I know I'm a little late to the party (ho ho) in writing about the Costume Institute Gala from this year, but I was in a semi-aforementioned black hole for a bit, and I figure better late than never. There was some good, a lot of boooooring and quite a bit of bad.
First the good:
Karen Elson in Alexander McQueen - I love me some red hair, and this here is pretty good. This was probably my favorite look from the whole Gala. Dress, hair, makeup, and accessories
are fantastic.
Mary-Kate Olsen, in vintage Givenchy - I'm not generally crazy about the Olsens' style, but I'm liking this look. I like the red dress with all the green accessories, though it does sort of look like a kid in a grown up's dress. I wonder what it would look like on someone who wasn't quite so wee.
Saoirse Ronan, in Rodarte - More red. I loved this dress on the runway so it's cool to see someone wearing it.
Shalom Harlow, in Marchesa - I love the
quilling detail here.
Crystal Renn, in Zac Posen - The dress is very pretty, and I love the dramatic hair, it reminds me of Sean Young in Blade Runner. Also, can the industry stop trying to tell me that this chick is plus sized? Clearly that is not the case anymore.
Ginnifer Goodwin, in Topshop Unique with Van Cleef & Arpels jewels, a Kotur clutch, and Aperlaï shoes - If this were just about the fit of the dress it would sooooooooooo be in the bad category, but as an overall look I love everything here, minus the horrible fit in the bust and hips. If this were a more flattering cut in the same color she would have been my favorite look. The shoes are great, I love the jewelry and the makeup, and her hair cut is adorable.
And now the Bad . . .
Britt Maren, in Winter Kate with House of Harlow 1960 jewels - First of all, jewels? Right. Secondly, that's one sad sack of a dress there. The color on her is so blah, and the cut is so bad. The top looks like a lazily closed bathrobe, and don't get me started on the wrinkles, my god! The applique thing at the waist is confusing, why is the one side so tiny? That along with the four little chains look sort of pointless, there's no impact, it might just be better if they weren't there and it was just the one big piece. I'm just going to ignore the hair and the ugly dyed-to-match shoes sticking out down there. It's all so bad, and they both look kind of embarassed, don't they? I would be.
Christina Ricci, in Zac Posen - This looks like a Tim Burton villianess, does it not?
Elle Fanning and Dakota Fanning, both in Valentino - My problem here isn't so much that they look bad, they both look cute, but Elle is 13, and I can almost see things on her that I don't care too look at on a LITTLE GIRL.
Stella McCartney, in her own design - This dress is awkward, and quite frankly, it sort of looks like a penis. Seriously.
Vanessa Traina, in Louis Vuitton - Wednesday Adams fetish is hard look to pull off. This is so unfortunate and sad looking. This is the Costume Institute Gala, why would you want to wear something so joyless? However, I do enjoy the peter-pan collar dickey.
Doutzen Kroes, in Giambattista Valli - This is a whole lot of cheap looking blah. There is nothing exciting about this other than that there is a whole lot of skirt going on, but it looks like it's made of some yucky dotted tulle. Something interesting in the accessories department may have elevated this look to something more impressive, but I think Stella's face in the photo to the right says it all.
