Gotham Awards: Marion Cotillard, Emily Blunt Don Tight Waists, Full Skirts

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Marion Cotillard

It's too early for dress credits from the 22nd annual Gotham Awards in New York -- considered the first "serious" awards show of the season. (Apres this one, le deluge!) And no one's around to call and ask at the moment. But we can already see a silhouette that's becoming a red carpet regular: the tight-waist, full-skirt tea-length shape/style, which Raf Simons of Christian Dior pretty much brought back into style with his first Dior couture show in the summer. It's a longer version of the fit 'n' flare trend.

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In 1947, the original Christian Dior introduced what he called "The New Look": It was just after World War II, and he heralded the possibility of using a lot of fabric again by showing a tight jacket with a peplum (the "Bar Jacket") and a full longer skirt, over the knee, but not to the floor -- that would be a ballgown. It's what we might consider now a sort of "garden party" look if it's summer. But we can definitely attribute the comeback of this style on the red carpet to Dior's new designer.

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And it certainly helps that Marion Cotillard is a regular on the awards circuit this year, as she is in Dior ads and wears Dior almost exclusively. She showed up to the Gotham Awards (where Matt Damon, Gus Van Sant, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski and many other stars were also sighted, at Cipriani) in a black sleeveless tight-bodiced dress with that full skirt that looks to have dark tulle or shredded fabric in the lower front of the dress. It seems black, but could be navy. Cotillard looks remarkably understated but elegant, with her hair pulled back very simply. We sense it's Dior, but that's unconfirmed.

And Emily Blunt is in a similar style -- a white corset-bodiced dress with open keyholes at the waist and a full tea-length skirt. Her hair is pulled back and up too -- and it's newly blonde and actually suits her. Very few brunettes transfer to blonde with such ease. Of course, her husband, Krasinski, co-wrote the new film The Promised Land, so she'll be all over the circuit pretty soon.