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5 Blockbuster Items From the Biggest Night in Hollywood
From Kate Winslet’s "Titanic" Oscar-nominee dress to Bradley Cooper's IWC Schaffhausen—these objects are the closest most of us will ever come to EGOT-ing.
T he first ever Academy Awards were held on 16 May 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. Tickets cost $5, dinner was served and the ceremony was over in 15 minutes. Today, it can last over 3.5 hours and doesn’t include refreshments for the attendees. In the 90+ years since the first iteration, much more has changed—red carpets have become major brand moments, acceptance speeches can be political opportunities and hosting has practically become an Olympic sport. Televised and photographed excessively, they have also become time capsules, ones that allow us to gaze nostalgically upon the culture of former eras. Lucky for us, some pieces from those time capsules occasionally come to Replica Shoes ’s allowing the public to participate in their favorite film or film-star’s history.
And, in honor of this Sunday’s awards, we’ve pulled out five of our favorite Oscar memorabilia to ever come through our doors.
Givenchy gown worn by Titanic nominee Kate Winslet
When Titanic debuted in 1997, Kate Winslet, who had already won a BAFTA for her role in Sense and Sensibility, suddenly became a global star. In 1998, she was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Rose DeWitt. For the occasion, she wore a long green gown with a matching bolero jacket designed for her by Alexander McQueen, then the lead designer at Givenchy. The emerald silk ensemble features hand-embroidered gold stitching depicting willow branches on the back and skirts and dragonflies on the shoulders. Compared to some of the other looks that year (Sharon Stone’s Gap oxford tucked into a Vera Wang skirt, Drew Barrymore with daisies in her hair) this dress was conservative, but memorable nonetheless thanks to the painstaking details. It sold for $12,700 in 2023 as part of the Fashion Icons auction in New York.
“Blame Canada” T-Shirt Worn by Robin Williams
The Oscars ceremony began featuring performances of the nominated Best Songs in the 1940s. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that spectacle really became part of the show. By the 1990s, hosts and showrunners were pulling out every single stop. Billy Crystal favored satirical medleys whilst Whoopi Goldberg became legendary for her costume-changes. One of the best moments came when Robin Williams sang “Blame Canada” the nominated song from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut during the 2000 broadcast alongside a team of backup dancers dressed as Mounties. At the culmination of the performance, he ripped off his dress shirt and dinner jacket to reveal this battery-powered t-shirt, which lit up to reveal a maple leaf with a line through it. It sold in 2018 for $1,625 as part of Creating a Stage: The Collection of Marsh and Robin Williams.
Elie Saab gown worn by Emma Stone
In the years since she became a red-carpet fixture, Emma Stone’s style has evolved from simply beautiful to occasionally avant garde and conceptual (thanks to a partnership with Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière). This dress, worn to the Oscars in 2015, is part of the former category. The chartreuse gown was custom made for her by the couturiers at Elie Saab. Though similar to a piece that walked down the runway months before, Stone and Saab smartly shifted the colour from cream to acid yellow which played stunningly against the actress’s deep red hair calling to mind a similar styling choice made by Nicole Kidman and Dior in 1997. Perhaps it’s a lucky color: it would be only two years until Stone would win her first Best Actress award (she wore Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy for that event). Elie Saab offered this gown for auction as part of the To Beirut with Love benefit auction in 2020 where it sold for £8,820.
Bette Davis’s Best Actress Oscar Statuette
In 1951, the Academy enacted a new rule regarding their statuettes: any winner (or heir of a winner) who wished to sell their statue must first offer it to the Academy for $1. However, statuettes awarded before 1951 are exempt. Which is how we came to sell Bette Davis’s 1935 Best Actress Oscar for Dangerous. The award is thought to have been a consolation prize for Davis’s loss the year before for her role in Of Human Bondage, but she would go on to win a second statue for Jezebel cementing her status as an icon of the midcentury film industry. Part of the Planet Hollywood, Selections from the Vault sale, it was ultimately purchased anonymously for $207,500. Anonymous turned out to be the director Steven Spielberg, who returned Davis’s statue to the Academy in an effort to preserve history.
IWC Schaffhausen Big Pilot Ref IW500923 worn by Bradley Cooper
The 91st award show in 2019 was a big one for Bradley Cooper. He had directed and starred in the latest remake of A Star is Born, and the film was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Actor and Best Film. It ultimately won Best Song—”Shallow,” written by Lady Gaga et al, and performed by her and Cooper in an emotional set during the ceremony. For the big night, Cooper, who had become an IWC Schaffhausen ambassador the previous year, wore a very special Big Pilot Watch. This 18K timepiece features date and power reserve complications, but, most importantly, also has an engraving on the caseback of the title character from Antoine de Saint Exupery’s The Little Prince and a quote from the book: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.” Seven days later, IWC sold the watch at auction to raise money for the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation. The Big Pilot, along with a personalized note to the winner from Cooper, sold for $75,000.
