Monday, January 18, 2010

Golden Globes Fashion

I'm sure everyone's dying to hear the fashion opinions of a blogger who usually writes about cooking fails, but bear with me: Awards shows are my crack.

In a previous life, my goal was to become an entertainment reporter and in preparation, I read Entertainment Weekly like it was the Bible from 1994 to 2009 (I only stopped getting it because someone -- cough, sean -- didn't renew my gift subscription). I've watched the Golden Globes and the Oscars every year since at least 3rd grade, so I have a freakish institutional memory for awards shows. Also, I have a weakness for movie stars, montages, acceptance speeches and lifetime achievement awards.

All of that combined means, you can expect some awards show blather from me. But enough of that babble, onto my fashion picks!

Best Dressed

Emily Blunt, in Dolce & Gabbana, looked ethereal and delicate and pretty. The dress looked like a tutu reinterpreted as a gown and I sighed when I saw it.

I love, love, love how sparkly Anna Paquin's Alexander McQueen gown is, but her teeth always drive me insane, as does her Southern accent on True Blood.

I was so happy to see Maggie Gyllenhaal in a dress (by Roland Mouret) that not only fit, but brightened up her face and made her look elegant. She has a tendency to look dumpy, but not last night.

Penelope Cruz's Armani Prive gown seemed to capture her perfectly: the black lace is a nod to her Spanish heritage and the hair and shape recalled Rita Hayworth in Gilda. Perfect.

My girl crush Marion Cotillard looked gorgeous in a green Christian Dior dress. I loved that color; very subtle, very sexy.

Sandra Bullock looked radiant in this subtly sexy gown by Bottega Venetta. I also love that she thanked her make-up artists!

On the Fence

I just wasn't sure about Drew Barrymore's Atelier Versace gown. I liked the color, I liked the sparkle, and I can even stand the ruffle on the shoulder. But the one on the side...hm. It looked like a sparkly growth.

I dislike Chloe Sevigny on principle, so it's hard for me to support anything she wears. But this Valentino dress had beautiful movement; I just wasn't sure about the ruffles coming from the top on both sides. She looks like a manta ray.

Most Improved

Tina Fey looked adorable in this 50s-style Zac Posen dress and I loved her shoes, too. She almost always wears some boring black sheath, so it was great to see her try a different shape, a pattern and something fun.

Sean exclaimed "She looks great!" with genuine surprise when Christina Aguilera appeared in this delicate-yet-futuristic Versace gown. She looks so classy and grown-up; in recent years, she had kind of devolved into caricature of herself.

Worst Dressed

Jennifer Westfeldt, designer unknown. This dress looked like it was cobbled together by someone hoping to hit all the trends in one dress: it's black! It has a dinner plate-sized ruffle/rosette! It has lace! It's a lot of look with not a lot of focus.

I can appreciate different and avant-garde, but I don't see any merit to Julianne Moore's Balenciaga dress. It looks dumpy and the color does nothing for her.

Glee's Jayma Mays is so cute and is from my region (SWVA represent!), but I just couldn't love this Badgley Mischka dress, which looks like the top of a bridesmaid's dress combined with a spiderweb.

Jennifer Aniston: C'MON. Does she look hot? Yes. Is this a beautiful dress? Yes. But she wears black to EVERY EVENT EVER. She's a gorgeous girl with a smoking body and doesn't look her age even remotely. Black makes her look like she's in mourning.

I want to be very clear: I LOVE Christina Hendricks. I think she's the definition of a knockout and I like the shape of the Christian Siriano dress. It's very Marilyn Monroe. But the color and something about the ruffles remind me more of 80s prom dresses or something out of Madonna's early 90s videos. It seemed almost costume. I just wasn't feeling the color at all.

So there you have it. Agree? Disagree? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Take it to the comments, ya'll.

8 comments:

Bret said...

a)you left out helen mirren!! smokin
b)i hated drew. i dont understand the hip addition. it's like her ass added a guest wing.
c)i admired tina fey's dress, but i found the amount of volume and the length to be awkward together. but she is still my love.
d)jen aniston wears gold sometimes!....or navy. ha
e)i liked jayma's dress. but i liked lea's more as far as glee girls go.
f)julianne more is so stunning she can wear anything she wants. she has a free pass from me.

agreed overall though. nice work.

Amanda said...

I do not know this Christina Hendricks character, but you better believe I'm going to google her right now. Is that dangerous?

Amber said...

Amanda: Christina Hendricks is THE MOST AMAZING WOMAN on Mad Men. AMAZING.

Bret: I thought Lea Michele looked beautiful, but also looked too mature and overdressed for the occasion. I would have liked to see her be more fun, more youthful. But it suited her.

Kate said...

I mostly agree with your thoughts, especially on Drew's awful hip growth, however I completely disagree about Christina Hendricks! I think she looked stunning last night! I'm usually not one for ruffles, probably because I like Christina have HIPS, but I think she rocked that up and down the red carpet last night. Two thumbs up!

Also you left out Lea Michelle and Anna Kendrick - both ladies were simply glowing!

Amber said...

Kate, I think I addressed the Lea situation. Anna Kendrick, I thought, looked like an 80's Christmas ornament, if such a thing were possible. I just didn't love it or hate it, really.

ryburke said...

-i agree with katie on christina hendricks bc i really loved her dress but i see what you're saying about the color
-maggie gyllenhaal's dress is a very pretty color but i don't like the bottom for some reason...i don't like the shade darker it gets, it makes her look awkward and i don't think it goes with the rest of the dress.
-did you see chloe sevigny's ugly shoes too? she's a disaster. the woman i'm interning for at cynthia vincent just bought some of her boots and i was like hmm.
-i liked christina a's dress but i would have liked a different color a lot more - something that doesn't clash with her orange skin. she is beautiful though.
-and i totally agree about julianne moore's dress - i think the seam down the middle makes the whole thing fall in a weird way and look awkward. i like the idea, it just doesn't wear well.

great post!! <3

Unknown said...

i keep scrolling back up and down, looking at all these photos...is anyone else noticing this awful trend in colors? why is everyone wearing peachy-pinkish-beige? i am grossed out by these flesh-tones. dear white people, these colors do not look good on you, especially in the winter time. and Chloe Sevigny's dress, what the heck color is that, anyway? muted lavender? if it were a crayon, i would draw a morgue scene and use it to color the corpse's skin.

i agree, Christina Aguilera herself looks great...but it kind of looks like she's wearing a pair of those press-on silicone boobs, and backstage, *whoops* the top of her dress slipped down to reveal one of them, and someone was like, "hey, that's sexy!" so she went with it. yes, versace, this is what happens when you leave your fortune to an eleven year old girl who shares a name with an allergy medication.

hmm, my verification word is "turds." weird.

Kate said...

I thought you might find this article interesting from CNN entertainment:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/01/20/globes.fashion.critiques/index.html