02 December 2007

Forgive me, but...

I was just about to put the final touches on my follow-up to the "Duhn't" piece from last Wednesday when I had the deeply painful misfortune to come across these pictures below.

And frankly, as much as I want to keep my word and show you examples of Lindsay/Mary-Kate/Rihanna/Paris on more flattering days, I really can't do much of anything right now due to the fact that my eyes are bleeding.

This woman swung her third style strike with me back in the late '90s with this gem, so it's not like I'm devastated or surprised or anything like that, but still, this dress is an amateurish compilation of fit, color and fabric mistakes that even she should have recognized.

At your own risk, Beyoncé at 'Movies Rock 2007' earlier this evening in a skin-tight mermaid-style satin bodystocking by Zac Posen:
You know, hon, I wouldn't give them that angle, either...

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

aeeeeyiiyah! dear lord! you can tell she didn't use any kind of bodyshaper, either, because...um, I think I can see cellulite through the dress.

She's gorgeous, talented and seems like a sweet girl but damn, she really needs to invest in a more honest stylist.

Anonymous said...

I think she has this dress in every color of the rainbow. Just plain awful.

Elle said...

And to think she has her own fashion line....

Anonymous said...

That dress wouldn't have looked good on anyone but on her it's a disaster. She needs to retire the pageant dresses and she needs to walk the holy heck away from anything satin.

Anonymous said...

Good gawd!

Lady Tiara said...

she needs to seriously rethink her stylist. maybe she doesn't have one. it's hard to imagine even a really awful stylist letting a client walk the red carpet in that mess. i do feel a bit for beyonce though. when you see her mother's "designs," it's quite clear that b didn't have much in the way of style training as a child.

Anonymous said...

I usually defend Beyonce on this site, but this time, I have no words. She looks a mess.

Anonymous said...

I think she looks all right. It's got a Jessica Rabbit appeal to it. She's curvy, but not lumpy.

Anonymous said...

anonymous 10:47, really, you think this is okay? I'm a bigger girl, myself (size 12), and I am embarrassed for her in this photo. Not only does she look wretchedly uncomfortably, but she also looks comical. That color, that fabric, that horrible fit - I just want to put a comforter around her.

Johanna, it's not often I think this, but I agree with you completely on this one.

Anonymous said...

Shrek?

Anonymous said...

um, this is possibly the first time I feel that I look better than a celebrity usually considered "sexy".

Anonymous said...

I don't care one stitch about Beyonce, but I do care about fashion (I'm Anon 10:47), and I can see the point of view with this dress. And before the collective eye-rolling starts, hear me out.

Yes, the color is bold, the cut is extreme and the fabric daring. It's not "flattering" in the sense that she looks slimmer than she is. However, I don't think that's what she or Zac Posen were going for with this dress. The color-cut-fabric choice is meant to create an extreme, exagerrated, perhaps even jarring look. She's hourglass to the max in this. Like I said before, Jessica Rabbit-esque.

And while some, who may (or may not) believe dressing oneself is only about downsizing this, hiding that or playing up only the slimmest parts of the female body, especially for women like Beyonce (and let me insert here that I'm not the same body type as Beyonce so there's nothing personal going on here), I happen to think that there are times and places where it's cool, almost artful, to exaggerate certain features. We already widely accept this for slim women: we have micro minis for people with long legs, deep v-necks for nice cleavage, corsets for small waists, etc. The point is, all of those looks are exaggerated, and so is the dress on Beyonce. In this case, the dress exaggerates Beyonce's (size 10?) hourglass frame perfectly. The dress lays smoothly, her bust-to-waist-to-hip lines are clearly defined (this is what I meant by "not lumpy") and the flare at the bottom of the dress only works to add to the startling curves that catch the eye in the first place.

So yes, it's risque; yes, it's extreme; yes, it's startling to some extent. But that's fashion. It's not always meant to be slimming and "pretty."

And no, I didn't write all this to try to change people's minds about what they think fashion is or isn't. That, I understand, is totally in the eye of the beholder. I just want to express another opinion on the matter that is often lost in DC.

PS - Sorry if this posts twice, technology is not my strong suit.

Johanna said...

To the previous poster, I don't quite see how this dress (or its color) is particularly fashion forward, risque or extreme, but that's not really my point.

I, too, am extremely interested in fashion, and I appreciate - I may not *like* everything they wear but I appreciate - risk takers like Chloe, Charlotte, the Olsens, etc., but I'm sorry, there is a difference between choosing something that isn't meant to slim and choosing something that is *grossly* ill-fitting. When I look at these photos of the beautiful Beyonce, all I see is puckering, mid-section rolls, cellulite (you can easily see it through the fabric) and near-bursting seams. The fit is so poor that whatever bit of fashion-forwardness this dress might have had on someone else is completely lost on her.

And I know that it's the fit not Beyonce's body, because just a few days ago, I saw photos of her wearing jeans and a jacket and then an Armani Prive dress, both of which looked fabulous on her.

But that's just my view. I really do appreciate your willingness to voice yours.

best,
J

Anonymous said...

This woman is the polar opposite of fashion forward. She's stuck in an early 90's Miss America pageant. So is this dress, Posen or not.

More often than not, she's tacky and gaudy, neither of which should be mistaken for fashion-forwardness.

DC Newlywed said...

I can't stand the way she dresses...this particular look is definitely an eye sore.

Anonymous said...

I'm with DC Stylist. This is really really bad.

Anonymous said...

Let's hope she doen't need to go to the toilet.