Does Jennifer Hudson Ever Sleep?

The woman is tireless! Like the award season's Energizer Bunny, Jennifer Hudson rallied after her Screen Actors Guild best actress win Sunday night and headed up to Santa Barbara for Monday's SBIFF homage to her Oscar-snubbed "Dreamgirls" director Bill Condon, who was presented with the fest's Montecito Award. And Jennifer looked even hotter than she did at the SAGs in a black Escada  lacy gown. Work, it girl!

Photo Credits: Jennifer just keeps going and going and going to awards shows. But it will all stop on Feb 25. Right?
Ray Mickshaw/WireImage

At the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's runway show of unforgettable Oscar style moments yesterday, I asked Marvin Levy, Steven Spielberg's spokesman and longtime Academy board member, who has certainly seen a lot of Oscar shows in his life, to name his favorite gown.   I expected to hear a fond memory of  Elizabeth Taylor, Natalie Wood, Audrey Hepburn. 
"My favorite dress in recent Oscar fashion history? Oh, that singer.. what was her name... The one who wore that dress that looked like a bird." Bjork? "Yeah, that's the one."
Levy's not the only one who fondly recalls Bjork's bird-brained idea. Turns out Oscar producer Laura Ziskin and  Vogue's Andre Leon Talley desperately wanted to feature the swan gown in the show. But their request for the fine feathered frock was turned down by Bjork's camp. What other gowns did they want but not get? You'll be surprised.

Expect to see a lot more of Andre Leon Talley on the big O day. Laura Ziskin, 79th Academy Awards producer, announced at the Celebration of Oscar Fashion show this morning that  the Vogue editor-at-large  will be the voice of fashion for "Road to the Oscars," the Oscar red carpet arrivals segment. Ziskin said Talley would be one of four commentators tapped to co-host the pre-show. Natch, Talley's comments will focus on red carpet fashions and will likely make actresses quiver with anticipation over his reviews. But fear not. For he will probably be gushingly reverent, not irreverent, intrusive, insulting or overtly obscene, the way Isaac Mizrahi was for his E! network fashion coverage. Touching actresses breasts. Dear Lord, what was he thinking?

"You can bet that you will be hearing something other than "Who are you wearing?," Ziskin promised. Indeed. Talley is such an international fashion universe insider, he will know a gown's designer from 10 paces. He was responsible for historic Oscar gowns such as Nicole Kidman's absinthe green John Galliano gown and he just decked out Jennifer Hudson for her Golden Globes night. In addition to being Vogue's editor-at-large, Talley pens the rag mag's "Life with André" column -- a witty and completely self-obsessed (but in a good Dominick Dunne kinda way) account of his exploits in the fashion world which began at Vogue in 1983 as fashion news director, then creative director from '88 to '95. "Road to the Oscars" will air on Feb. 25 on ABC, right before the live Oscar telecast. Definitely Tivo-worthy.

Photo Credits: Andre, Laurie and several of today's Oscar fashion show models, including one -- just to the right of Andre's grin -- wearing Cher's Bob Mackie Oscar gown. For anyone dying to see the back of this gown worn to pick up her "Moonstruck" Oscar, keep reading ...
Courtesy of AMPAS

Here's a few sneak peeks taken before the Oscar retrospective fashion show at the Academy today, curated by Vogue's Andre Leon Talley. Inside the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Paul Starr's makeup artists and Mark Townsend's crack team of hair stylists were busy all morning getting the models prepped for the 10 a.m. show attended by fashionistas, stylists, costume designers, jewelers, shoe makers, fashion press and held downstairs in the lobby.

Starr focused on the smoky defined eyes and gave a subdued lip to all the models who would wear the vintage Oscar gowns worn by Oscar winners and presenters Cher, Mitzi Gaynor, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand, Faye Dunaway, Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johansson, Rene Zellweger, Hilary Swank and Jennifer Garner.

Townsend used his client Cate Blanchett's very modern low chignon -- he did her hair in this style for the Screen Actors Guild Awards -- as the  template for all the model's hair. Here's the Oscar hair diagram.Warning: this is for professional hairstylists only. Don't try this at home. And for a look at the faaaaabulous finale of the show...

Why does Tom Cruise love his New Best Friend Will Smith? Because he's funny! When over-the-top Will acts silly, it's amusing, not embarrassing. Like here on the SAG carpet presenting the new Jada Pinkett-Smith life-size scowling wife Barbie doll. If Tom did this with Katie, it just wouldn't work. Comedy is about proportions. Tom is shorter than Katie so he would  have to be the mini-husband Ken doll, see, and he wouldn't get it. Just wouldn't get it. Maybe if Tom hangs out with Will more, like he did at the Santa Barbara Festival on Saturday, some of Will's comedic timing will rub off on him.

Photo Credits: Voila! My creation! Will jokes with Jada at the SAGs Sunday. The couple spent Saturday night up in Santa Barbara at the film festival where Will was presented with his Modern Master award by their NBSF (new best scientologist friend) Tom Cruise. "Honey, it's Tom calling. Yes, again. I know, I know.  I'll tell him you're busy. Hey, Tom.. Yeah, no, Will's not home. Yeah, Saturday night was so fun. Thanks again for presenting. I'll have him call you when he gets home."   
Dan McMedan/WireImage

How far would you travel to find the perfect Golden Globes dress? Cate Blanchett was fitted for her Screen Actors Guild Armani Prive shimmery gold gown (and possibly an Oscar gown) in Paris earlier last week by Armani himself, who flew the actress there in his private jet from New Orleans. Well worth the jet-lag, I say.
Many fashion critics are calling this the dress of the night. It certainly was one of them. But there were so many amazing gowns and so few missteps. Check out my Red Carpet Rewind fashion gallery that will go up on the site later today for more winning dresses and one or two, not so much.But Cate did look simply flawless. Even from behind, and that's not easy to do.

Now for that rear view mirror...

Sad, sad news. Angelina Jolie's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, has died of cancer. She's been battling the disease for seven years. She died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, with Jolie, her brother James Haven and Brad Pitt around her. Bertrand was just  56. A private funeral is being planned and the actress has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Women's Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai.
One cannot help but think that her mother's terminal illness contributed to Jolie's noticeably somber mood at the recent Golden Globes. Maybe now the press will lighten up. I know I speak for all her fans by expressing deepest sympathies.

Photo Credits: A beautiful Marcheline Bertrand with look-alike daughter Angelina at LAX in 1998
Ron Galella/WireImage
Cover Photo: Marcheline at the premiere of "Original Sin" in 2001.
Jim Smeal/WireImage

Enough about the "Grey's Anatomy" outing. Seemed like that was all the E! network hosts asked everyone who stopped to talk on the SAG carpet. But did any viewers catch Jamie Foxx outing Ryan Seacrest? Seriously. At the close of Ryan's chat with Jamie, the E! host complimented the "Dreamgirls" star about his.. hairline. "Everytime I see you, I am impressed with your hairline," Seacrest  gushed. "Well, thank you," said Foxx. "I have my sister to thank for it," adding what sounded like "You can gay on it." But using the magic of Tivo's rewind, what he actually said was, "You can gaze on it."

Of course, it didn't help when Seacrest then kept complimenting a fidgety Cate Blanchett on her... scent. "You smell great," he exclaimed. "It's a different fragrance than you wore at the Golden Globes. What is it?" "Deodorant?" she offered, trying to defuse the uncomfortable perfume discussion without naming a fragrance she wasn't getting a fat endorsement check for mentioning. But Ryan was unrelenting. Finally, she told him, 'It's my mother's." Bad enough that Seacrest noticed Jamie's hair line and was a little too into asking every woman what she was wearing. But noticing a girl's fragrance is different than the one she wore two weeks ago and then pressing her to name it? That could be seen by some as declaring yourself a resident of Planet Closet.

Photo Credits: Oh, shut up about the fragrance, Seacrest. Or Cate is gonna go all Angelina on your a--.
Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage