Fashion Watch

Ah, Venice

Before we get on to the fun trashy insanity of the VMAs (I’ve already seen a glimpse of what appears to be Jennifer Lopez wearing a beanie), let’s allow the Venice Film Festival to inject some class into proceedings in the form of:

Mia Kirshner

Scarlet Johansson

Sandra Bullock

and

Diane Lane.

Charming ladies, one and all (though especially Ms Johansson).

Cannes 2006

Slightly belated, the fashion highs and lows of the Cannes Film Festival 2006.

Best dressed: Cate Blanchett in Alexander McQueen, Penelope Cruz in white-yellow Dior and then red and blue strapless gowns, and Diane Kruger in Chanel Couture.

Worst dressed: Miranda Richardson, and Juliette Binoche. Two women in their forties who need some advice about shape and support desperately.

I thought Kristen Dunst’s Rochas gown was stunning, though the hairstyle really didn’t work. She’s got this long red hair, presumably for a film, and I think it could have been much better dealt with than that milk-maid style.

Hold the press. French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld wearing something other than black. That woman really needs to fix her hair.

Among those splitting the difference was Rosario Dawson, who looked fabulous in black and white at one event and not nearly so great in rubbery black at another. X-Men co-stars Anna Paquin - black sack for day, pretty one-shouldered blue for night - and Halle Berry - classy black strapless for day, overly globe-tastic flesh tones for night - did the same.

Their co-stars Famke Janssen and Rebecca Romijn stuck with paler colours and were more consistently well dressed.

Avril Lavigne is growing up and has the tiny frame to pull off those horizontal stripes by Armani as few could. Her hair’s a couple a shades too blonde though.

Kate Bosworth needs to eat a sandwich, stop slicking her hair back and step away from the red lipstick.

Michelle Yeoh looked stylish in gold, and then in white with a delicate floral pattern.

Julie Delpy’s red dress would have been perfect if only it came in a larger cup size, while pregnancy meant that Maggie Gyllenhaal’s penchant for bralessness now worked for her where previously (and I fear in the future) it was just a recipe for sag.

Taking some of the good and some of the bad

Oh dear.

I have always thought that Christy Turlington was one of the most stunning looking women out there. Not, however, in a shiny layered skirt, army shirt and tie. That, at the Vanity Fair Tribeca Film Festival Party, is the very definition of mismatched and ugly.

It was also a dubious night for another super-stylish woman, Iman. I like most of her flouncy purple gown, including the great colour, but the bottom of that dress is too much like an over-wrought dust ruffle.

Meanwhile the top of Kelly Lynch's green gown is an exercise is uselessness. The odd belt/lariat combination seems to be intended to be hard-edged, but the fly-aways at the sides of the top totally work against it, and the whole thing just looks a mess. Not to mention that I'm sure that skirt creased like crazy the minute she sat down.

Gayle King overdid the red a bit, but when each individual piece is so sharp, who can blame her?

Gina Gershon was also stylish in red.

Edie Falco kept in simple in a lovely midnight blue wrap top and pants.

Proving to Christy et al that layers can work, in moderation, was Jessica Seinfeld in olive with a metallic belt.

Too Much!

Where, oh where to begin?

The combat pants with what appear to be black round-toed pumps? The utilitarian black mid-riff bearing singlet with black lace tippet? The rollercoaster waved hair? The fact that Pink is wearing all of those things at once? The fact that in wearing all of those things at once she's making Shannyn "Audio Science is a good name for a child" Sossamon's ruffled tent dress and black hose look almost stylish. Hey! I said "almost".

Sheer black + flash cameras = plain old flashing

I think that Gwyneth Paltrow’s long hair looks particularly luminous and pretty, but parting it in the middle and tucking in behind her ears 70s school girl style as she did at the London Film Festival screening of Proof is not the most flattering way to wear it, and certainly didn’t manage to provide a much needed shield against flash-bulb sheer black dress syndrome. As for the dress itself, I’m sure it was lovely when not exposed to the flash (literally and figuratively).

Toronto is Black

I don't know if it was Katrina or coincidence, but at the Toronto International Film Festival it was all about black, and not much of it was particularly attractive.

But we'll start with those that broke the trend. Brushing off NC-17 threesome controversies Rachel Blanchard remained stylish throughout, including in dusty pink and sleeveless gold lace.

The premiere of Trust the Man also appeared to have a no-black invitation, because even those who sported black at other events went with brown, copper and golden tones. Maggie Gyllenhaal's brown lace dress was attractive, her ever present bra-less slouch was not. Eva Mendes went lady-like in pink and white. Claire Danes wore floor-length white with metallic details and actually appeared on Billy Crudup's arm. I guess enough time has passed. Julianne Moore wore strapless golden beige though her black platforms were too heavy for the dress.

Naomi Watts also went with a pale cream dress at the Everything is Illuminated screening, unfortunately it too closely resembled a shredded mesh curtain.

At the Harsh Times screening Eva Longoria wore bright ruched fushia and it worked wonderfully.

Judy Greer looked smashing in long and lean florals even if her shoes didn't match, and Keira Knightley rocked in Roland Mouret.

But then it was on to the black. And, as I said, not much of it was as flattering as black should be. Even on Charlize Theron.

Less surprisingly on the slouch twins Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kirsten Dunst.

Then there was Kyra Sedgwick, Rachel McAdams, Hope Davis and Gwyneth Paltrow.

And Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon and Maria Bello.

Claire Danes, Anne Hathaway, Madonna and Felicity Huffman.

And coming tomorrow that double-header with potential for the sublime and the ridiculous: the Emmys and the Brownlow.

TIFF Coming Soon

I will be getting to the fashion stylings at the Toronto Film Festival shortly, though I note my initial impression has been: did they hand out black sack dresses at the airport and require everyone to wear them?

Festival Round-up: White wins, patterns loose

Before we head off to the highs and lows of fashion week, we have the duelling film festivals in Venice and Deauville. Festival watching is interesting because, like the increasingly common cross-Europe premiere junkets, they tend to be a showcase for the same people over and over again at different events and a good test of whether a stylist can put together a good travelling wardrobe.

Let's start with Kirsten Dunst, promoting Elizabethtown (a film for which I have high hopes that I trust you will not disappoint Mr Crowe). The film has shown at both festivals, so Ms Dunst has had a variety of opportunities to show off sartorially. Unfortunately, the overall effect has been less than thrilling. Not horrible, certainly, but not successful either. First, because despite numerous tellings-off by the Fug Girls, Kiki still has not learned that she does indeed need a bra. And that while I didn't actually mind her VMAs dress, sack-dressing really isn't for her (or, well, anyone).

Her "casual" arrival in Venice dress was a brown floral sack dress, and while she does actually appear to be bra-ed-up, it had no noticeable affect and seemed to be purely for cute underwear purposes. At the actual screening she wore a skirt and top in a difficult to wear green and in a much more flattering cut. However, no bra. I actually think she doesn't do too badly in the colour, which would turn most skin to a pea-soup pallor, and the belt is lovely, but the saggy boobs are a distraction.

Over at Deauville, the daytime look was a covered up, washed out, oddly checked number, which is not horrible but not particularly flattering either. For the evening her colour choice was a fabulous rich blue, unfortunately spoiled by the dress's attempt to flatten those boobs further. Why ruin such a lovely dress - and I'm talking to the designer here - by wrapping the waistband up across the top of the chest?

Not having any chest problems was Kirsten's Elizabethtown co-star Susan Sarandon. Ms Sarandon (who, remarkably, is the same age as my mother, but there the comparison stops - sorry Mum), has clearly chosen her cut and is sticking with it. It's cleavage forwarding, arm bearing, fitted across the torso and features black platform shoes. And if my arms and cleavage were that good at almost 60, I'd probably be going the same way. My only issue is the colours and patterns. Dull, dull, dull, and in the case of the peach, very blendy.

Then we have the supposedly stylish but actually not very Sienna Miller. Her daytime blue and white striped off-the-shoulder dress actually wasn't too bad in and of itself. While not many could wear it, she's unhealthily skinny enough to pull it off. Unfortunately she chose to pair it with booties that match in terms of colour but not style, and messy over-the-face hair. Braving the rain at night she certainly looked more cheerful in a grey, empire waisted gown with more attractive hair and lovely jewellery. The fabric of the dress does give off something of a curtain feel, but it's a grand improvement on the sacks and shorts she usually wears.

At the Cinderella Man events, Renee Zellweger wore a disappointing combination of patterns. First, what I assume is a Pucci print dress that still manages to wash her, and itself, out. Then a black and red rose print dress that seems exactly the same as everything we've seen her in at every event that isn't the Oscars.

Over at the premiere of Corpse Bride, Helena Bonham Carter looked a little bridal but not corpse-like in white, and quite stylish in comparison to her usual hotch-potch-meets-frumpy ensembles. Even during the day, when opting for colour that could head towards big-buttoned cartoonishness, she came off looking pretty good. Except for the polka dot sunglasses.

At the Brothers Grimm screening, Monica Bellucci worked her structured but slinky black gown and diamonds beautifully.

At the Serenity screening at Deauville, Summer Glau put her best ballet foot forward, but her gold brocade dress was somewhat ill-fitting. Almost too big and too short at the same time.

Ah, Bjork. Pink, multi-pleated dress and the red version of Sienna's booties, which don't go with this curtain-like outfit any more than with Sienna's dress. This makes her look grand-motherly.

At the Fragile events, Calista Flockhart looked film title appropriate in horizontal striped Missoni, and lovely in lavender, if a little drape-like, Versace.

Speaking of curtains, Anne Hathaway's brown diagonal ruffle and ribbon adorned dress at the Brokeback Mountain premiere, couldn't avoid that comparison either. Meanwhile, I really quite liked Maggie Gyllenhaal's wide-sleeved white wrap-around. It helps that she's standing up straight, but, at the risk of sounding like my mother, would it kill her to smile?

Finally, at the Good Night, and Good Luck premiere Patricia Clarkson looked fabulous in subtly draped white.

Cannes Wrap-Up

Yes, I'm a little late with the Cannes wrap-up, but what can you do?

There were four actresses consistently in front of the cameras in Cannes, jury member Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz and Sin City stars Jessica Alba and Britney Murphy.

Of those, Alba came out the real fashion winner, in consistently attractive though far from boring ensembles. Witness:

Silver sparkles and cleavage at the Dolce & Gabbana party.

Fabulous in black strapless, great jewellery and an up-do at the Sin City screening.

Her least successful outing was the AMFAR party, but it was by no means a dud, it's just that her black halter neck dress when paired with her slightly odd hair reminded me a little of an early 90s game show hostess.

Murphy seemed to choose an array of outfits that were too long, too overwhelming, or just not quite suited to her, though not necessarily awful in and of themselves:

In a booby white baby doll with an almost-bee-hive hairdo at Dolce & Gabanna.

The black and sheer dress at the Sin City screening just seemed to big and undefined for someone so little.

Then, at the AMFAR party, her white, silver and gold gown was about a mile too long, and is it just me, or can you picture it more easily on a much older woman?

Hayek, as has already mentioned below, was somewhat schizophrenic in her choices - mainly within the same dresses:

Attractive black over nude dress at the closing ceremony, completely ruined by the positioning of a giant red bow on her ass. What sane person who survived the 80s would be moved to wear a dress that included an ass bow, even when it's by Valentino?

While black + jewellery + up-do worked spectacularly for Alba at the Sin City
screening, a similar look was nowhere near as flattering on Hayek. The dress was too short and too low cut, the choker was too big and choking and the up-do was just too up.

But then there was Cruz, who varied between lovely, boring, and odd in her dress choices, not to mention that wig:

Clingy aqua sack dress and big wig at Dolce & Gabbana.

Stunning in pink florals and pretty hair at the closing ceremony.

Dull pale blue Dior strapless and fly-away hair, perhaps transitioning from "wig" to "pretty" at Naomi Campbell's party and the AMFAR party.

Oh, and a final note for Hilary Swank's black and white strapless gown which, I'm going to take a wild guess here, came from Chanel. I don't completely hate it, but yet it doesn't work. I think it's (a) the unnecessary bow; (b) the ponytail, which is getting old given she seems to wear a version of it on every red carpet she walks down; and (c) the giant pearl handbag.

A More Tasteful Evening in Cannes

Continuing at Cannes, Lauren Bush wore a gorgeous golden green gown to the Mandelay premiere. Not sure it needs to extraneous green tie bit at the front, but otherwise it was lovely.

Bryce Dallas Howard also shone in flowing beige, even if she continues to dress as if she's considerably older than she actually is.

Meanwhile, at the History of Violence premiere Maria Bello finally abandoned her recent prairie non-chic wardrobe in favour of an over-the-top princess dress, which is an improvement, though she still didn't look comfortable. Viggo, however, apparently wants a role on Deadwood.