Nancy's Style File: If It Zips, It Fits.

March 2015

Dear Readers,

Please correct me if I am wrong, but in years past, hasn't the Academy Awards show been televised in late March or early April? I swear it was never February!

For the last 38 years, I have vacationed every year with three of my best friends. Many of those years we traveled to Florida in late March or early April in an attempt to escape the lingering effects of our harsh Midwest winters. One of the great memories I hold dear from these wonderful trips is the four of us watching the Academy Awards together. We sipped crisp white wine, munched on fresh stone crabs and spoke to one another about the red carpet dresses as if we were veteran fashion critics.

It became a treasured tradition we all savored.

One year, 1998 to be exact, each of us commented on how terribly ill-fitting that princess pink dress was on Gwyneth Paltrow. If you will recall, she won a Best Actress Oscar that year for her portrayal of Viola in Shakespeare in Love.

In 2012, however, Ms. Paltrow was named Best Dressed by many fashion critics (including moi) when she wore a stunning Tom Ford design with an uber chic cape. Every detail about the fit was positively perfect.

Gwyneth Paltrow 2014

"Never under estimate the importance of proper fit" is what my mother always said. She had just about everything she owned tailored, and when she sewed things for me, she would make sure we didn't have just one fitting session. Oh, no. We had at least two or three fittings before she did the final hemming. Drove me bananas. I used to think she was too much "the perfectionist".

Boy, was I ever wrong.

Take a good look at the photos below and decide which ones you think are the "proper fit".

First, the striking Viola Davis at this year's Oscar show:

And Viola at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards show just the month before:

Below, yet another example of a do and a don't on Rosamund Pike, nominated this year for Best Actress for her performance in Gone Girl.

Oscar night . . .

Golden Globes (aptly named) awards show night . . .

And finally, quite the avant-garde Prada design don't, coupled with a beautifully executed do:

A pregnant Kerry Washington, star of the new hit TV show Scandal, at last year's Screen Actor's Guild Awards show.

And Kerry post baby birth, this year at the Oscars:

Remember . . . even swim suits and bras can be custom tailored to fit.

Now who's the perfectionist?

Nancy

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