Can anyone identify this woman in the Oscars audience? Or her dress?

March 1, 2017 4:35 AM

In the audience at this year's Oscars ceremony was a woman I would like to identify -- or at least the dress she was wearing! The dress in question was blue, with horizontal stripes of white/cream lace and large sleeves trimmed with the same lace. She had light brown hair pulled back and gold hoop earrings, and appeared to be accompanied by a young boy with brown hair wearing a tuxedo. She was primarily visible in the opening song/dance from Justin Timberlake, during which she was (at least part of the time) standing in front of Ryan Gosling.

You can see the dress most clearly for the first time at 0:41 (screencap linked above) and her with the boy at 1:43 (screencap); they also turn up in the background at 2:38. I have looked through many collections of pictures of Oscar attendees' dresses and not found her. (I hope very much this does not come off as creepy! I realise she may not actually be famous; in any case, my interest in identifying her comes second to my interest in identifying her dress.)

posted by jeudi to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (10 answers total)

I think she's a seat filler. In the Hollywood Tour Bus bit (Hulu), you can see that Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux are sitting in the seats directly behind Ryan Gosling.

My best, non-educated guess is that the dress is vintage. Good luck in tracking it down!
posted by donajo at 5:48 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Found her on the red carpet! Seems to be a family member of the woman in the white dress, who is apparently famous enough to get her own photo but IDK who she is. Hope this helps a bit!
posted by Sweetie Darling at 5:51 AM on March 1, 2017 [7 favorites]

Looks like the woman in the white dress is Chief Executive Officer of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Dawn Hudson.
posted by brilliantine at 6:27 AM on March 1, 2017 [4 favorites]

Here is a bigger version of the image Sweetie Darling identified. Dawn Hudson's @oscars.org email address is easily findable via the Sony hack; I'm not sure whether it's meant to be public and whether contacting her to ask about the dress would be appropriate.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 6:51 AM on March 1, 2017

I think contacting her to find out about her dress is just fine. You can go through the Academy direct if emailing her seems weird. Is this person on social media? You could also try that.

This is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. No worries.
posted by jbenben at 6:59 AM on March 1, 2017

Wait. I thought blue dress woman was Dawn Hudson. Nope! I don't think you can contact to ask about the dress of her guest!!

Find a fashion forum and maybe post this question there?
posted by jbenben at 7:04 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It looks like it's at least based on a vintage Mexican wedding dress style. You may be able to find something like it by searching for that.
posted by ch1x0r at 7:32 AM on March 1, 2017 [4 favorites]

Maybe tweet the photo to Tom & Lorenzo or the Fug Girls? Maybe Dawn Hudson's assistant(s) are active on social media. Or the girl, for that matter.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 7:48 AM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]

I have this dress in red lace. I bought it in the early 90's in Texas in a quinceanera shop. So I echo chi1x0r's advice.
posted by crush-onastick at 12:36 PM on March 1, 2017

Response by poster: Thanks for all your help! You have already helped me get much further than I was expecting. Sweetie Darling, I am impressed and so glad you managed to find that picture! I would never have thought to check Getty Images. Meanwhile, I haven't been able to find the specific dress yet, but ch1x0r and crush-onastick have helped point me in the right direction.
posted by jeudi at 4:28 AM on March 2, 2017