Happy New Year everyone.
It's time for the Fashion Watch blog to join the consolidation of my sites over at Typepad.
So head on over to the new site to check out the good, bad and downright attention-seeking of fashion in 2005.
All the archives are over there as well.
Uli
And as we head rapidly towards the close of the year, I’d like to say thanks in particular to those attention-seeking not-wearing-very-much starlets, the mere mention of whom generates many hours of amusement, not to mention visitors to this site.
In particular, to this year’s top five pervy referral generators, in chronological order:
Samantha Mumba at the Spiderman 2 premiere in her naked web “dress”;
Rebecca Twigley at the Brownlow Medal;
Serena Williams’s version of nipplegate;
Nicolette Sheridan at the AMAs; and
Nadia Borjin, making a late and very successful play at the Ocean’s Twelve premiere.
I can’t say that their flesh-baring appearances really helped their careers any though. Sheridan, who is clearly the career rejuvenation winner of this bunch, was only at the AMAs in the first place because her career was already on the upswing. But they certainly generated plenty of web traffic to this, and no doubt many other sites.
So here’s to them, and to whoever may follow in their amusingly, desperately, tackily, scantily clad footsteps in 2005.
Hey, turns out this blog is officially 1 year old today.
Frankly, it feels like longer. Which is remarkable given that for the first three months the blog was really just a place to post shorter entries and links than those over at the old incarnation of the journal. That was a failed experiment, and soon abandoned until I resurrected the site in its current form in July.
So, happy false 1st birthday.
The UK premiere of The Aviator brought out young royalty as well as the stars.
I’m generally a fan of Cate Blanchett’s style, but polka dots and ruffles?
Kate Beckinsale is clearly aware that this empire waisted style suits her, so I can’t blame her for searching it out in different colours and sparkly combinations.
Princess Beatrice looks great in green, though she should have tied the ribbon properly, but Eugenie’s dress is rather busy.
At the Meet the Fockers premiere, I really like Virginia Madsen’s gold cardigan, it highlights her colouring really well, but I’m not sure it quite goes with the silver satin top – too many metallics - and the super-faded jeans.
After being so washed-out in Firefly it still surprises me to see Summer Glau in a pretty dress and make-up.
Joely Fisher clearly couldn’t decide whether to go for glamour or casual and so she went for both, which really wasn’t a good non-decision.
Charlotte Ross had apparently exhausted at the satin and lace tops in her wardrobe at her appearances over the last couple of weeks, so she moved on to the satin and lace dress. Love her jaunty ponytail and beads though.
Blythe Danner stops just short of being vampiric in red and black.
Laura Dern hides her just-gave-birth weight well, though I think the baby may have thrown up on Ben just before they left the house.
Oh Teri Polo, no, no, no, and yet again, no.
Christine Taylor shows off a little less sternum in her lilac dress, but it would have been hard to show off more. This dress is kind of meh. Don’t love it, don’t hate it.
Sheryl Crow completes the triumvirate of please put on some weight, and she also wears an outfit which includes a vest that would be right at home in 1992.
Babs wore floaty blue-grey with furry blue-grey and carried leathery blue-grey.
The Best Dressed of 2004 - Part Two
Uma Thurman
Sure, it helps to be tall and blonde, but in a year of professional success and personal upheaval, Uma Thurman was consistently stylish, whether in jeans or ball gowns. At times classily conservative, at others risk-taking. And she clearly knows the value of a good jacket - mostly Chanel, I suspect.
In classic black with a white jacket and flower detail.
In jeans and a pink jacket at the MTV Movie Awards.
In jeans and a fitted cardigan.
In a silver trench coat.
In a wintery white coat at the Vanity Fair Oscar party.
In a fitted black satin cocktail dress with three-quarter sleeves.
In stunning lilac satin at the Golden Globes.
Again proving the value of jeans and a tweed jacket.
And in floating cream chiffon with gold accents at one of the Paycheck premieres.
Kate Moss
I know it’s a cliché to include Kate Moss on a best dressed list, but there’s a reason for that. She has an uncanny knack of throwing together odd things, picking up vintage pieces, or simply looking rock ‘n roll, and all in a way that looks comfortable. She wears the clothes, they don’t wear her, and it seems that regardless of the particular style she winds up looking fantastic when almost anyone else would look ridiculous.
In lemon and leopard print.
In floor-length midnight blue sequins.
In heavy black with heavy boots.
In white with a gunmetal sash.
Bright blue with a cream fur.
Boho meets medieval and yet still looks great.
And a black cocktail dress with feathered details.
Nicole Richie
She went from a probably under-the-influence, boob-flashing, fundamentally trashy looking minor celebrity to a consistently classy, fundamentally well dressed minor celebrity. Sure, a new stylist can work absolute miracles, but their client still has to listen and carry through the advice, and Nicole Richie did that with substantial poise in 2004.
In a Prada sundress.
In jeans and a grey top with diamonte details and beads.
Art deco champagne satin.
A sleeveless white hourglass suit and spectator heals.
In jeans and a sequin highlighted top.
In black and tan.
In an apricot flapper dress.
In a white t-shirt and green sequins.
And in a black and silver beaded dress.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie was another that seemed to get comfortable in her red carpet-walking skin in 2004. Gone are the days of the full-on goth girl and the leather clad biker chick. In their place is a mixture of glamour with a more casual attitude that seems to indicate that the rebel girl hasn’t been totally subjugated by stylists but rather just that she’s grown up a bit.
In white satin at the Oscars.
In a black trench coat and jeans.
In a tan mini-dress and gold heals.
In gold lace and the same gold heals.
In jeans and a cropped gold cardigan.
In floral satin with open-toed red shoes.
In sleeveless white at the Sky Captain premiere.
And in jeans and a leopard print trench.
Patricia Clarkson
The queen of the independent film world had much reason to hit the red carpet in 2004, what with an Oscar nomination and all. And throughout various appearances and photocalls she kept with the simple style that suits her so well, alternating between goddess gowns and simple weekend afternoon jeans as the occasion demanded (or didn’t). And she’s clearly aware that her arms are a great asset.
In a fringed black cocktail dress.
In glamorous blue and beige strapless at the Golden Globes (which, incidentally, I think were clearly the Hollywood fashion event of the year).
In simple but flattering black at the DGA Awards.
In sleeveless ice blue and black pants.
In jeans with a black shirt and leather coat.
In shimmering beige at the Oscars.
In fabulous formfitting purple at the SAG Awards.
In jeans with a hint of glamour at the Independent Spirit Awards.
In a wrap around black dress with great red shoes.
And in simple green at the Women in Hollywood lunch.
Honourable mentions go to:
Rose Byrne
Famke Janssen
Katie Holmes
and Charlize Theron
At the Guggenheim’s Young Collectors Council Artists Ball (how’s that for a mouthful), it was a mixture of young Hollywood and New York society and Mike Tyson, and overall a fashion event of a pretty good standard.
Vanessa Carlton ditched the heavy boots in favour of should have been strapless black.
Chloe Sevigny in a downright boring dress and she’s gone back to slicking down her hair again, regardless of the fact it’s the least flattering style she could wear (save that poodle perm of a couple of years back).
Karen Elson was perhaps looking for camoflage while Michael Stipe is just, well, Michael Stipe.
Christina Ricci looks fab in ruffled pink, and while I’m not a fan of the fur, at least she’s wearing it in an understated way. Alec Wek, on the other hand goes for the complete opposite.
Theodora Richards’ dress is indistinguishable from the lining of her coat, but at least she left the floppy 80s boots at home.
Lisa Airan shows off far to many ribs.
Heather Graham, if we’ve told you once we’ve told you a thousand times, you are no longer 17 and need to wear a bra. Also, that dress is insipid.
I like Natalia Vodianova’s gold top and black skirt but what the hell is with those stockings?
Infamous non-It girl Gretchen Moll in an orange dress which I suspect is more flattering from other angles.
Sally Albemarle is usually so well dressed, but those boots/chunky shoes? I don’t think so.
Famke Janssen in silver with a grey tweedy jacket.
And finally, really letting the team down, is Maria Bello in a sheer citrus dress with a half slip underneath. A full length slip would have improved this significantly. Well, as far as anything of that colour could be improved.
And to think that in recent times Venus Williams had been the more fashionably normal sister.
Dear Woman on the Tram,
I really quite liked your dusty pink three-quarter sleeve top.
However, given that the top was sheer, I suspect it was designed to be worn with a singlet or camisole under it. Not, for instance, your leopard print demi-cup bra.
Also, in regard to your bra, you may want to adjust the straps because the way the black strap was dropped off your shoulder and hanging halfway down your arm it seemed to me that you couldn't have been getting much support.
Now, I know I've already been a little critical, and it's really not intended to be malicious, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention your skirt. Or at least I think it was a skirt. It may have actually been two sarongs, a pale green one under a pastel paisley one. Either way, it wasn't particularly flattering and, frankly, I think it was designed to be worn around the pool rather than for going out and doing your Christmas shopping.
Finally, you may want to cut the washing instructions tag off your sheer dusty pink top, because pretty much everyone on the tram was clearly informed that it could only been hand washed and under no circumstances should it be put in the dryer.
Anyway, I hope your shopping expedition was successful and your have a good Christmas, but you may want to reconsider what you wear to Christmas lunch.
Uli
The Age has issued its list of Melbourne’s best dressed today and the method of selection highlights the earlier problem I had with selecting my list. There are really only two ways of doing it. Either you rely, as I did, on press coverage of events, or you include the people you know, as, effectively, The Age panel did.
Which makes it difficult to make a call about whether their choices are good, bad or indifferent. But at the same time it’s interesting to see a list come from a more diverse group.
Of those people who made the list, I know one personally, and am familiar with the style of half a dozen others – the television presenters (or their wives), the Premier and a couple of the designers – and I can see how they all made their way into consideration. They either have classic style – in the case of the men, they know how to wear a suit – or they have genuinely unique style that works well with their (public, at least) personalities. Which, I guess, is the very essence of being well dressed.
At the Sydney premiere of Blade Trinity - which was apparently attended only by two of the movie’s stars and a parade of Australian Idol cast-offs – Jessica Biel wears a dress that would have been far more at home in my mother’s suburban wardrobe circa 1980.
At the Spike TV Video Game Awards, Gabrielle Union’s purple dress is very stylish, but perhaps a tad more see-through than intended.
Bai Ling is more, if not better dressed than usual in bright green. And no, I don’t care what she has on her knees.
Michelle Rodriguez goes semi-medieval for no apparent reason.
Wow, Tara Reid in what is essentially normal jeans and a t-shirt. Colour me stunned.
At the New York premiere of The Aviator, Kate Beckinsale is somewhat dominated by her hairstyle, but I love the the colour of her silvery grey gown. The gown itself is perhaps a little mixed-up in style, and yet it works.
Cate Blanchett also looks stunning in shimery silvery white.
Josie Maran opted for an attention-getting backless slash-fronted dress that is fundamentally ugly both in cut and colour.
All the photos were too dark to get a proper look at Connie Neilsen’s dress but the mesh overlay and verging on crimped hair is heading towards “80s prom”. Cool red shoes though.
At the premiere of A Love Song for Bobby Long Scarlett Johansson matches her lipstick to her dress a little too closely.
Charlotte Ross clearly has a whole wardrobe of satin and lace tops to drag out at these events.
Apparently aiming to achieve the exact opposite of the attention most starlets are seeking by attending premieres, Jacinda Barrett wears an ill-fitting bland dress with a drab hairstyle and tries, successfully, to fade entirely into the background.