Best Dressed
Mandy Moore looked flawless in this disco-ready custom Ralph Lauren in the most delightful shade of periwinkle. Her soft curls and nude lip were the perfect complement. She looks like she's planned cocktails at Halston's apartment, followed by a night at one of Bianca Jagger's birthday parties at 54.
Yara Shahidi is just impossibly beautiful, chic, smart and elegant — so much so it's unfair. Her black Ralph Lauren jumpsuit with a train looked effortless when paired with her berry lip and glorious Diana Ross curls. Looks like she's learned a thing or two from TV mom Tracee Ellis Ross.
There are few among us who could rock a Miu Miu halter gown with a midriff of fluffy ostrich feathers, but Margot Robbie is a rare bird, indeed. The silhouette looked very glamorous from the side, and the delicate cascade of the skirt is just dreamy. She looks like Grace Kelly for the 21st century: classic with an edge.
Allison Williams appears ready to take over the Cyd Charisse role in a remake of Singing in the Rain (do NOT greenlight that, Hollywood) in this platinum Ralph & Russo gown. Every girl wants to look this classy, elegant, sexy and fun once in her life. Her burgundy lip and glowy skin were the perfect accessories for such a showstopper gown.
Grecian goddess Tracee Ellis Ross has become a master as showing off her curves. This beautifully draped Ralph & Russo gown is one of her all-time best, and utterly timeless.
Allison Janney is here to be the robot queen of the future and I'm ready for it! This quicksilver sequined disco ball of a gown by Yanina Couture was edgy, sexy and ready for its close-up when the moment came. I'm excited to see her getting so celebrated this season!
The vintage-loving, ballet-obsessed girly girl in me is a complete sucker for Madeline Brewer's pearl-covered Reem Acra gown and flawless make-up. Her rosy cheeks and red-orange lips matched perfectly to her shoes. She's incredibly beautiful but her acting roles in Orange is the New Black and The Handmaid's Tale haven't usually called for this level of glamour. This is a NOTICE ME look.
I can't get over the offbeat ease and elegance of Holly Hunter's Paule Ka gown. The rich gold, the clean lines and her breezy styling are just a master class in red carpet dressing without trying too hard.
The hostess of the evening, Kristen Bell, shined in this raspberry J. Mendel gown. An underutilized color, beautifully tailored, and impeccably accessorized = a winner in my book.
Nicole is a best dressed Hall of Famer at this point. So much so, I almost didn't recognize this hypnotic shimmery Monique Lhuillier for how beautiful it really is. It's not any one color at all — it's all of them!
Good
I don't 100% love Brie Larson's Gucci dress, but I appreciate that it's different, it's pretty and of the many floral gowns on the red carpet, it was one of the best. Her make-up is the look we should all be stealing.
Odeya Rush wasn't familiar to me at first, until I saw she played the popular girl in Lady Bird. But I have to give kudos to her for the cool architectural lines of this Dior gown. It's a bit of an awkward hemline and I'd definitely do something different with her hairdo, but I appreciate how interesting it is when she could have played it really safe.
I'm like a magpie for silver and black and leafy patterns, so I could not ignore Olivia Munn's Oscar de la Renta gown. It's event-appropriate, a little bit disco and a little bit art deco. I feel like it's a dress I could easily dislike, too...but that's the fun of fashion, no?
Lupita Nyong'o's Ralph & Russo feather-trimmed mermaid gown is obviously quite beautiful and looks luminous with her shimmery skin. For me, it was a little too been there-done that to really move me, but it's definitely lovely.
Dakota Fanning just looked like a very pretty ballerina in her delicately detailed Prada gown. Simple, elegant. It's not daring or showy, but its subtle wavy sequin lines are certainly beautiful.
I feel like this Elizabetta Franchi was one of the more glamorous gowns my girl Connie Britton has ever worn. I wish her posture was a touch better to really sell it, but she looked sexy and cool and the color feels fresh.
Not one but two actresses donned celestial gowns that made me smile. Natalia Dyer, of Stranger Things, wore this horoscope-inspired Dior gown that is a little bit distracting (sue me, but I'm definitely doing a double-take when I see a sheer bodice cup) but fun. I give her a B+ for effort.
Samira Wiley also wore the sun, moon and stars with this Tadashi Shoji gown. I think I would like it better if the straps hit the corners of her shoulders, rather than forming a halter neckline. For some reason, I didn't love the lines of the gown as a halter.
Sadie Sink, of Stranger Things, managed to pull off not one but two style challenges: dress age-appropriately without looking like a baby doll and successfully rock Chanel couture off the runway. This looks sweet and chic.
Susan Sarandon has mastered the off-the-shoulder slinky gown for the 50+ woman, and this navy Zac Posen is one of her better entries in this style canon.
When I saw Reese on the red carpet, I was delighted to see her having a little more fun with details than she's been having recently (ESPECIALLY her emerald earrings), but when I saw the actual stripe detail on this Zac Posen gown, I was a little less in love. It reminds me a little too much of a saloon girl at an Old Timey Photo Booth or a roll of Christmas gift wrap. But it's not bad!
I just like the elegant sportiness of Marisa Tomei's simple long-sleeved column gown. She is barely aging, always sexy and this seems effortlessly chic. She looks like a French chanteuse.
Close, But...
I could easily be swayed toward hating or loving Alison Brie's Dundas gown. On one hand, it's bold and interesting and seems like a perfect tribute to her character on GLOW. It's very superhero chic. On the other hand, it looks like Vegas clubwear you'd buy at a store in the mall for $25 if you needed a bachelorette dress. I think the homage to GLOW is the saving grace here.
The more I look at Saoirse Ronan's lilac-pink Louis Vuitton, the more it grows on me, but when you really examine it, there's no reason it should be working. The metallic flaps seem like something you'd see on a deep sea fish, and the tied belt is straight out of a monastery. But the color, combined with the sparkle and topped off with her gorgeous face is working just enough for me.
Vanessa Kirby plays Princess Margaret on The Crown and she seems to have internalized that woman's bad girl glamour. I love her Valentino gown, but her floppy wet blonde hair is just not achieving its intended look. It's a close-but-no-cigar attempt at messy hair that's ruining an otherwise really good ensemble.
Meh
I enjoy Greta Gerwig's fashion moxie and the studded detail of her Bottega Veneta gown is fun and different. The color is...tricky. Chartreuse is a hard color for any mere mortal, and it's especially hard to photograph accurately. I'd be interested to see if I really liked this gown in a different color.
Elisabeth Moss's slinky Adam Selman halter dress is cute and sexy, but felt a little underwhelming for such a fun night. She also tends to shy away from experimenting with color a lot and I'd love to see her in a bright blue or green when she goes to a more fashion forward event like the SAGs.
I cannot pinpoint what I don't love about Laura Linney's J. Mendel gown. I like the color, I love a good cape and normally I like a feather motif. But on TV, I couldn't tell if it was feathers or just random lines or eyelashes or what. And it's pulling and wrinkling in weird ways that mar an otherwise perfect column. It's not bad by any means...I just can't seem to get the small thrill I need to nudge it to the "best" column.
Halle Berry in sparkles and black tulle is about as expected as me showing up in black flats and a black sweater. It works, it's fine, whatever. Sometimes her trusty nude sparkles and black tulle combo is inspired and fresh. Sometimes, like this one by Pamella Roland, it seems slipshod, like someone trying to wing a cake recipe. I imagine an inner monologue like "Lemme do a nude...ok...and maybe some sequins and beads...alright...and like, tie a bunch of tulle around the back of it...ok." And then you slather some icing on your half-risen confection and just send it out the door.
On the plus side, Gina Rodriguez's Rasario dress is different, it's interesting and it hit the floral trend right on the nose. On the downside, the corset-inspired bodice seems extremely forced and the straps veer a little bit away from sexy and more toward a practical bra designed to relieve shoulder/neck strain. I think back to the corseted Dolce & Gabbana gowns of the 90s that had spaghetti-thin straps and that just feels like a slightly more refined approach (assuming your boobs can stay up with that small amount of support).
I love when tweens enjoy being tweens and, for the most part, Millie Bobby Brown's ensemble is pitch-perfect and on-trend. It struck me as being basically half the Spice Girls personas combined in one outfit, which seems right on target with the current resurgence of everything I loved when I was her age! My only quibbles are that the train seems truly tacked on and the Calvin Klein by Appointment halter gown reveals quite a bit of skin from the sides, which makes me anxious when I'm looking at a 13-year-old girl.
Worst
I've been trying to stretch my imagination to imagine a scenario in which I would not hate Sally Hawkins' hypnotic Dior jumpsuit, but I think possibly only Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie could pull this off. There's so much to dislike here that I need a bulleted list to cover all of it:
- The color scheme inspired by an afghan your grandparents had in the 70s
- The leading lines hypnotizing you into looking right at her belly — good for her that it's in good shape!
- The choir robe cut of the neckline
- The impossibly wide tent-sized culotte cut of the pants
- The styling of this INSANE outfit with the hair of a Senator's wife
- The demure red pumps disappearing into the red carpet, making her look like she's sinking into a pit of despair
Kate Hudson's "Age of Innocence" meets "Prom in 1979" Valentino is not working for me on any level. I like to think of myself as generally open-minded to most fashion, but I don't think there's any scenario in which I would see this gown and think YES. It feels especially jarring with her modern and sleek short hair, like she's starring in a Hallmark romance about a Victorian woman who had to sell her hair in order to afford medicine for her true love afflicted with cholera. Don't worry, he'll survive and she'll get to wear this to the Valentine's Day Ball.
Yvonne Strahovski's lace Ester Abner gown looks like a very formal doctor's coat mixed with a pilgrim's collar mixed with a pair of lacy curtains. The pocket placement is not ideal and the fabric darting out from the waist is just bizarre. I have a hard time imagining flipping through a rack of gown options and seeing this bridal version of a postal worker's uniform and saying, "YES! I have to wear this on one of the most fun and fashionable nights in Hollywood."
That's it for me, folks! See you here same time, same place for Grammy's fashion next week!
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