Womens Shoes

The Champagne is flowing, the stylists are overbooked, and everyone's feathers are in a ruffle—it's Oscars week in Hollywood. "I think some people should sweat it a lot more and some people a lot less," Paul Haggis mused last night at a cocktail party for Artists for Peace and Justice, his charity dedicated to relief for Haiti. "No, that's a lie," he added. "No one should sweat it more." With support from co-sponsors Brioni and Vanity Fair, the Crash director was trying to help a starry crowd (including Diane Lane, Kristen Bell, and Jon Hamm) at the Beverly Hills Hotel put their minds elsewhere, if only for a conscientious moment. "I forget it's awards season," said Maria Bello, who's visited the devastated country twice since the earthquake. "Haiti's the most important thing going on in the world right now."

Having recently done his part, in the form of a $250,000 sponsorship of a Haitian school, Gerard Butler was mentally preparing himself for "a lot of events, a lot of awards ceremonies, a lot of fittings." He'd noticed a shift in the movie crowd's mood this week, he added. "There's anticipation and dread."

Butler, who's not in the running, is almost certainly feeling less of that than James Cameron is, but the Avatar director pushed his Oscar anxieties aside to promote alternative energy later that evening at a Global Green USA fundraiser. "I've been clamoring about this for a while," he said on the carpet, then headed upstairs into Avalon, where he held court in an alcove directly across from one occupied by Jessica Alba. The actress made an early exit—"I'm not so cool, I'm old, I have a kid," she explained, smiling—but Cameron stayed on past midnight to chat with friends and fans. Talk about wind power.

"It's like Hollywood prom." That wasn't Precious star Gabourey Sidibe's best line on the red carpet (more on that later), but she delivered it in two separate interviews. Well, Sidibe (who positively glowed in navy Grecian-draped Marchesa) was half right. It's a metaphor that rings true for attendees—the nerves, the limos—but for the rest of us, the Oscars is, of course, the Super Bowl of Fashion.

The effect of the red carpet as spectator sport is debatable, but its ascendance has coincided with the ever-increasing number of safe looks each year that leave fashion fans just a bit cold. This time, there was a sea of icy, neutral hues along with always-appropriate red, gently lapping away at any chance of a truly jaw-dropping ensemble.

However, "safe" is a macro complaint. On a case by case basis, there was little to argue about regarding any of the following: Best Supporting Actress winner Mo'Nique, sleekly draped in royal blue Tadashi Shoji; fellow nominee Anna Kendrick in a pale blush Elie Saab confection; or Kristen Stewart, pretty and smiling, in a midnight blue strapless Monique Lhuillier gown. Nor could you really quibble with the straightforward siren glamour of Best Actress winner Sandra Bullock in a lace-topped, liquid silver beaded Marchesa dress paired with red lips and Veronica Lake hair.

Those that gambled by upping the fashion quotient did just that. One of several haute couture frocks, Zoe Saldana's frothy-hemmed Givenchy gown didn't fully translate its runway sizzle. Charlize Theron's Christian Dior column, a couture look that was custom-made for her, had two rosettes of lilac satin atop the bust that were head-scratchingly distracting. Sarah Jessica Parker and Diane Kruger fared better in Chanel, as did Amanda Seyfried and Jennifer Lopez in Armani Privé, and Demi Moore in Atelier Versace.

One of the best looks of the night was a lovely Carey Mulligan in strapless black satin Prada, its bodice encrusted with chunks of black Swarovski crystal. It curved up slightly in front, which reduced the heavy, gown-y effect that was a common ailment on the carpet. (Penélope Cruz looked gorge from the waist up in her wine Donna Karan Couture, but seemed to be drowning in the ball skirt.) Mulligan's pixie 'do also gave the look a fresh, youthful spirit. Miley Cyrus, take note! Another highlight was Meryl Streep, who looked perfectly breezy and at ease in her softly draped white jersey dress by Chris March, the onetime Project Runway contender who also dressed her for the Golden Globes.

Still, those longing for a major fashion moment had to content themselves by marveling at the perfect stubble of Tom Ford (who dressed hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, along with a bevy of A-list males) and his spontaneous shout-out to Donatella Versace. "Donatella's great and you look gorgeous!" Ford said after running into an Atelier Versace-clad Elizabeth Banks in a carpet traffic jam.

"If fashion was porn, this is the money shot," said Sidibe, quite memorably, of her dress. Actually, the night's top moment was yet to arrive: That would be when the brilliant Hurt Locker helmer Kathryn Bigelow, in Yves Saint Laurent, accepted her award for Best Director, the first female winner in Academy Awards history. We've been hearing a lot about the "power woman" on the runways this season. Here at last was the real deal.

See a list of the Academy Award winners >

David Yurman's international efforts have been at full force in the past few years, taking the American brand to China, Korea, and, as of Monday night's shop opening at the Printemps department store in Paris, to Europe. To help celebrate, a whole smattering of international fashion fans came out to show their support, from the Far East (actress Fan Bingbing) to the East Coast (photographer Peter Lindbergh). But David Yurman's favorite person? Catherine Deneuve. "You can't get much more French than that!" The Yurmans' welcome to France wasn't entirely smooth sailing: Soon after landing, both David and his wife, Sybil, who founded the company three decades ago not long after marrying, got the flu, leaving them bedridden for much of the night. But with son Evan now taking over more and more of the business, the slack was picked up. And in addition to her son, Sybil had a little local help. "Tonight I've given myself an additional prescription: macarons," she said, munching on some of the goodies brought in from Ladurée.

From one side of the Seine to the other, the store party circuit continued. Pete Doherty, a man who's had a well-publicized dalliance or two with some of fashion's favorite faces, was playing a gig to celebrate the refurbishment of the Joseph store on Paris' Avenue Montaigne. The singer, who accessorized his look with some Chanel pins, hasn't lost his onstage charisma. "I definitely see it: He looks so boyish, and he's such a romantic. All his songs are about a girl," said Tatiana Santo Domingo, who had squeezed near the front with friends Eugenie Niarchos and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld. "Although you should take him home and put him in the bath first," came a reply. Also appreciative was Suzy Menkes, standing smack-dab in front with a big smile on her face. "He was splendid," she said. (Apparently, the International Herald Tribune fashion critic has been bitten by the live-music bug and is even thinking of hitting the festivals. "I asked her to come to Burning Man with me this year, and she said she would come if my grandmother did," Margherita Missoni revealed. "Well, my grandmother said yes!") After the concert, Doherty and co. moved upstairs. "We're going up for some cocktails, cakes, and guitar," his pal Irina Lazareanu said. "My three favorite things."