March 8, 2010 | 11:00 am

The Oscars: It’s All About The Suit Not The Dress

Posted by Mihal Levy

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The Oscars came and went yesterday.  We all know that it was all about the fashion (and a first-time female win for best director), but have we paid enough attention to the men’s fashion? 

The recurrent trend this year for women was bright lips, open backs, one-shouldered dresses, open necklines and trains.  Clearly - “My Big Fat Greek Oscars” for the most part (because of the one shoulder dresses not larger actors, but maybe larger hosts). Since every year so much of the focus is on the women’s fashions, why not focus on the men?

The recurrent theme was definitely over-gelled hair (welcome back 1980’s) and facial scruff (grunge look at the Oscars).  It may be simple to critique facial hair and over-gelled dos to cover thinning hairlines (okay, Zach Efron probably does not have a thinning hairline, but the gelled faux hawk two inches taller thing was a little overdone and well…stiff), but how does one critique suits.  Form-fitting/tailored, loose?  Black, light black, smokey black, smokey gray black?  Big bowtie, shorter bow tie, navy bow tie, skinny ties, not-so-skinny ties?  Well, there were a few that stood out.

Neil Patrick Harris, for one.  Harris wore a sassy sequined suit jacket with shiny tafetta (perhaps) pants for his opening number.  That has to be the ‘suit’ that took the night.  Probably also multi-useful to wear every day – to special events, of course.  That suit would work perfectly at, say, a Bris?  Bar Mitzvah?  Why not?

Lenny Kravitz, a fellow Jew (half), looked elegant with his tight classic tux.  Maybe a little too tight, but who minded, really?  The sunglasses were a nice touch.  He, too, had facial hair.  Carrying along the facial hair trend was Jake Gyllenhaal as well, and Keeanu Reeves (whoa!), looking a little Rabbi-esque (minus the kippah, tzitzis and a conversion), but lovely. Antonio Banderas’s and Jeff Bridges’s facial hair leave room for debate about whether clean-shaven is often a much better look, or at least dying a graying multi-colored beard. (Is that possible?)

Perhaps the reason that more attention is not paid to menswear is the likeliness of black suits and tuxes regardless of the size or color of the bowtie or skinny tie…I tried.

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