Sequins & Skin: Grammy Fashion 2010
Welcome to the Year of the Diva. Platform-wearing, sequins-dripping, note-trilling ladies offered the only truly interesting performance and fashion moments at last night's Grammy Awards — which was, as usual, brimming over with boring "tributes," incongruous performances and WTF award wins (do the kids still listen to Green Day?).
Thankfully, the lineup of freaky fashion cured our impending ennui. Not only did this year's divas turn it out, sartorially speaking, they also took it off. Nudity is the new black, apparently. And flesh-colored body stockings? Yeah, they're the new statement shoulder.
Here's a closer look at the fashion (and well-waxed flesh) from last night's festivities:
Taking a break from her spiky-shouldered getups, Rihanna wore a stunning ivory Elie Saab gown that made her look like an intergalactic princess. The high collar and strong shoulders might have overwhelmed a lesser mortal, but regal Ri-Ri pulled it off.
Beyonce chose a typically perplexing red carpet look — this one mixing Eighties tribal shapes with shiny khaki-toned material — that suggested a post-awards show scuba trip. She went more high-fashion during her performance in a tough-but-sweet strapless minidress that looked like it was woven out of old LPs. But she mistepped again when she accepted her "Best Female Vocalist" award in a bulky minidress that might have been made from a barrel of nuts and bolts.
Lady Gaga, whose fashion choices we've dissected in great detail, continued to spoon-feed us her seering talent through a skrim of outrageous fashion. She performed solo and with Elton John in a pastel green sequined leotard bearing a Jetsons skirt-lette and massive puffy shoulders. Her red carpet outfit — a custom Armani Prive dress orbited by countless satellites — was equally insane...ly awesome. She's really starting to look like a character in some space fable. And I still contend that she's bringing fun back to music style like no other.
Katy Perry, who usually goes for eye-popping colors, chose a flesh-colored Zac Posen frock peppered with metallic gold flowers and glitter. And really, this fugly dress does her no favors. The color is wrong for her skin, the cut makes her look overly busty (which she's not) and the metallic flowers look like they were pasted on by a class of kindergarteners.
I've never been a fan of the mermaid silhouette, and Pink's trumpeting tri-colored confection just leaves me cold. In a solid color it might make for a winning Oscar's gown. But the jarring color changes just make it look cheap. But if we suspected Pink was losing it on the red carpet, we knew she was entirey without her marbles when she performed a Cirque du Soleil aerial routine in a flesh-toned body stocking criss-crossed with white stripes. Soaking wet. I guess the whole thing just made me feel bad for her; it felt like she was going to such great lengths to bolster up a waning career in the face of greater divas.
Fergie looked like something straight out of Metropolis during the Black Eyed Peas performance, sporting a patent leather-looking leotard and metallic silver leggings, but went short and colorful on the red carpet in an electric blue minidress with a snaking silver shoulder strap. I was less than wowed by either outfit, but have to give her props on always looking pulled-together.
Jennifer Hudson's never looked better than she did last night, wearing a short-and-structured black Victoria Beckham that shows of her new-found svelteness and cool-girl bangs. And it's so nice to not be blinded by sequins and rhinestones every once in a while.
I might quibble with the porn-star hair and low-hanging necklace, but this Herve Leger by Max Azria dress is a perfect fit for Miley Cyrus. It's young and flirty without traipsing into Overtly Sexy Land.
"Best Album of the Year" winner Taylor Swift's "Oh Gee, I can't believe I won again!" schtick is wearing rather thin these days. But she's looking as cute as ever. At the Grammys, she played the part of the pretty ingenue to a tee in a sequined deep torquoise off-the-shoulder gown by Kaufman Franco. True, it was really more of a movie awards show dress. But still unassailably beautiful.