This week marks two decades since Hollywood served up one of its worst-received red carpets of all time. On a night of big wins for “A Beautiful Mind” and the first “Lord of the Rings,” 2002’s Academy Awards were — in true Y2K style — awash with spaghetti straps, visible midriffs and shapeless eveningwear.
At the time, former Cosmopolitan editor Marcelle d’Argy Smith branded it a “night of fashion blunders,” before calling out several stars for their efforts. Julia Roberts, in a black Armani gown, looked “boring”; Whoopi Goldberg, who hosted the ceremony dressed like a glittering peacock, brought “a kind of circus element to the proceedings”; and Barbra Streisand was “swathed” in a velvet burgundy “wrap/tent/curtain.”
More damming reviews were saved for the year’s best supporting actress, Jennifer Connelly, who opted for a dishwater-colored tulle gown and not-quite-matching scarf (a shade described by Smith as “pale dung-colored,” and by Scripps Howard…
