It's telling that so many at Wednesday night's QVC's pre-Oscar 'The Buzz Event' -- including Kim Kardashian and Molly Sims -- chose Angelina Jolie as the celebrity they most wanted to watch at the Academy Awards.
Earlier yesterday -- hours before the red carpet walk -- E! hosts were entreating, "Where's Angelina?" Kelly Osborne calls her "Queen Angelina." Lives of Style unofficially polled some "noteworthies" for their #1 pick -- and it's Angelina again.
Thespian and directorial talents notwithstanding, Jolie in recent years has proven to be a leading light in the style arena. She's almost singlehandedly -- along with a small cadre of others -- brought back old-time, glamorous, enthralling, bigger-than-life star-wattage to Hollywood "style-dom."
It's an anomaly since Jolie often chooses long-sleeved, even conservative, dresses -- although she rocked Atelier Versace at the Golden Globes, stole the show in Romona Keveza at the premier of In The Land of Blood and Honey and shone twice in Jenny Packham -- but it works in that she walks, talks, stands, smiles, speaks and frankly, just "presents" like a big-time movie star. Did you see Brad Pitt grin and nod when his partner sailed onto the proscenium at the Golden Globes? She "owned the stage."
Jolie has an "It" factor that has been passed down from style-divas like Elizabeth Taylor -- who certainly knew how to make an entrance in her day -- and before that Greta Garbo -- nicknamed "the face." In fact, old-time movie stars were well aware that they had an impact by their very persona, and cultivated more distant, distinct, unknowable, elusive public encounters than approachable stars of today.
Jolie -- one of the most physically beautiful women in the world -- has wrapped up mesmeric attention, but it's her style standard -- her decisions about hair, make-up, gowns, accessories and how to make an entrance -- that has made acolytes of a number of Hollywood's famous names.
Here are 7 of Jolie's sensational style strategies that, if other celebrities would follow her lead, would rev up the glamour and elegance of the Oscars:
1. Get the framing right. Big, luxurious hair or "pulled-back-for-drama" upsweep -- make it fit with the silhouette of the dress.
2. You CAN play up both eyes and lips -- Angelina's gone for both smoky eyes and bright lips.
3. Less is more. Let star-wattage speak. Angelina never piles on extraneous jewelry.
4. Always stand up straight -- posture dips not allowed; head and chin elevated-look slightly down for pics; walk regally -- pace it. Move like a star -- even climbing stairs.
5. Look composed. Smile serenely at the crowd -- and hold up a hand to wave; smile only at key moments during an interview.
6. Be elusive -- don't reveal too much. Keep conversations warm and succinct. Every interviewer wants a scoop -- it's not your job to give it to them.
7. Own -- don't "vamp on" -- the red carpet. Don't do the "starlet-two-hands-on-the-hips" red-carpet move. Keep hands near hips with palms turned softly inward.
Finally -- only Angelina can be Angelina -- and she does it well. Celebs would do best to be themselves and know that a great look is only half of a winning appearance -- you have to know how to work it.
