Meryl Streep got her look exactly right last Saturday night when, accepting the Icon Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala, she strode to the podium in a Michael Kors ensemble combining a couture sweater shirt and black trousers. Though subsequently described as 'tapered,' Streep’s trousers appeared to be a high fashion take on tracksuit bottoms. In years gone by, her low-key garb might have seemed inappropriate for an awards season gala, like Palm Springs, which is considered crucial for contenders vying for top acting prizes, as it is the final event before the big ceremonies kick in – namely, the Golden Globe Awards, which happen this Sunday and then, the Academy Awards which, taking place on March 2nd, will draw it all to a close. But after last year’s major sartorial mishap – that is, Jennifer Lawrence tripping over the voluminous skirt of her Christian Dior haute couture gown as she made her way to the podium to claim the best actress Oscar – it seems Hollywood has had it with the overtly frou frou. Ease is the guiding word of awards season 2014. So is individuality.

Not since the 1970s – the heyday of daring Hollywood style icons like Marisa Berenson, Cher, Faye Dunaway and Liza Minnelli – has the red carpet displayed such distinctive chic. Sharp finery produced by gifted independent designers such as Antonio Berardi, Prabal Gurung and Roland Mouret, which has consistently appeared since the red carpet season kicked in, back in August, at the Venice Film Festival (where the films which qualify as awards contenders always debut), has prompted big league luxury labels to up their game and proffer inventive creations to actresses who have qualified to compete. 

A case in point is the custom-made gold lamé leopard number, above, Gucci’s Frida Giannini crafted especially for Julia Roberts to accept Palm Springs' ‘Spotlight Award’ for her role as Barbara Weston in the family drama August: Osage County. Meanwhile, celebrity stylists (fashion professionals who were once regarded with disdain by designers, mostly due to the demands many made in the past such as changing ceremonial gowns at the 11th hour), seem more accomplished than ever. And so for the first time in years the red carpet has operated as a forum for fashion change.

Lupita Nyong’o and Micaela Erlanger, her stylist, have led the way. 30-year old Nyong’o seems like a sure shot to win the best supporting actress Oscar for her breakthrough role as a Patsey, a cotton picker, in 12 Years a Slave, as she is vying for the Golden Globe and SAG award in the same category along with the BAFTA Rising Star prize (other BAFTA nominations were announced this week). Meanwhile, Erlanger is also an initiate who impressively credits a six-year stint assisting Annabel Tollman, the late stylist, as her 'most significant training' and with just one other client – Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery – she seems to be going all out for Nyong’o. 'We collaborate very well – she really understands my taste,' said Nyong’o recently of her trusted style advisor.

Since her red carpet debut at September’s Toronto International Film Festival – in a languorous Prada white jersey dress, dusted with gold sequins, Nyong’o has accomplished the unthinkable for an awards season newbie: namely, she has failed to make a fashion faux pas. The remarkable polish and sartorial finesse she has displayed brings to mind the refinement which Golden Age Hollywood fashion icons Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly exuded in their legendary 1950s heyday. Nyong’o, below, has also dominated awards season by modelling the edgy (minis by Chanel and Rodarte) and the unusual (Miu Miu’s pink polo neck cockatoo-print chemise), with groundbreaking, inspirational flair.

Until her coming, for example, no awards season contender had the guts to sport shorts on the red carpet; by turning up in a floral pair by Prada at a 12 Years a Slave Los Angeles screening back in October, Nyong’o established 'dressy casual' as the spirit defining awards season 2014. Alongside seasoned contenders Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock and Emma Thompson – who are vying for best actress awards with American Hustle, Gravity and Saving Mr. Banks, respectively – Nyong’o has also instigated the shift dress as a new red carpet staple.

The indispensable item – which once functioned strictly as a celebrity publicist’s uniform – has appeared newly glamorous thanks to this quartet of contenders. Nyong’o, for her part, has appeared in shimmering shifts with impressive results, following up her faultless turn in December (at the 12 Years... Paris premiere) in a sharp Elie Saab red shift embellished with iridescent sequins, with another shimmering sleeveless Saab stunner of pink and gold brocade which she wore in Palm Springs. Topped by a coordinating princess-style 3/4 length sleeve coat, Nyong’o’s regal entrance apparently prompted 'jaws to drop' as she swept past the paparazzi.

While Adams and Bullock have brandished forming-fitting Berardi shifts through awards season, Thompson turned up at the Los Angeles premiere of Saving Mr. Banks, in which she portrays Mary Poppins’ author P.L. Travers, in a black lace sleeveless dress by the Sydney-Australia based brother-and-sister design duo Camilla Freeman Topper and Marc Freeman. Bullock has also flaunted two dresses made Down Under by Alex Perry. Her stylist, Elizabeth Stewart, has deftly selected the couture pieces in vibrant hues to evoke Bullock’s sunny personality throughout the season. Yet the Perry frocks – like the Stella McCartney lace dress in which Bullock appeared at Gravity’s London premiere and the many Roland Mourets she has worn since Gravity’s Venice debut – were subtly sexy. This characteristic has put paid to the ‘girl next store image’ which has jeopardised Bullock’s fashion credibility in the past. So have the ankle strap stilettos which she has made her red carpet signature, seemingly because they accentuate her shapely legs.

Cate Blanchett – said to be Bullock’s main competitor to win the best actress Golden Globe and the Oscar (should they be nominated) with her critically acclaimed portrayal of the title character in Woody Allen’s drama Blue Jasmine – has looked her best promoting the film in streamlined attire such as the Givenchy black strapless jumpsuit in which she recently appeared at the Dubai International Film Festival and her Sydney premiere gown of tangerine washed silk by Roksanda Ilincic. Blanchett has been known as the red carpet’s best dressed actress since she received her first slew of award nominations for her starring role in 1998’s Elizabeth. This year Bullock and Nyong’o have challenged her reign. Blanchett has had a few misses. Nevertheless, she get points for brandishing the experimental and, with three major ceremonies to go – not to mention a host of events promoting her knockout performance – it is unlikely she’ll disappoint on the big nights up ahead. So stay tuned.

Bronwyn Cosgrave is the author of Made For Each Other, Fashion and the Academy Awards (Bloomsbury), the first fashion history of the Oscars.

Click the gallery below for a dissection of Lupita Nyong'o's red carpet rise to fame over the past twelve months