Red Carpet: Palm Springs Film Festival
Monday, January 4, 2016 at 1:33PM
Jose in Alicia Vikander, Brie Larson, Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren, Red Carpet Lineup, Rooney Mara, Saoirse Ronan

Jose here with great news. Apparently Cate Blanchett decided to listen to my prayers (yes, I pray to her) and - after a good, but slightly underwhelming fashion run - finally went back to wowing us. She is the epitome of Kate Hepburn-effortless-glamour in a sky-hued Marc Jacobs gown, with a stunning gold applique-Rorschach-test that screams "Awards season Queen is here, biatches" (And screams it right in other celebrities ears. See tweets from Carol's genius screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, Cate's Best Actress competition Brie Larson and images of Rooney Mara, too.)

Cate was benevolent enough to also let Alicia Vikander out of her leathery/earthy Louis Vuitton curse, and allow her to wear a delicious Erdem gown that's the most playful we've seen her yet. My usual quandary with Vikander comes in her usually meh choice of footwear, which always seem to be inspired by Charlotte York. Ooh, interesting game here, which of these ladies whould be which Sex and the City character? Dame Helen is of course the Samantha, in yet another elegantly sexy design by Alberta Ferreti. The lovely Saoirse Ronan in a multicolored/multipattern Duro Olowu is all kinds of perfect and age appropriate.

Less impressive, yawn inducing even, are potential Oscar winners Rooney Mara and Brie Larson, both of whom exist only within the confinements of an "if it ain't broken" universe. They're both beautiful, but I bet I could have found any picture of any other ceremony they've attended, inserted it here, and fooled everyone. Mara is in Lanvin, Larson in Jason Wu. Just a thought, would their styles become slightly more exciting if we Freaky Friday-ed them? It's about time Rooney did some more color, and Larson put her hair in a bun, or anything other than her usual pulled back, wet look

How would you improve these two soon-to-be awards season fixtures? 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
See website for complete article licensing information.