Another torrential downpour; another awards night. BAFTA stars and celebrities braved lashing rain, ankle-deep puddles and a bone-chilling wind for the Elle Style Awards at Big Sky Studios in North London last night. Minders with brollies and a canopy hastily erected outside the main door provided a brief respite as the girls in their gowns shook the raindrops from their hair. Freida Pinto, still elated after Slumdog Millionaire’s success the previous night, and recipient of Elle’s Best Actress award, wore a funky Chanel short dress with a transparent PVC yoke embellished with silk camellias. Alexa Chung, the host for the evening and winner of the Best TV Star, was also in Chanel, looking extremely sophisticated in a teal-blue, short, fitted backless dress, accessorised with a gigantic cocktail ring by Mawi, and a new upswept hairdo. “I don’t look too mumsy, do I,” she worried. No way, Alexa. Courtney Love, who was named Woman of the Year, entertained the camera crews with impersonations of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Her ‘Cruella de Vil’ black fishtail gown, worn with a little shrug encrusted with jet and black sequins, was by Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy. Roisin Murphy also played the Givenchy card, teaming her mirror-beaded top with a pair of Armand Basi grey harem pants … Mickey Rourke arrived just in time to pick up his Best Actor award and gorgeous Sienna Miller, who received the Style Icon award, made a discreet entrance, which almost fooled the photographers. She’s looking forward to the catwalk debut of Twenty8Twelve, the label she jointly runs and designs with her sister, Savannah, a Central Saint Martins graduate, and which is one of the hottest tickets for the forthcoming London Fashion Week, starting on Friday February 19th. Also joining in the Best-Dressed fun were Rolf Snoeren and Viktor Horsting, recipients of the H&M Style Visionary trophy, who dazzled in black DJs with lapels encrusted with jewels, beads and crystals, Matthew Williamson and Christopher Kane who was named best British Designer.

The Elle Style Awards are usually pretty spot on with their prizes (tho I question the wisdom of honoring Mickey Rourke for his “style” choices) … but I have absolutely NO IDEA how Courtney Love qualifies as Woman of the Year. If I recall, she only graced the mag’s pages once in the past year … and really hasn’t done anything professionally in years. Even in a ceremonial sense, awarding C. Love a prestigious award like this doesn’t make a whole lotta sense. At least, Court bothered to make the trip to the UK to collect her prize. Here are a couple pics of Courtney stumbling making her way out of the Elle Style Awards afterparty at Groucho Club early this morning:

I suppose she looks a’ight … even after a night of partying. As crazy as she seems, I do have a soft spot for Courtney Love. Sure her blogs are usually nothing more than meaningless nonsense but I am a fan of her music. I hope she still plans to release that album she was supposed to release on Jan. 1 … there’s been no news on when we might expect it, if at all. I guess we’ll have to see. In any event, Congrats goes out to Courtney and all the other award winners last night.

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]

Try as he might, I don’t think that Oliver Stone is going to be able to explain away the fact that his portrayal of GWB isn’t tinged with just a touch of his political bias. That being said, I know that there are quite a few skeletons in GWB’s closet that are ripe for the exploiting. GWB has gone on the record about his past substance abuse and I understand that that part of his life features heavily in this new film. I think it’s safe to say that fans of GWB, the man and his administration, might want to take a pass on this film as I don’t really believe it is geared for their entertainment. When it comes to Oliver Stone films, it’s kind of hit or miss for me. Some of his films are amazing, others I didn’t really care for. But I am very intrigued by this one. I know I’ll be making my way out to the theater to see this movie once it opens on Friday. Josh Brolin was superb in the Academy Award winning No Country For Old Men so I’m confident he will deliver another amazing performance. Ellen Burstyn is, IMHO, one of those unsung actresses who deserves more credit than she receives (her performance in Requiem for a Dream is stunning). I’m not sure how many of y’all are looking forward to the release of this film but I deffo am. I’m curious to see what Stone will do with the story of GWB. The tagline for the film is “based on a true story”. I can’t wait to see this truth that Oliver Stone speaks of.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

The way I understand it, the movie involves a bunch of shady folk trying to get their hands on some money put up for grabs by a Russian mobster or some such nonsense. As usual, it sounds like a Ritchie original. I will say this for the man, he really knows how to create interesting characters in his movies. The movies themselves don’t always have the kind of cohesiveness that make them great but they are generally worth seeing … well, except for his movie Swept Away, which starred his wife Madonna. That movie should not be seen by anyone, under any circumstances. And speaking of Madge, I think it was quite sporting of her to take a break from her Sticky & Sweet World Tour to come out for the movie premiere last night. She is such a good wife. Makes you feel kinda silly if you believed any of those break-up rumors, right? RocknRolla opens in theaters in early October.

[Photo credit: Splash News]