Posts Tagged ‘Emmy Awards’

What a difference a year makes. Last year at the Emmy’s, in the fall of 2008, Drew Barrymore wore an extremely sexy tight “louche” pale blue dress and that crazy giant “Happy Birthday Mr. President” style hair. She got a tough time for that hair from the press, and also because even at the HBO Emmy party last year – and HBO’s “Grey Gardens” was yet to debut – she seemed – well – a bit tipsy. Or at least, uncertain on her shoes.
This year was a very different picture. Nominated for a Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries category (she lost to “Grey Gardens” co-star Jessica Lange), Drew was a fairy princess: a ballerina chignon, red lips, very small jewelry (a pearl ring and pearl earrings by Anna Hu Haute Joaillerie), and that frothy pink strapless full-tulle-skirted Monique
L’hullier. That’s a lot of dress for a small person to carry, but she balanced it beautifully, and kept her jewelry and hair and makeup in check with the Dress. And it turned into one of her best visual presentations so far. And not only that – she didn’t do the fishtail sexy look almost every other actress was doing at the Emmy’s. Kudos to her for that, and for going “girly” in an autumn of tough and sexy.

Gucci dressed three celebrities at the Emmy’s last night – and they were all VERY good ones. We haven’t seen this much Gucci action at a major awards show red carpet in a long time – but the fall collection is very very good. We loved Tina Fey’s one of a kind long black silk gown with green and crystal jeweled brooch and her sequin evening shoes. (Her clutch was by VBH.) Her hair was looking very chic, as well. Sure, Tina always wears a black dress to an awards show – after all, she’s a brainy New York chick. But the more money and fame she gets, the better the hair and the black dress become! She’s finally getting the hang of this glamour thing. But smartly, she does not let it overwhelm her personality.
Jon Hamm from “Mad Men” – who did NOT win the Emmy for best actor in a drama – that honor went to “Breaking Bad’s” Bryan Cranston – did win best dressed man, however, in his Gucci fall/winter New Manhattan one-button peak lapel tux with white straight evening collor shirt, his black satin bow tie and his black satin lace up shoes. The show “Mad Men” won best drama, though – and Jon Hamm wins best looking man at the Emmy’s, hands down.
His girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt, who’s starring in a show on Broadway right now, wore a very lovely one-of-a-kind seafoam crepe gown with pleated detailing and sequin evening shows. Pretty color.
By the way, “one of a kind” is the equivalent of saying “this is someone we really want to dress.” No doubt, Jon has a “dress me, dress my girlfriend” clause. And it works.

The big winners at the Emmy’s – the big fashion winners, at any case – were Versace, Marchesa and L’Wren Scott. Of course, Versace is a juggernaut, and complete veterans when it comes to dressing celebs on the red carpet. Marchesa has Harvey Weinstein behind them, as his wife is designer Georgian Chapman. But L’Wren Scott? An American based in Paris and London, it’s kind of fabulous that she managed to dress both Kyra Sedgwick and Christina Hendricks. Her clothes aren’t even in that many stores.
Here’s the Versace line up – Jane Krakowski in a fall 2009 gown, Blake Lively in a fall 2009 gown – and then there’s January Jones. Her gown cannot be found on the fall 2009 line up of the Versace show- nor the resort 2010 lineup. That means this dress is either from the upcoming spring 2010 show at the end of this week in Milan – or it’s couture and was made just for her!!!!!!! Either way, January has JUICE to get the hardest-to-get dress of the night!

Let’s face it, there were a lot of great gowns at the Emmy’s last night – Olivia Wilde in Marchesa, Kyra Segwick in red Versace. It’s hard to say that anyone looked particularly wrong or bad – even Drew Barrymore, in a frothy Monique L’hullier – really got it together. We are trying to find something bad to say about SOMEONE, but so far – we can’t. Quelle disappointment! But you cannot dispute the amazing just total CHIC of January Jones in the corseted strapless Versace gown. It’s in that icy cool pale shade of the night – in this case, a very pale green, that you can only really spot in the lines of the deco corsetry of the peplum top. The design of the bodice looks like some Viennese art deco from the age of Klimt or Shiele. And it’s also so simple. January was so smart to wear no necklace, one tiny bracelet, and small earrings – and even light makeup and a simple chignon. She let the dress so the talking – and talk it does. It speaks CHIC. International language that it is.

If you take the media’s word for it, Blake Lively and Leighton Meester are the best dressed girls in the world – look at all their fashion magazine covers. But, when you analyze it, how great have their looks really been on the red carpet? On “Gossip Girl,” they do look pretty spectacular – but that’s daytime New York rich girl fashion, and that’s hard to beat. Lively’s worn clothes to major awards shows that didn’t fit right, with wildly messy hair. But finally, last night at the Emmy’s, where she and Meester were presenters together, Blake Lively got it right. Her red Versace was the hottest of all the hot red dresses at the Nokia Theater. Red was the color of the night – and the one color you wear when you REALLY want attention – but with its plunging neckline and knotted waist that barely kept the whole dress together – it looked like it could come apart in a stiff wind – she was the glamourous sexy starlet you want her to be. And of course, it was by Versace – the same Milanese folk who brought us JLo’s green leaf print barely-held-together dress at the Grammys that made her a star a decade ago. Lively was smart to slick her hair back and wear in the style of a Grecian goddess, and not in that messy tousled bedhead way she’s gone to awards shows before. She worked her body and that dress, and she let them do the heavy lifting. It looked clean, modern, sexy and strong. Perhaps Donatella got in there with her stylist and took control. Whatever happened, we’re glad it did.

However, Leighton Meester went way far overboard in her styling. We love the white Bottega Veneta dress she wore – with its Grecian style knots at the shoulders and open work back detail. White’s a nervy color to wear at an awards show. We know it adds poundage, and the light bounces off it. It looks good on brunettes, true – but Leighton had messy wavy hair which kept bashing into the shoulder detail of the dress – and the bright red lips belonged with another outfit and another hairstyle. Red lips – great. Tousled hair partially up – great. White Bottega gown – great. BUT NOT ALL TOGETHER. These strong details each deserved its own awards show. Leighton was example of trying way too hard. And standing next to Blake in her simple sexy chic, she looked like a wedding cake with too many tiers and a cherry on top.

We really haven’t seen too many impressive designers labels on the Emmy red carpet yet – it’s a lot of Marchesa and Reem Acra. I doubt we’ll be seeing Balmain or Lanvin or Balenciaga or Chanel – they hold out for the Globes and the Oscars. But Kate Walsh clearly gets it. She’s wearing an ice blue J. Mendel, fresh from the spring 2010 show. It’s strapless and close to the body, but it is folded tiers of pintucked chiffon – so beautiful. She’s doing her hair very straight and hip, a choppy bob with a side part – exactly what we saw all the really sharp girls wearing in New York, both off and on the runway. She paired the dress with white Louboutins, but also – a cool thirty dollar bag from Aldo, a mall shop. Now THAT’s style, people. We don’t love “Private Practice” – but we LOVE Kate’s dress and style.

We’re not sure Olivia Wilde’s pale pale gradient green Marchesa gown is the BEST dress at the Emmy’s – but we know it’s the MOST RECENT and the sexiest! The “House” star bust in with “it’s spring 2010 – straight off the runway!” – while being interviewed on E! – so she knew she HAD to get the “fresh from the NY tents” credit in there! At the top of the one shoulder gown, it’s pale champagne color – but it fishtails and fades into lime green at the bottom, where it explodes into a wide full tiered and ruffled skirt. It also has a giant nude insert right up the center of the dress, and is completely nude in the back, down to the butt crack – very daring. And also – very chic. We love the newness. Some stylist no doubt carried it on a plane over the last few days.

Emmy season is upon us – and even though lots of people are traveling now and not thinking about anything but their next Mojito and reruns of “Twilight,”  a lot of folks are hard at work, getting ready for the Emmys’ September 20th broadcast on CBS, and all the fashion, hair and makeup that surrounds it. No doubt, stylists for Tina Fey, the “Mad Men” ladies and Blake Lively and Leighton Meester are hard at work getting clothes, jewelry, bags and shoes. 

You might think the economy could inhibit some of the Emmy activities, but not for HBO, in any case.  They are bringing back their HBO Luxury Lounge at the Four Seasons on Doheny on Friday September 18th, between noon and five pm. It’s both a private press event and a way for HBO’s Emmy noms and casts to indulge. It will have Guitar Hero 5, Brahmin Handbags, a Solstice Sunglass Boutique with Balenciaga, Gucci and Armani glasses, Tria Beauty, etc – and previous visitors have included Tina Fey, Adrian Grenier, AnnaLynne McCord, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Lynn-Sigler, Debra Messing and Sarah Jessica Parker. We can only imagine that the casts of “Hung,” “Entourage” and the big HBO movies this year – “Grey Gardens” – will be on hand, and despite economic and healthcare realities – will get a bunch of beauty treatments and swag. As if they needed it. But they will get the event some pr, and more pr – is more pr. – Merle Ginsberg

This year’s Emmy Awards were scheduled for September 20th, 2009 – the perfect date to go right after New York fashion week for spring 2010 (September 10 to September 17th), and right before Milan fashion week starts (Sept 23). The only fashion week it cut into was London (Sept 18 to 22), unfortunate because Matthew Williamson will be showing his spring 2010 collection back in his hometown of London showing there instead of New York this year.
BUT – the bit but – yesterday CBS, which is broadcasting the Emmys – said it must change the airdate to Sunday September 13th, one week earlier than the originally planned date, because it messed with the NFL schedule. Hmmm – awards show or sports, which gets more tv viewers? Clearly, football takes tv precedence over tv’s own awards show – quelle irony!
In any case, this throws the whole Emmy/fashion week thing into a big hot mess. The Judith Leiber store on Rodeo Drive was set to have a big opening party during the old Emmy week, and now stylists and editors will have to choose whether to concentrate on NY fashion week – or the Emmy’s. It will mean the stylists dressing the Emmy stars will probably NOT be able to go to New York – such a drag. Thanks, NFL. Looks like the tight ends will be free to go to fashion week!
The Emmy nominations will still take place the morning of July 16th, a Thursday, at 5:35 am. All we have to say is – go “Mad Men,” go “Tudors,” go “Breaking Bad,” and please, please, please, somebody make Sarah Jessica Parker and Debra Messing show up, or we’ll die of fashion boredom. – Merle Ginsberg