Academy Awards 2013: Best and Worst Dressed

Posted in Entertainment, Lists, Outfit Girl by Cookies + Sangria

Here are our picks for the Best and Worst Dressed from the Oscars. And in case you missed it, check out our live blog from last night. Entertaining commentary and gifs galore!

Best Dressed

Traci’s Picks

Jennifer Lawrence in Dior Haute Couture

Oh J Law. I just adore you so much. You look like a cloud, and I mean that in a good way. Who knows if it was the dress, or your stunned look when you won, but you’re the only person that could trip up the stairs and still make it look cool. You win.

Jessica Chastain in Armani Prive

From the moment I saw her, I knew she would be one of the best dressed of the night. She said she wanted to look old Hollywood-esque and she absolutely nailed it. This is the best thing I’ve seen her in all season. Perfect Oscar dress.

Reese Witherspoon in Louis Vuitton

This dress is kind of reminiscent of J Law’s from the Globes, but I love this blue color and the black accents at the top and sides. Apparently Reese’s daughter Ava helped pick out the dress, and the only reason that is disconcerting is because Ava is 13 years old. 13!!!!

Stacy Keibler in Naeem Kahn

George Clooney’s girl legit looks like a Greek godess. Life is unfair.

Amy Adams in Oscar de la Renta

Amy looks like a princess in this dress, an older, more mature, Oscar-nominated version of Princess Giselle, if you will. And she looks fantastic.

Honorable mentions: Halle Berry redeeming herself from the Golden Globes disaster in Versace, Sally Field looking stunning in Valentino, and really, the winner of best dressed, and life overall First Lady Michelle Obama in Naeem Kahn.

Flawless First Lady is Flawless.

Molly’s Picks

Jennifer Lawrence in Dior Haute Couture

I hate when people are like, “Jennifer Lawrence is just pretending to be cool, but she’s probably just really fake.” Do you mean that she’s actually unfunny and had someone piping things into her ear in the post-Oscars press conference? Or that she’s secretly ugly when we’re not looking? Traci’s right, she DOES look like a cloud. A beautiful cloud who is on my top 10 list of Celebrities It Would Be Fun To Be Seated Next To On An Airplane.

Jessica Chastain in Giorgio Armani

Good color. Good cut. I might be imagining things but I think she looks happier in this than in the Golden Globes number. And like almost all humans, she really does look better with a side part.

Sandra Bullock in Elie Saab

Almost all of my best dressed picks involve a journey from dislike or confusion to love, and this is no exception. I didn’t notice the semi-sheer effect on the lower part of the skirt at first. Then I noticed and disliked it. Then I thought the effect of floating beadwork at the hem was gorgeous. But tie your hair up, Sandy. Or give me the number of whomever did your keratin treatment.

Kerry Washington in Miu Miu

I still think she looks like Oscars Barbie in this. At first I wasn’t sure about the gold tones in the textured bodice with the coral/pink skirt, but now I am sure. I like it.

Amanda Seyfried in Alexander McQueen

Usually keyhole neckline situations remind me of how skanky ladies dressed up fancy in the early 90s. But this doesn’t read that way. Someone said this was gray but it reads as a really soft lavender with fantastic gold beading. Bonus points for her hair which looks like the perfect messy updo — I think a lot of ladies either overdo the messy or overdo the updo, so that it looks like slept-on prom hair. But not Karen Smith.

Honorable Mentions: Michelle Obama because she is flawless and everything I wish I could be; Quvenzhane Wallis because she’s so stinkin’ cute; Bradley Cooper because his little VEST and his little MOM, oh my goodness.

Worst Dressed

Traci’s Picks

Anne Hathaway in Prada

Nipplegate 2013. It’s a shame, because as soon as I saw her on the red carpet, I was shaking my head knowing this would forever be the dress she won her first Oscar in.

Zoe Saldana in Alexis Mabille Couture

If Zoe was trying to impress her ex Bradley Cooper in this dress, it didn’t work. Plus he was the one nominated for an Oscar. Kbye.

Daryl Hannah

Look who swam up to the shore for the Oscars. Someone get Daryl a dinglehopper, because I don’t think she had time to do her hair on the way from Santa Monica.

Brandi Glanville in BrandB

If you don’t know who this is, good for you. But in case you were wondering, she’s on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, most well known for being Eddie Cibrian’s ex-wife and trash talker of LeAnn Rimes. First off, why are you at the Oscars. SHE DOESN’T EVEN GO HERE. Second, she looks HORRENDOUS in this dress. I mean, her boobs. hello?? (insert Seth’s Boobs song here) And guess who designed it? She did. Also I’m pretty sure she got a fresh injection of botox right before the show.

Kristen Stewart in Reem Acra Haute Couture

Here’s the thing about dressing for the Oscars, or any awards show, or LIFE, really. You have to make sure whatever you’re wearing is the right fit for you, physically and mentally. K Stew just looks so so awkward and uncomfy in this. Given she had a messed up ankle and crutches, but still, you have to work with what you got. She just looks like an imposter.

Molly’s Picks

Anne Hathaway in Prada

I didn’t think about Anne Hathaway’s nipples this much when I was looking at her actual nipples in Brokeback Mountain. Late 90s Gwyneth + Early 2000s prom dress + world’s worst dart placement.

Kristen Stewart in Reem Acra Haute Couture

I don’t understand this because I don’t want to understand it. K Stew doesn’t understand it either, because she is very, very high.

Melissa McCarthy in David Meister Signature

I’m pretty sure this is jersey, which I don’t think lends itself to formalwear. I don’t understand the black thing that comes out near her leg. And it doesn’t seem to drape well, like there’s too much fabric. Just moving the ruching up to her waist would make a world of difference. I feel like I’m looking at a whole lot of jersey material and I’d rather look at Melissa.

Halle Berry in Versace

I am pleased that Halle wore an entire, intact dress, unlike at the Golden Globes. But as I said in the liveblog, this looks like something my grandmother would have worn on her trips to Vegas in the early 90s. I can’t really put my finger on the problem but I think it’s the overly structured shoulders. Like, Oscar gown meets power suit.

Marcia Gay Harden in David Meister

This is too red and the sleeves are too weird. Doesn’t work.

Dishonorable mentions: Jennifer Hudson (I know I’m coming down on the wrong side of history with this one; Jennifer herself looked beautiful but I was not feeling the snakeskin situation), Jennifer Garner (pretty, except the butt ruffle), Amy Adams, maybe (half the time I loved it, half the time I felt like she looked like a feather duster).

20Feb2013

DIY: Hair Chalk

Posted in Outfit Girl by Traci

If you spend hours like me in the dark hole that is Pinterest/and or Instagram, you’ve seen girls with long hair don’t care flaunting their hair chalked manes. It’s basically a quick, easy, temporary way to add some color to your hair without going all out. My friends and I recently went in on some chalk and did it for the first time. Here are the results!

Step 1: Purchase a box of chalk – aka soft pastels. If you can’t find it at your local Sally Hansen or beauty store, head over to Michaels and grab a box of pastel chalk. Works just the same.

Step 2: Select the piece of your hair you’d like to color and wet it. A lot of internet hair “experts” say to spritz the strand with a water bottle, but wetting it over your bathroom sink works just as well.

high class operation we run here

Step 3: Take the chalk of your choice and color the strand in an up and down motion using the long side of the chalk. If it seems like the chalk isn’t sticking to the hair like you want, try wetting the chalk. Make sure all of the hair is completely covered. This part might get a little messy, so use caution.

the red hair chalk looked like i was bleeding out from my skin. cute.

Step 4: Use a straightener or hair curler to set the color in. We used a wet to dry straightener that worked perfectly. And it seems self explanatory, but the chalk will get on your straightener. It’s easy to wash off, but you might end up with a multi colored flat iron when you’re all finished!

Step 5: Take selfies in the bathroom

Tool Tally: 1 (Caitlin helped with the photo taking too!)

Step 6: Show off your new ‘do! Like I said, chalking is only temporary, but should stay in until the next time you wash your hair. How do you do your chalk?!

Eva pulls off her best Kelly Osbourne impression. She chose white chalk to use on her red hair, and we think it kind of turned out a fab light purple!

My red came out awesome too – except I had to wash my hair the next day, so it lasted approx 8 hours. Til next time!

29Jan2013

Pretty Like It’s 1999: Late 90s Tween Fashions — And Their 2013 Adult Equivalents

Posted in Outfit Girl by Molly

Are you a lady in your mid- to late- twenties? If so, congratulations! You were also a tween or young teen in the late ‘90s and early 2000s! Half your life ago you were part of a tween cohort in its golden age. The society that produced the Lost Generation may have been the perfect environment for budding artists and poets, but the tween renaissance of 1997-ish was a cultural tempest, too. There were just more sparkles, is all, and instead of Ernest Hemingway, it produced Lalaine and Aaron Carter. Here are some of the greatest fashion staples of that magnificent era– and a modern adult equivalent that you could actually get away with wearing today.

1999 tween style: Body glitter. Like so many wholesome children’s and teen’s fashions of the late ‘90s, this was borne of rave culture. But you don’t need to be on ecstasy to enjoy a little sparkle! Body glitter was popular with tweens because it was like makeup for people whose parents wouldn’t let them wear makeup yet. I used to roll glitter across my cheekbones and sweep it over my eyelids, I guess so that people would look at my face more. If you read YM or Seventeen, you might have learned to apply glitter to your collarbone, to draw the eye to where you hoped your cleavage would eventually come in.

2013 adult style: Metallic eyeshadow. Like roll-on body glitter, this is a fun and glitzy look. Unlike roll-on body glitter, if done properly it will not make you look like you store hallucinogenic drugs in your pacifier necklace. I like the heavy gold-leaf look, but let’s be serious, I cannot figure out how to do it myself. Best to take your advice from YouTube makeup gurus.

1999 tween style: Embroidered jeans. When I bought these (from Limited Too, naturally), my aunt told me that I should save them because my kids would get a kick out of them someday. Even at 13 I took this as a not-so-subtle suggestion that I looked completely ridiculous.

2013 adult style: Colored jeans and cords. Listen, I love my colored jeans. I think they’re great. But I also acknowledge that while bright pants can add interest to an outfit, I’ll eventually feel like they looked really stupid. Luckily, I still have plenty of older relatives who will remind me to save my magenta skinny jeans for posterity.

1999 tween style: Enormous JNCOs. These were probably your pants of choice if you were really into Korn and Marilyn Manson, or at least were not terrified of them like I was. These were a unisex style: I had a huge crush on a boy in my tween acting/improv classes who wore JNCOs and had a mushroom cut, which is the hairstyle that all of the cute boys voted to adopt by secret ballot in 1995. I never would have worn JNCOs myself, but they probably were really useful because they had pockets, and also if a friend’s pants ripped or were lost, they could climb in one leg and you could climb in the other, and you could share.

2013 adult style: Skinny cargo pants. With giant pockets and a slim fit, these pants are entirely useless (except in that they cover the fact that you’re naked under your clothes). Like JNCOs, I do not wear these — not because I’m afraid of Marilyn Manson this time, but because an enormous pocket bulging from the hip area is not awesome on me. If you don’t mind adding a couple inches to your legs, width-wise, these are actually pretty cute though.

1999 tween style: Butterfly clips. These were the best. You would twist back rows of hair from your face, creating a butterfly meadow on the top of your head – the effect was a little more special than a headband and just barely less special than a freakin’ tiara. Of course, you would coordinate your butterfly clips with your outfit, and they were usually a little bit glittery. Theoretically, you could use even more butterfly clips to secure a bun into a fancy updo, if you were into that sort of thing or if you had a mom who did your hair.

2013 adult style: Fun hair accessories that don’t look like insects. I wish that I could be more specific, but the fact is, there are a lot of great hair accessories on the market right now. If you were a butterfly clip afficianado because you found it to be a fun and feminine style, you might like a hair flower,^[1] especially if your hair is long and wavy. If you admired butterfly clips for their sheer functionality in getting hair out of your face, headbands have been back in for several years and are, in my experience, less painful and less poofy than they used to be. You can even find them in semi-fascinator styles, thanks I’m sure to Beatrice and Eugenie. If you were one of those girls who created over the top, eye catching styles with your butterfly clips, try a headwrap like this or, because you’re probably pretty good with accessories, a turban. You probably won’t screw it up the way those of us who could barely manage a butterfly-headband would.

1. But if you have a baby, or know some babies socially, please rethink the obligatory baby girl giant head-flower thing. I was a super-bald baby and my mom used to try to make me wear those baby head garters that they sold in the 80s, and I ripped it off every time. I like to think this is because I developed an early sense of when things look absolutely damn foolish. BACK TO POST

18Jan2013

Items I’ve purchased while attempting to get milk at Target

Posted in Lists, Outfit Girl by Traci

We’ve all been there. Target is the black hole of shopping. But it’s also like, the best place ever. Here’s an actual list of various items I’ve purchased with the intention of going into Targ to get mundane items like milk, bread, shampoo, etc. It’s a black hole, I tell you.

Tribal Flats (my fave shoes as of late)

Mint Satchel (my fave purse as of late)

Stick on nail polish strips “Tri-bal It On” (huh?)

Veronica Mars: Season 2 (Quick story: the tag said it was $9.99, but it rang up as $19.99. I told the cashier of the price difference, and we both walked all the way to the electronics department to double check the tag, and I mistakenly read the price for Season 1 – which I already have – and he said, ‘Eh, it’s ok. You can have it for $9.99’)

Limited edition peppermint Chapstick

Pens

I almost took a picture of my pens, but I mean, you know what pens look like.

In short, just don’t ever go into the clothing/accessories/entertainment section. Just head straight to dairy.

14Jan2013

Golden Globes 2013 – Best and Worst Dressed

Posted in Entertainment, Lists, Outfit Girl by Cookies + Sangria

{2/25/13 Note: Hey, did you come here looking for our Oscars 2013 Best and Worst Dressed instead? It’s over here.}

Best Dressed

Molly’s picks:

Sofia Vergara in Michael Cinco

Despite being entirely sequined, this dress is fairly pared-down for Vergara. I especially like the simple hair and fresh makeup. Bonus points for choosing a Filipino designer!

Kerry Washington in Miu Miu

This ivory color was gorgeous on her! I liked this more before I realized that the skirt was only opaque to a point, but still, the beading is beautiful and it’s such a good cut. It’s really easy for women as tiny-framed as Washington to disappear in big formal dresses. My only minor qualm, as I said in the live blog, is that I would have pulled her hair away from her face because it’s such a nice face.

Zooey Deschanel in Oscar de la Renta

Love the color, love the simple accessories, love the slightly rumply fabric, as a matter of fact. This is such a pretty orangey red and looks great with her skin and hair, though I have watched enough Joan Rivers to know that wearing red on the red carpet is risky because the colors can clash. As per usual, Deschanel is also sporting an insanely adorable themed manicure.

Helen Hunt in Dolce & Gabbana

Hunt and Washington both really worked the ivory/shimmery dresses without looking like brides (cf. Hayden Panettiere). If I were elderly, I would say that she’s a vision, but I’m not, so I’ll just say she looks really pretty.

Michelle Dockery in Alexander Vauthier

I keep waffling on whether or not I love this, but I think I do. The silhouette’s a bit funny around the shoulders, but otherwise perfect. I’d like a better look at her hair and that bracelet, though.

Honorable mentions: Amy Poehler (for managing to make a pant suit look hot. I’ll take this as a Knopian nod to women in government.), Ariel Winter (for looking 15), Olivia Munn (for picking what I think was a great cut/color for her).

Traci’s Picks:

Amy Poehler in Stella McCartney

Obviously my personal idol is on the list. But my love for her aside, she rocked the tuxedo look, and still managing to stay super sexy in the mean time. It made me want to marry her and never divorce her. Classy yet not trashy, that’s our girl Amy.

Naomi Watts in Zac Posen

At first sight this dark burgundy dress may not be much, but when she turns around the backless feature makes it breathtaking. Naomi of course is gorgeous in her own right, but in a sleek, stylish, and sexy dress, she looks out of this world.

Kerry Washington in Miu Miu

If you’ve seen Kerry traveling the world for the Django Unchained movie premieres, you’ll know that as of late, home girl hasn’t exactly been hitting home runs with hear red carpet fashion. However, I give her props for taking risks, and this gown in no exception.

Michelle Dockery in Alexander Vauthier

Oh lady Mary, you are quite a sight for sore eyes. Cousin Matthew is probably fawning over you right now. As I mentioned in the live blog last night, it’s always weird to see anyone from the show in normal people clothes, none the less in Hollywood style gowns. She looks absolutely stunning in this dress.

Kate Hudson in Aleander McQueen

I’m a sucker for black and gold – and for Alexander McQueen- so it’s hard for me to say no to this dress. It’s a bold statement, much like the rest of his company’s designs and not just any celeb can pull it off. Kate Hudson def did it justice.

Bonus: Ben Affleck for sporting a navy tux – Because he’s a muthafuckin GG winner and he can do whatever the hell he wants.

Worst Dressed

Molly’s picks:

Halle Berry in Versace

The fabric on this looks like those screen-printed sarongs that you can buy at the public market. It is also tattered and torn, like when Cinderella’s stepsisters ruin the dress that the mice made for her before the ball. So, in sum, this looks like a downmarket sarong sewn by animated mice that was ripped apart in a fit of anger.

Emily Blunt in Michael Kors

I’m not just saying this because she got to marry John Krasinski. I like the color and I don’t hate the fabric, I just can’t stand the cutouts on the side. It reminds me of the two piece, belly-baring prom dresses that were the thing when I was in high school. If you weren’t 16 in 2003 this dress might not bother you.

Rachel Weisz in Louis Vuitton

The little black dress with the bow would have been cute at dinner or a cocktail party, but why did she wrap that polka-dotted shower curtain around herself first?

Sienna Miller in Erdem

When she was (evidently) partying with P. Diddy he couldn’t have given her some wardrobe tips? The shape of this is horrible – the top of it is cut like those boxy Christopher and Banks sweaters that moms used to wear a lot. And the pattern reminds me of something I would have thought would look really groovy on a pencil case in 5th grade when I was really into Now and Then.

Julianna Margulies in Emilio Pucci

This is showing up on best dressed lists already, but I don’t care. She reminds me of those teenage girls who are really into long, terrible fantasy book series set in medieval times. Is that a dragon?

Dishonorable mention: Julianne Hough (who invited her and why is she wearing the adult, floor-length version of a Toddlers and Tiaras cupcake dress?).

Traci’s Picks:

Sienna Miller in Erdem

So sienna miller’s gown basically reminds me of the traditional Filipino dresses, commonly used in weddings and formal events.
It’s just too much.

Halle Berry in Versace

File under: When bad gowns happen to Oscar winners. Halle what were you thinking with this? It looks like a monster chewed up the LA Flower Mart with a bedspread from the 1980s then spit it back out in the form of a half-frock. But we know you’ve done much better.

Jessica Chastain in Calvin Klein

You’re a gorgeous girl, Jessica. So you don’t need to look frumpy. This seafoam colored dress isn’t doing you any favors, basically because it doesn’t fit we’ll and I was afraid your girls would fall out at any second.

Lena Dunham in Zac Posen

Big night for my Girl Lena, however she just can’t get her style quite on point. The dress makes her look much older than she actually is, and the gross color is even worse. Not to mention it looked like she was having a touch time walking in whatever shoe apparatus she was wearing, she may have walked away with 2 GG but she was having a hard time doing it.

Julie Bowen in Halston

Oh Julie. After last years Emmys in an awesome neon green gown, I thought you were on a roll. Please tell me that your kids were the reason why you picked this sack of a dress. Asymmetrical is not a good look for a lot of people, but this especially makes it look like someone bought a Butterick design from Joann’s and some navy fabric for $.75 a yard.