How Did 'Best Dressed' Become the Most Coveted Oscar of All? [Eire Region]

Summary

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THERE was a time, and it's not too long ago, that the Oscars were the classiest night in the Hollywood calendar. The alltime favourite moment, voted in an internet poll, was when the suave David Niven arrived on stage to present an award and was surprised by a streaker at the height of the craze for naked exhibitionism in the early Seventies. Unfazed, he ad-libbed: 'Well, ladies and gentlemen, that was almost bound to happen. But isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?' It emerged since that the moment was planned and that Niven had written down and memorised the line, but it hardly matters. Back then, Oscar night was one of the biggest TV events of the year because there was real competition for the statuettes, and legends such as Niven still were alive to present them.

Nowadays, it's a marketing exercise, and not only for the movies. No, the real winners are the fashion designers who offer free frocks to the starlets lining up on the red carpet. In a world of low-watt celebrity, the only question worth answering is: 'Who are you wearing?' This year's show starts at 1.30am and runs for three and a half hours - but the red-carpet love-in that precedes it runs for two hours. Two hours! Red-carpet shows are so inane they make The Only Way Is Essex look like Downton Abbey. Especially in the States, the interviewers (Joan Rivers, American idol's Ryan Seacrest) are often bigger stars than the Z-listers they're forced to chat with.

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How Did 'Best Dressed' Become the Most Coveted Oscar of All? [Eire Region]

I suspect they often go home and soak in the bath for hours with a bottle of Jack Daniel's and contemplate the shreds of their dignity after having to complime...

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