Two years after telling Page Six Style she feared the red carpet was “on life support,” Melissa Rivers is feeling optimistic about the current state of awards show style following Sunday night’s Oscars.
“I thought it was a beautiful carpet. I thought the women looked glamorous and beautiful, and it was gowns and your hair was done and the big jewels were back out. It felt like how you wanted it to be. It felt like the first really real one since COVID,” the “Fashion Police” co-host and daughter of Joan Rivers tells Page Six Style.
Her hands-down favorite of the night? “Queen of the red carpet” Angela Bassett, who also snagged a spot on our best-dressed list with her regal purple Moschino gown — “perfection,” as Rivers puts it.
“I always feel like she walks in and goes, ‘Oh, children, the adult’s here now,” the fashion expert jokes. “Or, in my dreams, someone like that walks in and goes, ‘Hello, peasants.'”
Rivers also loved Cara Delevingne’s “amazing” scarlet Elie Saab, a striking and sophisticated departure from the skin-baring looks she favored for years.
“I love that she went in a ballgown; she didn’t come slinking out [in something sexy],” she says, adding that even her “very not fashion-y” husband did a double take when Delevingne hit the televised red carpet.
Rivers praised Mindy Kaling’s white corseted Vera Wang look — “Best she has ever looked,” she gushes — and Jamie Lee Curtis’ crystal-encrusted blush Dolce & Gabbana dress as well.
“Dolce & Gabbana did a great job. They pulled in the waist; the neckline was perfect,” Rivers says, adding that “you can always tell who thinks they’re going to win” at the Oscars because they come dressed “much more elegant, slightly conservative.”
“That’s the photo that’s going to follow you for the rest of your life,” she said of the classic shot of an actress holding her Oscar. “And Jamie Lee Curtis came dressed to win.”
Salma Hayek’s curve-framing orange sequined Gucci gown won Rivers’ stamp of approval, too.
“I don’t care what anyone says, I love Salma Hayek, ’cause she is simply just Salma Hayek,” she says. “Through every trend … she gets those boobs up, that waist in, the butt’s walking, and gets into the minivan and walks the carpet and doesn’t give a crap.”
While Rivers notes she “didn’t think there were that many misses” on the carpet, she found several looks “underwhelming” — particularly Ana de Armas’ nude sparkly Louis Vuitton.
“It’s your first Academy Awards. You played Marilyn Monroe. If you’re going to wear that kind of a dress, there should have been jewels and not your hair [worn] down,” she says. “And then that color on the white background underwhelmed.”
As for the speculation that de Armas was paying tribute to Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress, à la Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala?
“I feel like everyone saying that is is as an excuse,” Rivers says. “I did not see any homage. And by the way, if we’re paying homage, [style] your hair better, and makeup, and maybe [do] a red lip.”
Others she felt looked “washed out” on the event’s polarizing champagne-colored carpet? Zoë Saldana in cream pleated Fendi Couture — “and she’s usually one of my favorites” — and Michelle Williams in shimmery white Chanel Haute Couture.
“It aged her,” Rivers says of Williams’ sheer-caped creation. “But then you saw it in the theater and it looked ethereal.”