The Most Badass Tilda Swinton Outfit at the Oscars Wasn't Worn by Tilda Swinton
Following the night's trend of mislabeling stars on the red carpet, the hosts of E!'s Live From the Red Carpet — along with much of Twitter — erupted as Tilda Swinton made her way to the Oscars red carpet Sunday evening.
Except, well, it wasn't Swinton. It was Carol and Cinderella costume designer and nominee Sandy Powell, her fiery red hair and baller suit making them all mistake her for Swinton.
Swinton, it should be noted, hasn't been a redhead since 2010. Swinton, it should also be noted, had not arrived at Sunday's Oscars at the time. Also, Swinton is by far the only famous Hollywood female capable of rocking a David Bowie-like suit.
E! mistook nominee Sandy Powell for Tilda Swinton and proceeded to talk about it for like 5 mins #Oscars pic.twitter.com/E5T1a2cmtB
SO exciting to see Tilda Swinton take our advice to wear pajamas to a party seriously http://bit.ly/1RNoZDl
There is never really anything ever innovated on the carpet besides people like Tilda Swinton, Gaga and few others. #Oscars
this E! panel just spent 20 min talking about a pic of someone from the BACK they thought was Tilda Swinton but is not Tilda Swinton
Tilda in full on Bowie drag! #Oscars
For reference, this is Powell, a 12-time Oscar nominee and three-time winner, at Sunday's 88th Academy Awards red carpet:
And this is Swinton, at the 60th Berlinale Film Festival in 2010:
And for what it's worth, this is Lady Gaga at the 58th annual Grammy Awards — not Swinton, and not Powell:
The first lesson here is an easy one: Not all redheads on red carpets wearing bold menswear are Tilda Swinton. The second lesson: We have serious respect — and a place on our best-dressed list — for Sandy Powell.