SAG Awards Fashion: zzzzzzzz……

I had the most difficult time picking out my likes and dislikes on the red carpet at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. My reaction to most dresses was, “Yeah. Okay. Next.” Nothing stood out as a magnificent testament to style, while nothing made me groan, either. (Unless you consider Helena Bonham Carter, but it’s so clear that she dresses like a clown merely for dramatic effect, so she doesn’t really count.)

After serious deliberation, I’ve chosen these as my faves:

Mariska Hargitay

Heather Morris

Sofia Vergara

Hilary Swank

On the flip side were these errors in judgment:

Jenna Fischer

Melissa Leo

January Jones

Jennifer Lawrence

Mila Kunis

Australian Open: The Ace and the Fault

Setting aside the fact that I find Maria Sharapova incredibly tiresome, irritating, and annoying, her tennis outfits are consistently stylish, tasteful, and flattering. This year’s ensemble for the Australian open is no exception:

Tennis is one of the few style arenas where matchy-matchy actually works (unless you’re a guy, in which case it looks like you’ve been dressed by your mommy).

Alas, “stylish,” “tasteful,” and “flattering” are not words that even remotely come to mind when describing this disaster on Venus Williams:

It looks like she’s trying way too hard to be fashionable and edgy. Instead, she just looks foolish.

 

 

2011 Golden Globes — Hits and Misses

Beauty and elegance:

Amy Adams

Piper Perabo

Scarlett Johansson

Anne Hathaway

Catherine Zeta-Jones

What were you thinking?:

Helena Bonham Carter

Heidi Klum

Tilda Swinton

January Jones

Shooz

Please note the addition of Shooz!, a new Elle Ink page. (See the nav bar above.) Stop by for a visit and let me know what you think.

More Long Hair over 50

Photos of older (and I use the term loosely and respectfully) women with long hair—both celebrities and non—have received more hits than any of my other posts. So here you go…over-50 celebs sporting fabulous longer ‘dos.

Rene Russo, age 56

Holly Hunter, age 52

Maria Shriver, age 55

Michelle Pfeiffer, age 52

Christie Brinkley, age 56

Just wondering…

What does it mean when a young mother won’t allow her baby’s uncle to touch him because she fears the child will catch the young man’s STD? Did she miss the “sexually” part in “sexually transmitted disease?”

And what does it say about her knowledge of infant health and immunities when she refuses to even attempt to breastfeed her son because, in her words, “It’s icky.”

Ignorance is a terrifying thing. Let’s hope, for the baby’s sake, it’s not genetic.

Handbag Super Sale

I love handbags…the bigger, the better. That’s why I fell in love with the Soothsayer Satchel from Anthropologie.

It’s 15″ high x 14″ wide, so it’s a safe bet that it will accommodate all the junk I carry with me on a daily basis. I normally buy leather bags, so the fact that this one is canvas is a true departure for me. But I’m guessing it will be lightweight, which is a definite plus.

Perhaps best of all is the price: reduced from $298 (absurd for a cotton bag, in my humble opinion) to $69.95. Such a deal!

I promise to report back as soon as it arrives.

Style…Optional

I used to live in New York. I used to live in LA. Some of my best style ideas came from watching the people I saw on the street, where fashion creativity reigned supreme. It wasn’t always good, mind you, but there were ideas to be found and outfits at which to marvel and snicker.

Now I live in a small town in the Sierra foothills where style is optional. Very optional.

That’s not a criticism. In truth, it’s more of an observation. When I first moved here, I fell in love with the beauty and charm of the area, and those things still affect me in a positive way. When friends come to visit, I like taking them for a stroll along the main street of town, which is filled with small shops and places to have a great cup of coffee.  But when you look around at the people, it’s a little startling.

In the spring and summer, you’re likely to see women in shapeless dresses or terribly unflattering shorts. In the fall and winter, bulky layers rule: a clump of fabric wrapped around a skirt worn over leggings, with more tops than I can count. It reminds me of the Incan women I saw in Peru who wear all their clothes at once, lest someone steal them.

In the first year of living here, my biggest fear was that I would go native, succumbing to the anything-goes rule. My worst nightmare was that one of my friends from New York would somehow see me dressed like a local and write me off as a lost cause. I eventually realized that there wasn’t even the remotest chance of that happening, because I have too much fun with style to abandon it completely.

I like to dress up. I like to put outfits together. I like to accessorize. And if on any given day I’m the only person walking down Broad Street wearing skinny jeans and heels, so be it.

And that person you might have seen walking into spin class wearing cropped workout pants and Ugg boots? That wasn’t me. Really. Honest. No kidding. (Anyway, I changed into cycling shoes as soon as I got inside.)

Post-Holiday Bling

Recently, I have been entertaining a love affair with bling. I wear a lot of black and grey—and always will, no matter what—so bling helps add a dimension of interest to my otherwise staid, boring, predictable, classic, monochromatic wardrobe.

This most recent acquisition, a  Kenneth Jay Lane crystal bib necklace, was a gift from my husband for my birthday. I’ve worn it dozens of times since he gave it to me, and I consistently get compliments on it.

It’s now on sale at Bloomingdale’s, which is the curse of those of us who have mid-December birthdays. Everything goes on sale after Christmas, so people who opt to give us gifts never get a break.

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.