The ladies of Oscar night must have been planning these gowns for months in anticipation of this grand Hollywood ceremony.
My favorite is a tie between Jessica Alba and Penelope Cruz.
Jessica (glowing mother-to-be) in her merlot-colored Marchesa gown. The gorgeous feather bustline and demi-train gave her a goddess quality. All that was missing – a few cascading curls falling from her beautiful up-do hair style.

Penelope Cruz, also following the feather trend looked incredible in her gown. What I really loved was the way the back of her hair fell just to the top of the gown’s back. Like it was cut “just so” to start the flowing look at the top of her head down to the end of her amazing train.

Obviously the weather wasn’t cooperating (a tent was erected to keep the arriving stars dry) and the many buns and other up-do’s were probably a result of that, and that is the easy way out. The few who let their hair down, literally, had a much tougher job of achieving the soft hair look. Kudos to the loose-haired ladies!

A quick glance at other blogs and I find a lot of people bagging on the feather dresses. I love them. Especially after seeing the Fall 08 Fashion Week runway shows. There were feathers here and there.

Vote for your favorite now. Vote for best dress then view the results of our reader survey.