You know it’s not been a vintage red carpet when Tina Fey is amongst the best-dressed at 2011’s Screen Actors Guild Awards…
The Yays
Tina Fey in Oscar de la Renta – The days of the Great Jumpsuit Disaster of 2010, or the Great Southern Belle/Mary Poppins/Tiki Mask Boobs Disaster of 2010, are long gone. This can only mean she has a new stylist. With great taste. This intricate red lacy number is so stunning it would probably be a knock-out even on someone like Snooki, but thankfully the time when Snooki gets an invite to the SAGs hasn’t come (yet!) and Tina is knocking it out the park. The detail on this dress is A-MAZ-ING (yes, I just had a Craig Revel Horwood moment). She looks fab.
Lea Michele in Oscar de la Renta – Yes, she’s giving us diva face but with a dress like this, it’s totally deserved. A shimmering sheath of loveliness, classic but with a touch of modernity thanks to the thin gold belt. Her red carpet run since she shot to fame (have a quick perusal via the ever-fabulous Red Carpet Fashion Awards) shows she has good taste in gowns (if not always in make-up and hair styles) and this is one to file in the ‘mightily impressive’ section. Will she ever top last year’s turquoise Malandrino, though?!
January Jones in Carolina Herrera – When I first saw this, I was ready to dismiss it as another ‘Look at me! I’m not Betty Draper!’ choice, but it’s grown on me to the extent that this is actually my favourite outfit from the show. The lace-like print is unusual but beautiful, the black and gold colour combo is outstanding, the fit is flattering and feminine and Jones carries it off with an old-school grace and elegance. Joan, you just got pwned.
Heather Morris in Romona Keveza – Heather is just going from strength to strength red carpet-wise. Following her dazzling turn at this year’s Golden Globes, she continues to mine the neutral palette but with spectacular results. In the wrong hands, this could turn a bit Swan Princess wannabe, yet Morris pulls it off with charm to spare. She just looks so… pretty. Really pretty. Really REALLY pretty. I think I love her.
Julia Stiles in Monique Lhuillier – Julia turned up at the Golden Globes in an outfit that made her look like a dumpy saloon girl and looked almost as pissed about it as I was. The less than overjoyed expression is still with us yet the moonlighting as a Wild West extra is over, as this sweeping lavender cascade is just gorgeous.
Jayma Mays in Jenny Packham – Welcome back to the Jayma we all know and love, as opposed to the period-attired skeleton who showed for the Golden Globes. Gone is the spider’s snot make-up, replaced with a light fresh and peachy look, which just feels so much more right. I’m not quite sure how she’s making the red hair work with the burnt orange colour, but it looks all sorts of lovely floaty and yummy. Surely the L’Oreal contract courtesy of those lust-worthy locks is in the bad? Not sure why she’s only been allowed one angel’s wing as a sleeve though.
Kyra Sedgwick in vintage Thierry Mugler Couture – Mrs Kevin Bacon was unlucky to not be included in my Golden Globes write-up, as her mustard-coloured gown followed the time-honoured tradition of rather gorgeous mustard-coloured gowns, a code created by Michelle Williams and upheld by Diane Kruger. This dress is much less interesting but, in my opinion, even more effortlessly gorgeous. It oozes class, sass and sophistication, her figure is to die for and I want her hair. Another L’Oreal contract in the making.
Harry Shum Jr – A man! Again! Harry is included to show (yet again) how to be different and continue to get it so so right. I’m not sure many people could carry off a metallic suit, pink shirt and navy tie but he makes it look downright easy. The key? The cut is perfect (it’s amazing how many actors wander round treading on their hems, their tailors having used the height on their CVs rather than reality to measure things), the fit is perfect and the little details are all just so – the matching pocket square, the hint of shirt showing at the cuff. Good work, young sire.
Susan Sarandon in Nicole Miller – As some of you may know by now, I’m a sucker for purple (see Katy Perry, Sandra Bullock, many nail varnishes). This dress proves why. Again, it’s simple, sexy and sophisticated and there’s not much more to say than that.
In all honesty, this is a bit of a blah year, especially when you compare it with last year’s stellar showing. But just wait ‘til you see ‘The Nays’…
Through The Looking Glass 