academy awards
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Billy Porter Wore a Gown and You Will Deal With It
The day of the 2019 Oscars, thousands of men—who I’m presuming live in their parents’ basements and holla from the passenger side of their best friend’s ride—had their already-fragile masculinity shattered when Billy Porter entered the Academy Awards resembling the black Cinderella and bibbidi-bobbidi-booed all over the red carpet. Porter, who has made it known…
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What’s Better Than the Academy Awards? The After-Party!
If the Academy Awards is the big finish to awards season, the Vanity Fair Oscar Party is the cherry on top. Despite claims to the contrary last week by the New York Times, the magazine’s annual fete is clearly still the hottest ticket in town; after a quick costume change, Hollywood celebrated the 2019 Oscars…
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The Best, the Blackest, and the Ball Gown: The 2019 Oscars Were Full of Stylish Surprises
It started with a ball gown. It may not have been an unusual choice for the red carpet of the Academy Awards, but its wearer wasn’t the usual starlet or ingenue. When Broadway and television star Billy Porter appeared wearing a black velvet ball gown with a traditional tux top, it was clear it would…
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Ruth E. Carter Forever: The Costume Designers Guild Celebrates the Black Panther Designer's Brilliance
It’s one of the smaller ceremonies of awards season, but there was big talent recognized on Tuesday night at the 21st annual Costume Designers Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. The queen of the night? Legendary designer Ruth E. Carter, who proved her three decades of influence to be ongoing…
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Queen, Meet Crown: Regina King Gets Even More Glorious this Awards Season
Fun fact: Regina King’s name literally translates to “Queen King,” Regina meaning “queen” in Latin. In case you think you think that’s a coincidence, her sister Reina’s name translates to the same, albeit in Spanish—and the two share a production company called Royal Ties. (Another fun fact: Rihanna is a derivation of Rhiannon, which is…
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Oscar-Nominated Costume Design Legend Ruth E. Carter Gets Her Flowers During New York Fashion Week Event
What makes an icon? Is it longevity? Passion? An impressive and unmatched body of work? If so, Ruth E. Carter exemplifies all of its characteristics and then some. In her decades-long career, Carter has solidified her place in black cinema as the costume designer for some of the most prolific films about the black experience…
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One Moment in Time: Only Once Have 2 Black Women Been Nominated for a Best Actress Oscar in the Same Year
Picture it: 1973, at the 45th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, attended by the most celebrated filmmakers, actors and creators in the world. Two cherished living queens in black history, Diana Ross and Cicely Tyson, sat in the audience awaiting the result as Raquel Welch and Gene Hackman rattled off the Best Actress nominees that year.…
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Kevin Hart to Host 2019 Oscars Because He Really Does Have Every Single Job Ever
In the midst of awards season nomination news, I turned to a friend and exclaimed, “Who the fuck is hosting the Oscars? They usually announce it by now.” It’s true, they do. I believe the announcement that Jimmy Kimmel was re-hosting the 2018 Oscars came sometime in May 2017. Well, it looks like The Academy…
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The Coronation of Our Queen Cicely Tyson at the 2018 Governors Awards
Last night, I had the privilege to attend the 2018 Governors Awards in Hollywood, Calif., and saw Cicely Tyson receive her honorary Oscar. She is the first black woman to ever win the honor. In a career that has spanned nearly 70 years, the 93-year-old actress has starred with some of the best and the…
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At 93, Cicely Tyson Gets Her 1st Oscar—and Danai Gurira Gets Mistaken for Viola Davis?
It was an honor more than 45 years in the making, but Cicely Tyson finally took home an Oscar on Sunday night at the 10th annual Governors Awards in Hollywood, Ca. Voted on by the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Governors Awards were created to grant honorary…