With the 84th Academy Awards aka The Oscars upon us – thebestof Shrewsbury wonders what are people really interested in? The film, the actors and actresses or the clothes....

On Sunday, 26 February the who’s  who of Hollywood and the world’s cinematic stage will walk down the Red Carpet in Los Angeles.

The main nominations for this year are:

Best Picture:

The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, War Horse

Actor in a Leading Role:

Demián Bichir, George Clooney, Jean Dujardin, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt

Actress in a Leading Role:

Glenn Close, Viola Davis, Rooney Mara, Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams

Directing:

The Artist, The Descendants, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, The Tree of Life

Clearly there are some multiples there and it's traditional to look to the earlier Golden Globe winners for an inkling of who could scoop a golden oscar statuette. 

This year George Clooney picked up the Best Actor in a Drama award for his role as a father in The Descendants, which also won the Best Drama Award. 

Meryl Streep won the Best Actress in a Drama award for her portrayal of our very own Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady with Michelle Williams winning Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe - the same award Monroe herself won in 1960 for her role in Some Like It Hot.

In her acceptance speech Ms Williams said: "Gosh, you know I consider myself a mother first and an actress second and the first person I want to thank is my daughter. My little girl."

Williams was referring to her six-year-old daughter with the late Australian actor Heath Ledger.

"Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for putting in my hand the same award that Marilyn Monroe herself won over 50 years ago," she added.

The entirely silent movie The Artist starring Jean Dujardin won the Best Comedy/Musical and Mr Dujardin won the Best Actor award for the same category.

Hollywood heavyweight Martin Scorsese won Best Director for children’s epic Hugo.

So that’s the films, and you can of course catch all the big hitters at Cineworld Shrewsbury.

But if you are only interested in who is wearing what, then the fashion predictions stem from Fashion Week held in London earlier this month. 

In which case, you would expect to see plenty of longer skirts, florals and big ball(sy) skirts. This season saw collections from Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen and Moschino.

If you feel inspired after watching the Oscars to get out and find some glamour of your own, then naturally our very own Shrewsbury has a wealth of unique and independent clothes shops where you are bound to pick up a bargain (compared to the red carpet). Who needs Hollywood?!