THERE were more than 200 celebrities attending this year’s 58th Annual TV Week Logie awards, but a prominent no-show was 60 Minutes, with none of the show’s on-air team, including embattled reporter Tara Brown, attending this year’s awards.
The move comes just weeks after the program’s botched coverage of Aussie mum Sally Faulkner’s attempt to recover her children from Beirut.
Nine nominated Today show host Karl Stefanovic, a sometime reporter for the show, to accept any awards won in their nominated categories — Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report and Best News Panel or Current Affairs Program.
Old Hollywood glamour and risque lace overlay dresses were the order of the day, as female stars channelled 50s-era screen sirens — their publicists madly scurrying to make sure expensive borrowed gowns weren’t damaged, and hair wasn’t ruined, in the damp Melbourne conditions.
First to arrive on the red carpet were the Today show team, who presented the red carpet coverage for the network. Both Lisa Wilkinson and Sylvia Jeffreys opted for long, flowing gowns, with Jeffries looking stunning in her Rebecca Vallance dress.
Not long after this, last year’s Gold Logie winner Carrie Bickmore arrived, looking stunning in a custom-made sexy black lace Paolo Sebastian couture gown. Also opting for lace was Australia’s Next Top Model’s Megan Gale, while Nine’s Rebecca Judd was a standout in the style stakes with her “straight out of Cinderella” princess dress — not bad for someone four months pregnant with twins!
A special plastic canopy was erected over the red carpet, to keep stars dry as they made their way to the auditorium. But for those like Neighbours’ Olympia Valance,Postcards’ Lauren Phillips and Celebrity Apprentice star Jesinta Campbell, this would have done little to keep them warm, with their couture dresses featuring prominent lace detailing that showed plenty of flesh. Campbell admitted that her fiance, Sydney Swan’s AFL footballer Buddy Franklin, thought her outfit was too revealing.
There were loopy fashions too, with Ayden from last year’s The Block arriving wearing a pair of boardshorts, a reporter from Sydney’s Kiis FM wearing gold lame hotpants, and ex-Wiggles star Sam Moran sporting his trademark safari suit.