Proving to the world that her earlobes are better than ours, Cate Blanchett wore enormous drop earrings by Chopard in white gold with opals and diamonds. No one seemed to loooove her Armani Privé dress, as is the usual practice with 'Red Carpet Cate Blanchett'. But we can certainly appreciate it, just not sure how she sat comfortably in it for over 3 hours. All those crystal shards... She had a friend in the clustered diamonds department in Charlize Theron who wore an almost matching Y necklace with clustered flawless diamond drop by Harry Winston.
Illusion cuff earrings made an appearance. Oscar winner, Lupita Nyong'o wore tiny cuff silhouette diamond earrings from Fred Leighton, Sandra Bullock in pear shape diamonds that curled up her ear by Lorraine Schwartz, and Maria Menuenos wore cuff like earrings from Dove jewelry that complemented her romantic beauty look and slightly bridal dress.
Overall, we're excited to see how this year's red carpet will reflect in the tastes of the regular people of the world. Colorful drops? Large diamonds? More backlace?
Jennifer Lawrence was very simple and sexy in her tomato red Calvin Klein number that I found refreshing in its clean silhouette that featured a natural body. It was like a celebration of woman. (Hear me roar!) Anne Hathaway and Sandra Bullock both wore more couture gowns by Valentino and Vera Wang respectively. All three very classy choices.
The nude and neutrals of the carpet were exceptionally sparkly. Particularly Michelle Williams in Chanel Couture. The NY Times panned the gown as a boring white Tshirt dress with white beading. However, this is consistent with William's style and I can fully appreciate it. Mandy Moore's Monique Lhuillier gown had an ethereal quality with an illusion neckline. Halle Berry's Marchesa was a standard style of dress but seemed light and pretty with almost sheer gatherings at the bottom. Halee Steinfeld was very age appropriate also in Marchesa. Harking back to Audrey Hepburn á la Roman Holiday was a great choice and at ankle length, not a fashion follower.
One of my favorites in the Red Carpet fashion pantheon is Cate Blanchett. She rarely disappoints and is always unique in her choices. Before Michelle Williams and Carey Mulligan, she was the original red carpet fashionista. This Givenchy Haute Couture was a wonderful piece of structured art. Mila Kunis found a winner with her lacy Elie Saab. A trendy choice in fabric and color. The only problem with lavender on the red carpet is that it's not an instant knock out in a photograph. Much the same was made about Christina Hendricks lavender choice at the Golden Globes two years ago. 
Metallics and the futuristic has not gone away and was equally represented at the Oscars. Annette Bening was all smiles in a Tron-inspired gown by Naeem Khan. Gwyneth Paltrow scored rave reviews all around for her gold metallic column by Calvin Klein. She was her own personal Oscarette and accented it with embellished multi gem earrings and brooch.
Natalie Portman was lovely and nice in a plum Rodarte gown. Apparently there was some controversy with her choice of Rodarte as she is currently the face of Dior and some thought she should have been wearing Dior. In her defense, Rodarte designed the ballet costumes for Black Swan and because of technicalities, they were not nominated. Another note would be that John Galliano was just accused of making anti-Semitic remarks in Paris and has been suspended from his duties at Dior. So between the two "loyalties", Portman was in a lose lose situation when it comes to those critics.