also be (once I add the links during the day some time) a press release for immediate use, and a smaller photo you can use if you choose to write your own story about the contest.  The Flickr group should be opened up shortly before the article publishes to the blog, to make sure it’s ready for anyone who’s already done their work during the teaser period here (grin).  After that, it’s all up to you and you and you; and, in eight weeks, we’ll see who gets the long share of L$50,500 in cash!

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When Jem and I got downstairs, and saw the limousine Conan had hired for us to get to the theatre, the best we could say was “Wow!”  A classic saloon car nearly as old as the Oscars themselves, and it was a beauty, never mind the driver that held the door open for us!

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Two days to go before the Oscar Fashion Photo Contest opens up with the announcement and this year’s rules.  As I said yesterday, there aren’t any substantive changes to the rules this time around.  The only change will be to the duration — we’re adding on a week, since the Academy chooses to do the show so quickly these days.  (You used to have eight to ten weeks to do your shot; now you’re lucky to get seven.)  Two months is a bit of time, true.  But it gives everyone a chance to select gowns or suits, work up their looks, and find a place to shoot.  And we always expect good work from entrants; there’s a seven-year history of this, after all.

It also helps if you spread the word about the contest.  I’ve been running our little series of photos in every Flickr group I figured I could get away with it in, and so far nobody’s complained.  But it will still be a very good thing if you write up the contest yourself and link to the announcement and rules article on Sunday.  The more eyes that see this, the better; and this thing is really open to anyone with an SL avatar or two and a good eye and hand for doing quality photographic work.  If nothing else, you can link to the blog’s front page; the announcement will be sticky there until the contest closes.  Here’s hoping for a record-breaking year on submissions!