Forget old style glamour - Oscars hair just got clever

Okay, so we're at this year's Oscars and here's the thing. As the HD cameras rolled and the movie stars swept along the red carpet, you couldn't help but clock the old-style glamour. If they'd switched to black and white, you could almost have believed it was 50 years ago and 1959, such was the silver screen nostalgia. Take the overriding hairstyle: the chignon. Whether worn off the face (Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway) or with a fringe, Hepburn style (Penelope Cruz), the classic, set, 'up-do' dominated.

I could bang on about its understated classiness, one that speaks of the kind of glamour that's acceptable in these gloomy old, down-at-heel times. Indeed, it's the Veronica Lake wave, the Grace Kelly chignon and the like, that have been filtering onto the catwalks, too. Yes, in many ways, old fashioned glamour is where things are going. But I'll stop right there.

These dos take work: think mousse, think volume spray, think blow drying, think setting tongs, think the lot. And you know what that means (aside of time)? The style stays put. And for anyone familiar with the pressure of looking flawless for hours, and at all angles, and whatever the Oscars requires of you (exhausted yet?): reliability is all. Anne Hathaway's hairdresser, Danilo sums it up (no wonder Pantene snapped him up): 'Her hair needed to be securely in place during the dance, sing and toss with host Hugh Jackman.'

Yes, red carpet hair just got practical. Because the kind of 'bed head' hair that's tyrannized erm, hair styles for way too long, just doesn't cut it. And thank heaven for that.

Just for the record, here's what I use for a bit of va-va-voom -
1. Frederic Fekkai Full Volume Shampoo and Conditioner
2. John Frieda Luxurious Volume Blow Dry Lotion
3. James Brown London Hairspray