Red Carpet Fashion: 2012 Grammys In Black and Gold

The 54th Annual Grammy Awards aired on CBS tonight, and while the performances were high energy, the Red Carpet Fashion were plain and underwhelming.  It is indeed unfortunate that those in the music industry tend to not have as many style moments as actors, but there were a few to stand out tonight in a good way (and by good way, we don't mean the visual representation of legendary "good girl"  Little Red Riding Hood portrayed by Nicki Minaj).

The best looks of the night had two things in common; Black and Gold.  Sexy, black dresses were paired with the sharp, clean accent of the precious metal.  Whether around Gwyneth Paltrow's waist, Alicia Keys' neck, or even Lady Gaga's disco stick, gold added the perfect touch of edge to the looks.  Rihanna, in a custom Armani gown from her collaboration with the brand, used the metallic color as a separate accessory with her bag and bracelet.

 Lady Gaga took gold to another level - as always - with a mast that makes anyone want to play a "Love Game." Gaga also drenched her nails in gold, a befitting color for the songstress who has a few gold Grammys of her own.

photos: Getty Images

Red Carpet Rundown: 2012 SAG Awards

The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards was another impressive Red Carpet this season, with a very high level of looks that brought out the beauty of each celebrity.  We saw trends of black, lace, and form-fitting dresses, with a tasteful focus on jewelry to accessorize the looks.  Marchesa had the majority of the looks, and Lorraine Schwartz brought the necessary bling for the starlets' sparkle.  Here is a recap of the Best looks from the 2012 SAG Awards Red Carpet:

Best Fashion Moments - Tilda Swinton and Zoe Saldana

Tilda Swinton -Tilda Swinton will always bring a fashion moment to the Red Carpet.  This time, she wears a very ethereal custom piece from Lanvin.

Zoe Saldana -  Zoe took a big risk wearing this high structured gown on the red carpet, but thank goodness someone took a risk!  Zoe Saldana wears a piece from the Givenchy Spring 2012 Couture Collection; a collection of pieces we just saw in Paris last week - the only thing missing is the basketball and nose ring. 

Best Dressed Ensemble - The Help
Its only a coincidence that the best Red Carpet moments were from the cast of The Help.  Not only did the Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Emma Stone win this category, the cast won Best Emsemble Cast in tonight's Awards ceremony.  Congrats!

 Viola Davis - Marchesa

Emma Stone - Alexander McQueen

Octavia Spencer - Tadashi Shoji

Best Dressed Couple - Emily Blunt and John Krasinski
Emily Blunt and John Krasinski added color to the Red Carpet; Emily in a green Oscar de la Renta gown, and John in a midnight blue Prada tuxedo. 

Designer of the Night - Jenny Packham
Jenny Packham designed looks for the most surprising and the most anticipated women in show business tonight.  Both in black, Angelina Jolie and Ashlee Simpson wowed spectators as they arrives to the SAG Awards Red Carpet. 

Sexiest Looks - Curves, skin, and natural sex appeal graces the Red Carpet tonight, with body-fitting looks donning the sexy silhouettes of these Hollywood Hotties:

Kyra Sedgewick - Emilio Pucci

Sofia Vergara - Marchesa

Naya Rivera - Naeem Khan

Amber Heard - Zac Posen

photos: Getty Images

Red Carpet Review: 2012 Golden Globes

The 69th annual Golden Globe Awards aired tonight, and it poses as the first true evidence of the glamorous Red Carpet season!  Before the sadly anti-climactic hosting performance of Ricky Gervais, and the surprising win for Octavia Spencer ( in Tadashi Shoji) and Idris Alba ( in Ozwald Boateng), we saw Hollywood's finest strut the Red Carpet in a variety of designers, many of whom the celebs couldn't pronounce.  Overall, it wasn't an exciting moment for Red Carpet, as everyone went safe with fitting gowns and over 80% of the looks were nude in color. There were some key looks that created their own moments tonight, as you will see below:

 The Best Fashion Moments of the Night:

Tilda Swinton - No surprise here.  Tilda will forever bring the art of fashion to the Red Carpet, and did not disappoint us with this look from Haider Ackermann.

Andrea Riseborough - Though she was joined at the hip with Madonna (wearing a Reem Acra gown) all night, the leading lady of W.E. made a statement in Vivienne Westwood; a designer whom we don't see enough of on the Red Carpet.

Now, for the Overall Looks on the Red Carpet

Best Dressed:

Charlize Theron - Wearing Dior Couture, Cartier jewelry, and those legs, she was worth the anticipation of gracing the Red Carpet.  

Claire Danes - For an actress who has won every Golden Globe she's been nominated for, she wins in the best dressed category for this black and white gown by J Mendel.


Worst Dressed:

Sarah Michelle Gellar - This dress looks well on a hanger, but it did not work in any regard on Buffy tonight. The volume swallowed Sarah up and she didn't have any form of appeal to draw us past the fact that the print was too bold for a Red Carpet. 

Jesse Tyler Ferguson - It is very difficult for men to be unique on the Red Carpet; the smallest choice can go so far, since there isn't much creative direction for men's formalwear.  His attempt to do velvet and two tone the look made the Modern Family Star look more like a groom than a Golden Globe assemble winner.



Close, but no Cigar:

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Together; they look stunning.  Angelina's gown is immaculate.  Brad's execution of the three-piece formal look was spot on.  So why aren't they on the Best Dressed list?  First, the red purse is way too matchy with Jolie's lips and collar detail.  Brad Pitt from waist up is sharply fitted, as you look at the pants, you see they are too long at the bottom. His biggest mistake,however, were his shoes.  Nothing beats a broken-in pair of shoes, but not on the Red Carpet.  

Honorable Mention

Nicole Kidman - Its been a long time coming, but a change has come! Nicole used to be a no-brainer when it came to being best-dressed on Red Carpets, but she has fallen from grace over the last couple seasons.  Wearing a Versace beaded gown, she shows us that she can still wow us in a positive light.

Red Carpet Review: 2011 American Music Awards

Judging from tweets and other social media channels, the 2011 American Music Awards wasn't as exciting as expected.  Aside from the AMA's being a giant Fiat commercial, and the total upset of the night when Adele didn't win artist of the year, the show had pretty regular, average performances, and even more underwhleming style.  Perhaps because the headliners we would all anticpate seeing - both musically and style-wise - were nowhre to be found.  Beyonce? Rihanna? Kanye? Lady Gaga? Thus, the Red Carpet was barren and didn't leave much to analyze.  Here is my review of the best and worst of whatever it is we saw on the AMA Red Carpet.

Read more after the jump:

Red Carpet Review: 2011 MET Gala

The Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Exhibit was presented last night at the 2011 Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The 2011 MET Gala is the night where fashion royalty, their muses, and celebrities come together to appreciate the art of fashion.


While the legacy of Alexander McQueen was truly the highlight of the MET Gala, there were of course some #winning and #losing looks on the Red Carpet.

Alexander McQueen looks were the most coveted of the night; naturally since the entire night was centered around honoring his talent and artistic provision to our generation.  From vintage dresses, to uber couture feathered works of art, the mind of McQueen, and the just-as-creative work of Sarah Burton, were featured brilliantly on the Red Carpet.

Looks from top left to bottom right

Naomi Campbell Spring 2004

Sarah Jessica Parker Fall 2005

Gisele Bundchen Fall 2005

Daphnee Guiness Spring 2011

Coco Rocha Pre-Fall 2011

Salma Hayek Spring 2011

Stella McCartney was also a big name last night, having some big names wearing her beautiful gowns.  Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rihanna, and Iman wore looks by the amazing designer that perfectly mixes the art of masculine and feminine aesthetic.  Aside from Rihanna's dry red braid and wrong shoe choice which Stella couldn't do anything about, I thought that each look was unique and fully demonstrated McCartney's genius.

Designers Tory Burch and Rachel Roy were seen paired with two gentleman with high aspirations of breaking into the fashion industry.

Kanye West looked polished (and well groomed; do you see those eyebrows?? smh) last night, opting for a safety pin to close his jacket.  Best idea of the night; I see that as becoming a trend that I may even use.

Rachel Roy looked amazing, and was coupled with Amare Stoudemire, who is working with Roy on her capsule collection for Macy's

Just three days after the Royal Wedding, we have celebs working hard to keep the London pageantry alive with looks that have too much resemblance with Kate Middleton's dress.

Fergie wants to be from London so badly; first, her name is Fergie..and now she wants to dress like Princess Katherine, the Dutchess of Cambridge.  I don't think the dress worked for her at all; Fergie needs to stick with bolder colors and sexier silhouettes.

Again, another confused celeb who thinks they are still in London.  Serena Williams should stay away from the Cinderella look, and definitely permanently remove herself from wearing fascinators.  Serena should flaunt that body and wear simple cut looks. Straight or flowy...not poofy with feathers.  Calvin Klein should be on her speed dial!

Christina Ricci in Zac Posen - If this doesn't demonstrate Wednesday Adams all grown and sexy, I don't know what does!  We just had our very own sequel to the movie with just one night of production.

J Lo and Marc Anthony in Gucci.  Jennifer Lopez wore a Gucci gown from the Fall 2011 RTW Collection.  It looks good on her, but the opening of the dress in front is too open; perhaps its just the way she is standing

Zoe Saldana in Calvin Klein - I am always a huge Calvin Klein fan, and even a bigger fan of Zoe Saldana, but the two didn't work well together last night.  I love the color, and the simplicity, but compared to the extravagant gowns surrounding her, she looks like she got dropped off in front of the wrong venue and her Prom is actually on 67th and Fifth Ave.

Andre Leon Talley - For someone who is a GENIUS in fashion, he must have been moonlighting as Barney.. I mean, I knew that the actor playing Barney was Black, but I didn't know that he could also influence the world of Fashion and create words like "Drekatude" and judge America's Next Top Model..  Who are we kidding, we love him because of his larger-than-life (and larger-than-fabric) personality.  I bet underneath that royal trapeze is a very dapper tuxedo.

83rd Annual Academy Awards Red Carpet Review

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards ended hollywood's recognition of actors, directors, and all things on the big and small screen, and wrapped up a very successful Red Carpet season.  Successful in the sense that for each awards show, including last night's Oscars, the list of best dressed took effort to narrow down, whereas the worst dress list too effort to identify a handful.  It may be because stylists and actresses decided against taking chances (except my Best Dressed, whom you will see below) and instead stuck to a safer, glamorous option.  Lucky for 90% of the Red Capret, it worked. 

Trends On the Carpet:

Shear Perfection:

Jennifer Lopez started the trend at the Golden Globes, and while the look was hit or miss (definite miss on the Ave), the trend caught on with other starlets, and changing the look from bolero to an addition of the gown made the look seamless and elegant.  Hailee Steinfeld, Mandy  Moore, and Michelle Williams demonstrated this look with ease last night, going with the nude color to add more of a floating illusion with the embellished overlay.

Red on Red:

A very sexy option for this year's awards season.  It takes beauty and attitude to make a red gown stand out on a red carpet.  Anne Hathaway in vintage Valentino, Jennifer Lawrence in Calvin Klein, and Sandra Bullock in Vera Wang emcompass all the qualities needed to bring Red to life on the carpet. 

Liquid Luxury:

Metallic gowns have become an essential element to formalwear (Thank you Naeem Khan); this season, it changed from gold to silver.  Gwyneth Paltrow in Calvin Klein (best dressed nominee) and Celine Dion in Armani Prive give us all the precious metal we could ask for.  Simple, chic, dripping of luxury.

Sexy after 50:

Annette Bening, Helen Mirren and Sharon Stone show that you don't have to be "young Hollywood" to leave an impact on the Red Carpet.  These three ladies demonstrate what true Hollywood glamour should be; sultry, sleek, and effortless. 

Best Dressed:

Cate Blanchett - This look has seen the full spectrum of opinions.  Even I had to take it all in before I could truly accept the beauty in this piece of wearable art.  Only those who understand the true art in fashion can appreciate this cotoure gown by Givenchy.  Only someone as intelligent and fashion savvy as Cate Blancheet could wear this.  Perfection!

Hilary Swank - Not just that her name is amazing, but this dress is the best of both worlds; chic and dramatic.  And, a pro at Red Carpet looks, Ms. Swank knows how to pose to show off the details in the train. 

Florence Welch - This may be a surprise, but I am in love with Florence's look.  The Valentino gown is romantic and feminine; different from the unique, edgy vibe that Florence normally exudes.  The color of the gown almost washes her out, but she is saved by her red hair and the Red Carpet.

On the Fence:

Jennifer Hudson - Beautul color, beautiful dress from waist down... but the problem comes from the chest up to the hair.  Too much loose boob action, and way too much lace front wig caused a gawdy unfinished look on the songstress.  We are all proud of the transformation Jennifer Hudson has done, but that doesn't give a free pass to over expose the body in ill-fitting gowns.

Worst Dressed:

Both looks will induce the urge to eat dinner, as one resembled a lace table cloth, and one will bring cravings to eat at the nearest Japanese Steakhouse.

Melissa Leo - The Oscar win and the F bomb almost overshadow the dress, but it's not quite off the hook.  The fabric is so stiff that there is no flow factor at the bottom.  The dress is overbearing, heavy, and not fitting for an Academy Award winner.

Nicole Kidman - This should not be a surprise, as many have listed her on the worst dressed list.  She has become a regular on this list, and each season I anticipate her climbing back to her previous reign as best dressed.  Maybe next season.

**Photos Courtesy of Getty Images**