Tom Julian has one of the cooler jobs in advertising: fashion-trend analyst. He worked in that role at Fallon for years, and this month he joined McCann Erickson as “strategic director of trends.” Traditionally, his job has involved such hard labor as jetting off to Florence, Italy, to see new lines of clothing; to Sundance to get the latest buzz on indie films; and to L.A. for a week of Oscar parties and red-carpet interviews with celebrities like Julia Roberts. This is Julian’s 11th year as fashion analyst for the Academy Awards’ official Web site, Oscar.com. Kathleen Sampey chats with Julian in this week’s Adweek. Here’s an excerpt: “Q. What has been your most surprising or interesting red-carpet experience at the Oscars? A. My [favorite] moment of the entire 12 years of being on the red carpet was my Sophia Loren moment. There is nothing like a classy individual who truly represents style, elegance, distinction and personality and does it with such grace and aplomb. Everyone thinks it's very glamorous. You’re literally standing in a 2-by-2 square with photographers hitting you over the head, behind a fence where you’re trying to talk to someone and you can’t hear them. There’s just those [Sophia Loren] moments when it’s really worth it.” Then, presumably, there are the Jessica Simpson moments.

—Posted by Tim Nudd