The best fashion show in the world each year is not on the catwalk runways of London, Paris and New York, but on the red carpet leading to the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood. Just before the Oscar Awards begins, the year's most talented and beautiful actresses become supermodels as they arrive in dazzling (or disastrous) Oscar dresses designed by the world's top couturiers. And during the three hours-plus of the Oscar Awards giving, these actresses would sashay up to the podium as guest presenters, and two of them will be crowned for their acting before the night is over. Televised live to a potential audience of one billion people - a sixth of the world's population - the Oscars Awards has long since been the most-watched single TV event every year.
From early on, Oscar nominees, especially actresses, quickly became aware of the need to dress up to the nines as what they wear would be splashed across newspapers the next day, and the Oscar fashion stakes became higher after the Academy Awards was telecast live from 1953 onwards. The first Best Actress winner, Janet Gaynor, later regretted being attired rather ordinarily. But by the 2nd Academy Awards, the Best Actress winner for 1929, Canadian-born Mary Pickford - dubbed America's Sweetheart - was stylish in a silk chiffon gown. The Oscar dress was completed with accessories that included a diamond brooch pinned to her bustline, sparkling bracelets on both arms, and three tiers of pearls around her neck.
Vintage clothes at the Oscars Awards buck the system and prove the wearer is no Oscar designer's poodle. And a parade of poodles in borrowed finery is just what the Oscar fashion industry wants to see make its compliant way down that red carpet.
The Oscars and the parties which precede and follow the ceremony have become an Oscar fashion battleground. Forget the international catwalk shows - they're small beer compared with the trench warfare of the Academy Awards.
For dress designers the Oscars are all about getting the Oscar dresses seen by an audience of millions on the backs of Hollywood's elite.
Each year, couture creators such as Versace, Armani, Valentino and Ralph Lauren battle it out to have the stars adorned in their designer dresses.
From the sleek to the flamboyant, the Oscar dresses cost thousands of pounds.
While celebrities agonized over which Oscar gown to wear to what's essentially the most important fashion show on earth, designers and jewelers went to considerable expense to ensure that each creation - at the very least - appeared to be custom made. To that end, they flew in a veritable army of tailors, seamstresses and artisans from Europe and New York for a full week prior to the Oscars, putting them up at the same hotels where they stayed themselves.
The clock to find the Oscar dress really starts ticking in mid-February, when the Oscar nominations are announced.
Fittings happen in mid-March mostly in Los Angeles but celebritis will be fitted wherever they happen to be on location, too. Also, Oscar dresses are created in November, the same time as the designs for the following fall, so the Oscars gowns are somewhat influenced by the latest runway trends.
So, why go through all this trouble for a few minutes on the red carpet?
A great picture at a great event can make a great career or break a career. Oscar collection of red carpet dresses is a serious business. The Oscars dresses are not frivolous.