For her gritty role in "The Fighter," Melissa Leo had to look rough and tough as the hard-as-nails mama to Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg, but for her turn on the Oscars 2011 red carpet as a Best Supporting Actress nominee (and soon-to-be winner!), Leo was all glamour in a high-collared Marc Bouwer gown.

To balance out the structured design of the dress, hairstylist Creighton Bowman created a tousled updo to keep Leo's look young and fresh, using products from French hair-care line Leonor Greyl.

"I always start on towel-dried hair," says Bowman. "I applied Leonor Greyl Lait Luminescence, a detangling milk, on towel-dried hair -- it's a great, shiny product. It's good for blow-drying, it's good for creating that soft texture. And then it was very simple: I used their Gel à la Keratine, an alcohol-free styling gel, at her roots to create that lift she has on top. Before I put everything up, it was just a couple of drops of the Serum de Soie Sublimateur, for shine."

And to keep that updo uppity for the duration of a long night of celebrating, Bowman reveals his technique: "Keeping it up goes to putting the back up first. You part right across the top of the head from ear to ear and you take that whole back section and really slick it up tight into a high ponytail, then wrap it into a bun. Then you bring the top into it -- that way it still has a loose look, sort of like as if it's not being held up. But because the back is a separate ponytail piece, it sort of holds it really tight and really in place. Believe it or not, it was one hair tie and then it was four hairpins. That's it."


Take a look at other A-list style that reigned along the Oscars 2011 red carpet. But first, for those who can't get enough of Leo after her memorable speech, watch her before the show in the video below.