As usual, the entertainment pages went to town describing what this and that actor and actress wore during the Academy Awards. The pages are also full of color photos showing the actresses as they walk down the red carpet.

(I’m happy Reese Witherspoon went home with the Best Actress trophy for her role in Walk the Line. I really like her since I watched her in Legally Blonde 1 and 2 and in the movies being shown on cable channels).

I never get to wear (and maybe never will) beautiful gowns crafted by the world’s greatly- paid designers. I can only admire them from afar. But hey, have you ever noticed that the actresses wore gowns that used tons of expensive fabric that covered their legs, feet and the floor but never their shoulders, chests and backs? Host Jon Stewart joked that pirates were robbing Hollywood and its denizens thus "there are not enough women here who could afford enough gown to cover their breasts."

I don’t have a quarrel with sexy dresses. If were endowed with a body like that of Uma Thurman, Jessica Alba, Jessica Knighley and Rachel Weisz (glamorous despite a 7-month pregnancy), I would flaunt my assets to the world, too.

But there’s a problem. I’d get frozen if I wear flimsy clothes that expose my back, if the temperature drops even just a little than the usual Philippine temperature. I think it’s because of my biological make-up as a woman that I get easily chilly.

Men are the more hardy of the human species (they have thicker hides) and therefore don’t feel cold easily. But hey, they have to wear those thick tux and coats.

Maybe you have watched this scene a million times: A man in coat and tie and a woman in little black (or red) dress talk in a party. The woman decides to go to the porch or the garden to catch a whiff of fresh air. The man follows. The woman closes her arms around her. The man takes off his coat and put it around the woman.

I don’t know if a mistake occurred sometime during the seven-day creation, especially around the time humankind was being fashioned out of mud cake. But then, Adam and Eve were not supposed to be concerned about fashion as they were supposed to live in a nudity garden. And then when it was time to wear something, they were on the same level of fashion – wearing figs that cover only the parts that needed covering.

In the Biblical years that followed, men and women were still on the same fashion level. They were both swathed in thick clothes from head to toe. In 2006, some people in some areas of the world still dress very much the same way as their forefathers did. Maybe worse, as the women can only show their eyes and fingertips. Maybe if they can find their way in the desert with their eyes covered, their peepers would be hidden, too.

But our culture is borrowed from the West. You know, we worship anything American.and their way of fashion – less for women, more for men – which shows even in our everyday get-up. We usually dress very much in contrary to our physical make-up. Girls and women wear little shirts, mostly sleeveless and is little enough to show their belly buttons (navel, stupid!). And their pants are built so low (I think they’re call low-rise) that their undies peep through. (Okay, your honor, sometimes I’m guilty of this fashion flux). A friend had to buy expensive, sexy underwear (Victoria’s Secret? Triumph?)

And boys and men wear big, heavy shirts and big heavy pants (which I hope they themselves wash) for casual wear. For more formal wear, it’s still coat and tie. Oh, year, they wear those sheer barong tagalong but with shirts inside.

But I think women still have an advantage over men when it comes to clothes. Men don’t really have much choice, really – coats, pants, ties - and are basically limited to black and brown. Women, on the other hand, can wear short or long gowns and can go mad on color selection.

Even in everyday wear, women can wear skirts or pants. Men can only wear pants and pants.