At the 2012 Oscars, Angelina Jolie’s power stance remade her image from goth wild child to a carefully filtered filmmaker.
If you asked someone to name an iconic Angelia JolieOscar dress , you would probably get one of two answers . Though Jolie ’s been to the Oscars numerous meter — lead off when she was a childand attending with her propose father Jon Voight in 1986 — there is a pair of ensembles that has permeate the pop cultural landscape painting in a style none of her other flavour have . The first was in 2000 , when she was nominate and pull ahead for her carrying into action inGirl , Interrupted . Jolie demonstrate up in a skintight black nightie designed by Marc Bouwer , covering every inch of her body in cloth but still impart little to the imagery . Her hair’s-breadth was dyed about black-market and elongated with extensions . Most people compared her to Morticia Addams . Elvira could also ferment as a verbal description .
Years later on there ’s Jolie ’s other most renowned Oscar look . In 2000 , Jolie looked malleable , her physical structure glide across the carpeting and , notoriously , into the munition of her brother . She wait like she could droop if she wanted to , break up into liquidity . Not so in 2012 . Jolie make it in Atelier Versace , almost as if she had been cast into stone . She was the paradigm of statuesque . Her caput was erect , her arm toned , and , of course , her right leg jut out out rigidly from a thigh - high-pitched scratch . That leg became an immediate meme , affixed onto all sort of images , including the Statue of Liberty .
If Jolie in 2000 was all spontaneousness , declaring to many people ’s shock how “ in honey ” she was with her buddy , Jolie in 2012 was practice . No longer was she the goth fille talking about bear vial of Billy Bob Thornton ’s parentage around her cervix . She was a director , militant , and mother to shaver , both biological and adopted , with Brad Pitt , theotherbiggest movie star alive . They were the B. B. King and queen of this position . And she looked regal , almost waxy , like she should be in a museum .
Illustration by Montana Forbes; design by Chineme Elobuike/Thrillist
Arguably no star has exchange more radically during her time in the public centre than Angelina Jolie . When she first became famous in the late 1990s , she was known for her capriciousness . She wed Jonny Lee Miller in 1996 in rubber trouser and a T - shirt with his name written on it in rip . A1999Rolling Stoneprofileopens with her show off her tattoos and discussing her androgyny . She was , yes , the daughter of a very famous player , but she was also dangerous in a way of life few ingenues were .
Her character inGirl , Interruptedcapitalized on this . With blonde hair , she is seductive as the sociopathic greyback Winona Ryder ’s agonist meets in a psychiatric hospital in 1967 . Despite a plaster cast filled with some of the most fascinating actresses of her generation , as Lisa , Jolie is the most captivating somebody on - screen , mean and tease , yet someone to whom you ca n’t help but be draw .
Lisa was also the case of person the public assumed Angelina Jolie was at the meter : uninhibited , maybe a small unstable . And Angelina Jolie did nothing to dissuade people of that belief . On the red rug , when Tyra Banks ask her how she “ transformed herself ” for the part , she say , “ all those recondite dark secrets . I give-up the ghost into a chilling lieu and stayed there for a while . ” Which bring us to her Morticia Addams look . She looked like a harbinger of malevolent , not glory . One report deemed the outfit “ weird but memorable ” ; another scream her a “ fashion dupe . ”
Bratt Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the 2012 Oscars.|Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty Images
Her outfit was unusual , but not shameful . Whatwasscandalous was the fact that she seemed intent on professing her dearest for her brother , which culminate in a kiss at theVanity Fairparty follow the ceremonial . In photos from the event it see like they were earn out , which was n’t really the display case .
“ Angelina had a report as a rebellious untried actress , so I believe the buss was seen in linguistic context of her being a bit of a wild child , ” Hollywood Life founderBonnie Fuller toldBustlefor an unwritten history of that present moment . “ Apparently , it was a very quick kiss — which you ca n’t severalise by looking at the photo . ” The combination of the look and the candy kiss mark Jolie as an incestuous sexpot obsessed with blood .
But Jolie speedily originate to germinate her ikon . A twelvemonth after her Oscar winshe became a UN Goodwill embassador . The following year she adopted her first child , Maddox , from Cambodia , the body politic where she focused the majority of her humanitarian attentions . Her relationship with Pitt started as a rumored affair when he was still married to Jennifer Aniston , but by the time 2012 rolled around that felt to many like ancient story . Pitt and Jolie were not yet wed , but he had become a effectual parent to her adopted small fry , and they had had three of their own together . She was slow down down her appearance in films , transitioning into study as a director . The previous year she wrote and directed her first feature , In the Land of rakehell and Honey . It did n’t make a mark at the Oscars , but it had sack up a Golden Globe nominating address for Best Foreign Language Film .
In some ways , the 2012 Oscars were her debut not as an actress , but as a filmmaker , strain to tell stories about warfare - tear country . She by and by explainedthat she chose the Versace gown because it was more well-heeled than her other option . It ’s funny reasoning because Jolie did n’t bet very comfortable . She was invariably posing . Though “ showing leg ” can often be aphrodisiacal , in this case it was n’t . It almost feel obligatory . Even baring skin , she feel guarded . The stance was less one of seduction than one of power , as if she could wield that branch at any second and step on your neck opening .
In 12 years ’ time , Jolie run from a woman whose lack of filter was one of her defining feature to someone who seemed like she was all filter . She start as a raging card who would ejaculate out whatever was on her intellect , wearing a getup that looked like every kid ’s approximation of someone scary . She end up as a matron , fiercely protective of her image , never a hair , or leg , out of berth .
