Sunday, January 11, 2009

Best, Meh, and Worst: The Golden Globes

I love the Golden Globes -- so much more relaxed than the Oscars, so much more legitimate than the SAG Awards. All the talent is drunk, and they have to hire tuxedoed men to escort tipsy actresses in heels up the marble stairs to the stage. There are no masturbatory film industry montages and no awkward, he's-usually-so-funny hosts (I'm looking at you, Jon Stewart).
I'm in a particularly good mood this year since Slumdog Millionaire swept (seriously, go see it), Kate Winslet won Best Actress AND Best Supporting Actress, and Mickey Rourke's cracked-out acceptance speech made me laugh, so, without further ado, I give you the best, worst, and should-have-been-better moments from this year's Golden Globe fashions.
Click on any picture to enlarge.

Best:

Kate Winslet
Good Goddamn, Kate. Sleek, polished, understated, and fierce in a very "Oh this old thing? I just threw it on" sort of way. She looks like a goddess.

Salma Hayek
It seems like it would be in poor taste to make a joke about Salma's (sigh) Golden Globes, but seriously, her curves won't quit. She's also one of the only people on the planet who can pull off this particular neutral.

Mary Louise Parker
The color is electrifying, she's well-styled, and the shape actually makes her look like she's got curves. A+.

Christina Hendricks
Everyone's favorite naughty secretary brings it. The structural neckline works in a really unusual way with her curves, and having skin and hair that perfect makes basic black look new and different.

Anna Paquin
I know there will be those who disagree with me on this, and I'll be the first to say that I don't like her blonde, but I'm having a love affair with the draping and the color of this dress. I probably would have worn a necklace with it, though.

Madeline Zima
The little girl from The Nanny grew up HOT. Unusual color -- there were a lot of dark jewel tones and neutrals on the red carpet this year -- and she looks like she just loves wearing this pretty Grecian dress.

Honorable Mention: Mindy Kaling
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fabulous Ms. Kaling, looking lovely in this understated toga-style number. Stay pretty, Mindy!


Meh:

Freida Pinto
Oh, Freida. I spent about two-thirds of Slumdog Millionaire wondering what genetic accident made her as stunning as she is, and nothing she wears, no matter how bad, is going to overshadow her beauty (just look at that smile). All the same, this is... not great. The color looks great on her, but I can't figure out the cut at all. Do better at the Oscars, Freida.

January Jones
Another instance of great color, bad cut. This particular sky blue couldn't be any more perfect on her, but the shoulder strap is weird and the dress as a whole doesn't look like it fits her correctly.

Angelina Jolie
This isn't bad, it's just boring. Angie, you're probably the most beautiful woman in the world. Were you just not trying?

Drew Barrymore
Pretty dress, Drew, but... what happened with the hair? Did you take a convertible to the red carpet?

Amanda Seyfried
A prime example of how not to do neutrals. In the thumbnail of this picture on my desktop, I actually can't tell where her skin ends and the fabric begins.


Worst:

Renee Zelleweger
What the fuck is this dress? Her bra/undershirt/thing is crooked, the cutaway shoulders look like she tore them on a doorframe, and the skirt doesn't fit. Combine that with that horrible hair and how strung out she looked when she was presenting and you've got... well, I don't even know. It's just bad. Also, she's making a fairly normal face in this picture, but in most of the other pictures from tonight she's making this truly bizarre, overly pleased-with-herself, on-some-serious-medication face. It's not pretty.

Olivia Wilde
I didn't actually know who Olivia Wilde was until just now, when I looked her up on Wikipedia. Turns out she joined the cast of House well after I stopped watching it. I will say that after seeing her in this dress, I never want to see her act in anything, ever. This thing could kindly be described as a chenille nightmare. It's a Barbie dress made out of grandma's bedspread. Also, girl needs to eat a Twinkie or three, because she's looking like she's about ready to take a bite out of the photographer.

Beyonce/Sasha Fierce
I have to say, I'm a little disappointed that Sasha Fierce didn't show up on the red carpet, because she would have been more likely to wear something that fit. This is too tight on the top -- she's holding her arms like she's worried her boobs are about to pop out, which seems to be a legitimate fear. There's extra fabric around her waist and the dress is lumpy over her hips. And did I mention the fabric is hideous?

Debra Messing
Wow. The top is fine, but from the hips down... wow. There's some awkward fabric bunching over her crotch and all that pleating along the bottom just looks straight up messy. Yuck.

Cameron Diaz
Man, I hate Cameron "Jokerface" Diaz. There's some quality about her that I can't quite put my finger on that makes me wish she'd just drop off the face of the planet. It might be different if she EVER looked good, but sadly, this... thing she's wearing is pretty typical, as is the poor styling. As Michael Kors would say, this dress is a whole lotta look, and she is not the person to pull it off. There are pleats and ties and bows in places where such things ought not to be, it's puffing out in odd ways, and I can't imagine what her left boob could possibly have done to deserve the treatment it's getting here. Go away, Cameron.

5 comments:

Alexandra Hepburn said...

Haha, I totally disagree with you on some of these. I liked Cameron, Olivia, Drew and Amanda, but I really thought Kate and Anna were on the boring side. Ah, subjective fashion!

Alisha said...

Angie's always kind of boring, but honestly, I'm sure she doesn't feel like drawing any MORE attention to herself than people already bestow on her.

Also, her shoes were great:

http://www.peoplestylewatch.com/people/static/h/package/redcarpet2009/goldenglobes/best-dressed.html?slideid=2

Alisha said...

Wow, way to fail, link.

Click here instead.

Julia York said...

I have many thoughts to share:

While Kate Winslet's dress wasn't anything extraordinary or innovative, it fit her perfectly and showed off her face and body. I like how she never lets the dress wear her.

Salma Hayek is banging, no doubt. She needs to share her stylist with Christina Hendricks-- I think our beloved Joan could have done better. It looked too stiff, and maybe was too tight at the hips. Why is she hiding her body under all that fabric?

I liked Anna Paquin's dress, too, but she really can't pull off that shade of blonde (and did she always have such an annoying gap between her teeth?).

The more I look at January Jones's dress, the more I like it. Maybe it's because she usually looks like such a mess in public and I have low expectations.

Re: Drew Barrymore's hair: She must be kidding, right?

I love Amanda Seyfried, but yeah, she should have gone with a color. So many neutral dresses! It's like all of Hollywood was washed out last night.

I would like to thank Renee Zellweger for being the fashion disaster we can all agree on.

Olivia Wilde, on the other hand, not that bad! The color and cut of the bodice is pretty, although I think she could have done something more with her hair.

Anytime that Beyonce isn't wearing hot pants, I applaud. She looked relatively normal, but still glamorous.

Finally, I really love the color of Cameron's dress, but on the whole it's a mess. Also, she shows up to every single award show with the same fucking bed head. Would it kill her to brush her hair once in a while?

Anonymous said...

Drew's hair is huge, Cameron's is un-done in a bad way and the dress is all over the place. The color of dress is great and she has a rocking body so why not do better?!
Beyonce looks downright uncomfortable, yes, like her dress might fall down.
Blake Lively's dress is too tight, Penelopes is boring, Angelina's is boring, Christina Applegate's is high school prom 80's style, the list goes on. What in God's name are these people with access to any and every dress on the planet thinking? It's unacceptable. Someone is steering them WAY wrong but they should have a voice too! Is this seriously the best they can do?
Kate--you got it right but even you could have used larger earrings to offset the simplicity of your dress but fit and overall look was as fab as the 2 globes you won! You go girl!