Style Fix

I didn’t have HBO when Sex and the City was popular. When it was edited down for TBS, I watched the occasional episode. But really, I was never a big fan. So when the SATC movie came out around this time last year (the movie hit theaters May 30, 2008) I was not swept away with Carrie fever like the rest of the fashion-loving world was. The movie did intrigue me, but nobody could tell me whether or not I would enjoy and understand the plot having barely ever seen the TV show.

Now that I have HBO, and now that the station is airing the SATC movie, I decided to tune in … and I liked it! A lot! In fact, I even cried when Carrie called “Big” from the library and found out he was no longer there. There were moments every once in awhile when I didn’t know something right away - for a bit I was confused as to whether Charlotte adopted or if we were supposed ignore the hint of Asian in her daughter. But still, it was an enjoyable film full of great fashion.

And since we’re on the Sarah Jessica Parker topic: Matthew Broderick and wife SJP are expecting twins. Doing it the way I imagine Carrie would, Parker has a surrogate mother giving birth to her babies for her. No official confirmation yet whether Matt and Sarah are genetic donors or if the surrogate is their biological mother. The twins are expected to join their 6-year-old brother, James Wilkie Broderick, this summer.

P.S. What is up with Matthew’s hair, shown here at this week’s Tribeca Film Festival?

Drew Barrymore has been seen all around town promoting Grey Gardens, her new HBO film costarring Jessica Lange. The movie is a remake of the story of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis’s aunt and cousin that lived together in squalor and almost total isolation. Drew’s over-the-top outfits have been telling a different story, one that I can’t quite figure out.

Barrymore has been seen in dozens of outfits this past week and weekend. All have been glamorous. All have been eccentric. But some have been better than others.

It all started with the best of them all at the New York premiere of the HBO film. Neutral tones work for Drew, especially when she punches her lip color up with a deep red. But don’t get too hopeful - it was downhill from here …

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On Wednesday, April 15, Drew got all decked out in anything but your average little black dress for her appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman in New York City. Slicking her hair back with such large, um, sleeves? was an excellent choice.

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It was all about big hair and big jewelry at the Los Angeles premiere of Grey Gardens on Thursday, April 16.

At the “Inside Grey Gardens” panel discussion on Friday, April 17, in Hollywood, California, she rocked a draped sea foam dress with one full-length sleeve and one shoulder bare. As for her shoes? Could work with the right outfit, but this dress was their perfect match. Don’t miss her mini head piece.

No comment on her outfit from Saturday, April 18, at day 2 of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.

Ladies (and fashion conscious gents), spring is upon us. Get out your flower prints, your bright and pastel colors, your dresses and skirts. Dig out your shorts, sandals, and tank tops, and get ready to celebrate the warmer weather, just as these celebrities already are …

The premiere of the new British comedy film, The Boat That Rocked, was attended by many a springy outfit in London today, March 23. Best dressed of the evening was actress Gemma Arterton, who plays Desiree in the sixties ensemble flick. Her toga-esque dress was draped in a flattering way, and gave a pop of color with a shimmer of gold framing he face.

Former Spice Girl Geri “Ginger” Halliwell came in a close second with her golden globes.

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Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, shown here alongside her husband Crown Prince Frederik, proved that your outfit can scream spring even if the temperature isn’t quite there yet with her shorter sleeved, slightly open, cherry jacket over top of a flowery dress. The couple attended the opening of the Climate & Energy Conference in Chicago today, March 23.

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Fergie, queen of the Black Eyed Peas, has been out and about a lot lately, showing us multiple examples of how to dress for spring. Last week, on Thursday March 19, she headed out on a shopping trip in Los Angeles wearing khaki shorts at the perfect “older than 25 but still sexy” length.

And then Satrday, March 21, she went out to promote her new shoe collection at Nordstrom, again in Los Angeles. This time she dressed up a bit with a fun shirt dress that only works because she belted it. Both times she wore a gladiator sandal.

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Aside from a red sweater on Christmas day, I am not a fan of themed dressing. However, the gorgeous Reese Witherspoon (who can d nothing wrong in my eyes) convinced me this weekend that subtle correlation between a chic, trendy dress and the event that you are attending can work.

Reese showed up to the California premiere of her new, animated movie Monsters vs. Aliens today, Sunday, March 22, wearing the perfect futuristic, metallic, mini dress that paid simple homage to her character, Susan Murphy a.k.a. Ginormica, seen here alongside the actress. The 3D animated movie hits theaters this Friday, March 27.

The other stars in attendance - Rainn Wilson, Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Rudd - did not theme dress. And, being all men, most wore boring pants and jackets.

Scarlett Johansson has been showing up at promotional events for her new flick He’s Just Not That Into You with a richer, darker hair color (and a beautiful dress). Her hair has also been looking very sleek, shiny, and flat ironed. I’m liking the color, but miss the volume and bounce.

Mrs. Ryan Reynolds has tried nearly every shade of blonde possible from dirty to strawberry to bleach, and even shades of red and brunette. Any way she dyes or wears it, though, she is still absolutely gorgeous!

Ashanti also premiered a new hairdo recently, going for a shorter, lighter look with bangs. The singer posed gratuitously outside of Gemma restaurant in the Bowery Hotel, New York City, on Thursday, February 12 to show off her fresh new spring style.

As seen on Totally Looks Like, a picture-based site in the I Can Has Cheezburger network that allows users to visually point out look-a-like celebrities, animals, products, and more, these two perfumes are packaged suspiciously similarly.

On the left we have the perfume Nina by designer Nina Ricci, which debuted in its apple-shaped, red bottle in 2006. On the right, is Hot Topic’s Forbidden Fruit, a scent tie-in to the movie/book phenomenon Twilight, which, obviously, debuted after Ricci’s.

The similarities are undeniable; they are near twins except for the gold versus silver leaves and stem. In fact, Nina Ricci’s team thought the look was legally too close for comfort: the design house is suing. Even though an apple was a natural choice for the teen vampire product as it has already been a featured symbol of Twilight, such an obvious imitation is never the right choice. The leaves, shape, size, etc. could have and should have been different. Not to mention there is already a perfume deemed “Forbidden Fruit.” The first F.F. scent was created as a Desperate Housewives marketing ploy. Is that a second lawsuit I smell?

When perusing celebrity snapshots it’s hard to decide whether to highlight the ones that look amazing or those that missed the mark. So why not show some of each?

Okay, Kristen Stewart, star of the hit movie Twilight, I get that your a newly popular twenty something that wants the “I don’t care,” do it yourself, purposefully messy look, but this is just too much. Brush and blow dry your hair next time. And please, stop doing that awkward side pucker.

There’s not much exciting to Jennifer Connelly’s outfit for David Letterman tonight, December 8, but she makes head-to-toe black look so casual sexy. This is the first time I have ever appreciated any kind of ankle boot. But then again, can Jennifer Connelly look bad? That sleek, shiny hair! Those eyes!

Oh, Ashanti. Your face is so pretty, but turtlenecks are so hard to pull off without looking full faced. Didn’t anybody tell you that? Try wearing some hair down, or a darker color, next time.

Eva Mendes, you certainly were brave wearing this slippery, pale frock to the British Comedy Awards this weekend. But, alas, your naturally tanned complexion and kick ass body make this slip look good.

Take notes, Kristen Stewart, at the Vicky Christina Barcelona New York screening Penelope Cruz shows us how to do the careless, imperfect hair look. It’s healthy and clean, touchable, and full of both body and movement.

Thanks for the continued entertainment, celebs. You know we love you … even if we don’t always love your look.

This weekend I reluctantly got toted along to watch the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace - that’s what I get for hanging out with two twenty something guys. It was my first James Bond movie ever and, although I went in fighting, I really enjoyed it!

However, did they use so much money on blowing things up, crashing cars, and paying stuntmen that they had nothing left over to hire a decent stylist to make the ladies of the film look good? Daniel Craig always looked ruggedly handsome and pulled together, but most of the actresses donned sloppy, ill-fitting, and gravely unflattering outfits.

Olga Kurylenko, playing Camille, was the first to get the wardrobe shaft. In her first big scene, which takes place on the docks and in speed boats, Olga/Camille wears a bright orange tank top; a unflattering, high-waisted, full-bodied, short skirt; and a clunky gold chain necklace shown here.

Gemma Arterton, as Agent Fields, never gets a good look … except when she’s naked, dead, and coated in oil. She breaks onto the scene with an awkward, too manly trench coat with nothing else showing but unfeminine boots. Later, she looks like Wilma Flintstone from the neck up, as seen here, but this dress had a special twist: the female pooch area faded to grey and was wrapped up with huge forward-facing bow.

There was a great little black dress that was splattered across movie posters, but for the most part the women’s costumes made them look frumpy. For women’s fashion, James Bond Quantum of Solace failed.

P.S. Sorry these were the best photos that I could find. With hope, better ones will eventually emerge.

Hey, celebrity, you look fabulous!

Hey, Reese Witherspoon, you totally rocked this blinged out little black dress ensemble at the Los Angeles Premiere for “Four Christmases” on Thursday, November 20.

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Hey there, Charlize Theron, do you ever look less than perfect? I am rarely a fan of white dresses for events other than your wedding, but you rocked this Grecian goddess look at the side of Stuart Townsend to the Grand Opening of Atlantis, The Palm Resort, and the Palm Jumeirah on Thursday, November 20, in Dubai.

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Hey, Ashley Olsen, congratulations on losing the worn out, tired, coke head look for at least one night. When you went to the MANGO opening in NYC on Thursday, November 20 your hair looked shiny and clean, your eyes sparkled with no sign of bags or under circles, and your mouth managed to not do that fake pouty thing that it loves to do.

No matter how much you think you might know about the name behind the famous fashion house of Chanel, there is easily more to the story then you know. Coco is one of the stongest fashion icons in style history and has a definitive rags to riches story. Shirley MacLaine stars as Coco in the new Lifetime Original movie Coco Chanel: She Conquered with Style that debuts this Saturday, September 13 at 8 p.m. EST.

While you await the film, checkout My Lifetime’s Coco Chanel page dedicated to the movie, the designer, and your interest in it all. Read up about Chanel’s life journey from orphanage to icon status; enter to win a Chanel bag and $2,000; and see Chanel’s designs on the runway, on celebrities, and all through the years. Then, take the Coco Chanel quiz to see how much you’ve learned.

But don’t forget to tune at 8 on Saturday!

Katie Holmes - and Tom and Suri - have been seen all over New York lately, and people have not been able to stop chattering about Katie’s clothes. “I hate to jump on this bandwagon, but Katie Holmes has been lookin’ so good everywhere I see her,” said one Bay Area newspaper’s blogger. US magazine called her a style icon and MVP.

There were just as many nay sayers, harping on her ever-shortening hair and baggy, cuffed jeans. But no one saw this coming …

On August 11, while attending the Tropic Thunder premiere, Katie wore a dress that had critics buzzing, trying to figure out who’s design it was. Then the news broke: Katie designed it herself, with the help of her personal stylist Jeanne Yang.

It’s not a grand slam creation, but designing and wearing her own idea is more than a lot of celebrities will ever do. Katie’s people are saying that there are no plans for a future line, but I hope that we will get to see her creative side on her back side at least a few more times.

Why is that when women get older, they become more aware of their body and what looks good on it, but men seem to panic and go in reverse? Here’s a prime example of each in the coupling of Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy at the California premiere of the movie “Pineapple Express.”

Jenny is looking phenomenal - she’s got a sleek, sexy, “I’m older than 30, but not telling you by how much” look going on. Her hair is polished, her look - the little black dress - is a classic one, and she followed the rule of showing either cleavage or legs.

Then we have Jim. Dating a woman 10 years younger than him, rocking a leather jacket in summer in California, and wearing sunglasses to pose for a photo.

All in all, an adorable couple (they even raise money walking marathons together!), but she’s maturing her fashion sense while his is going back to college.

Sisterhood stars Blake Lively, 20; Alexis Bledel, 26; America Ferrera, 24, and Amber Tamblyn, 25 attended the premiere of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 in New York City, today, Monday July 28.

The four actresses revisited their roles from the 2005 film version of the teen novel series written by Ann Brashares for a sequel this summer. Playing Bridget, Lena, Carmen, and Tibby (in order as the actresses stand, left to right), they bring four unique stories together on the big screen once again.

In addition to the quartet - who are each showing their own distinguished personal style here - three of Blake Lively’s Gossip Girl (also based on a teen novel series) costars showed up in support. Chace Crawford, Leighton Meester, and Ed Westwick all made appearances.

The new movie, in theaters next week (August 6 official release date), takes pieces of plot from the second and third novel in the series, but is largely based on number four: Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood.

Out promoting their newly released movie Get Smart in Rome, Italy on Monday, July 7, both Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway pulled off looking mature. Anne, who we usually see dressed down in her previous hits like The Devil Wears Prada and The Princess Diaries, appears to have kept the classy, chic haircut from her latest role. Steve, on the other hand, perfectly contrasted his nut-job characters with his handsome, casual look.

I may have found my favorite new fashion-based Web site: I Saw It In. The site is a collection of who wore what in which movie.

Here’s how I just used the site:

The second I saw Katherine Heigl’s 27 Dresses, I thought, “I have to have that dress that she wears to the club!” But I had no idea what brand or designer made it. Today, I browsed over to I Saw It In, clicked on 27 Dresses, and skimmed through the dozen or so screen shots to find the dress that had me drooling.

Voila!

It’s a Temperley London dress and is currently on sale for half of the original price, making it … darn … it’s still a $630 dress. But at least now I can scope out their other designs, linger in the clearance section, and gather inspiration to make my own.

(In the movie, it was a jade color. This shade shown here is the only color left.)