Sarah Polley

Sarah Polley, whose film “Women Talking” is up for two Oscars on Sunday night, has had a complicated relationship with fame. This awards season, she's ...

[Cannes](https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2022/05/16/highlights-from-cannes-where-theyre-ready-to-party-once-again.html) on the red carpet as a jury member. There will be much fashion and spectacle to ogle on the red carpet, trends to be set and best and worst prizes to be awarded. This was around the time she had just finished her first directorial feature, “Away From Her.” She [ told ](https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/05/16/sarah_polleys_big_prize.html)The Star’s Peter Howell how she was beginning to adapt to red carpet life, bringing along work by Canadian designers as she still does today. She famously objected loudly to Vanity Fair crediting an advertiser, Tommy Hilfiger, with the vintage jacket she wore in a photo for the magazine. She has also been travelling with Toronto hairdresser [Kristjan Hayden ](https://www.instagram.com/hairbykristjan/?hl=en)to keep up with all the photo calls. (This was back in 1999: magazines used to credit advertisers routinely for things they did not provide, as a sort of a bonus thank you.) Polley told the New York Times, “I’ll sell the movie, but I won’t help sell Versace or Calvin Klein or smear makeup on my face.” There are many ways to dress up for awards shows, from the sexy to the outlandish, from avant-garde to Old Hollywood. [awards season](https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/oscars.html) wardrobe. A red carpet, after all, is a place to draw attention to the project a creative is promoting. This particular silhouette was all about the power in subtlety — the exposed shoulder, the asymmetrical seamed detailing in the skirt, the contrast between matte and sheen. Polley remains firmly committed to flat shoes, and in many cases this season, chunky combat-style boots. Polley, who lives with her family in Toronto, has been back and forth to Los Angeles a lot this year.