12 photos in galleryIn the upcoming ABC Family original series Jane By Design, Andie MacDowell plays, in the words of the network, a “glamorous fashion executive [who] travels the world in search of the next big style trend.“ In other words, we can’t wait to see what the costume designers put her in; I have my fingers crossed for a fur turban. In honor of MacDowell’s return to the public eye, though, we thought it might be fun to take a look at what she’s worn out and about over the last few years. No fur turbans — YET — but there’s many a gown for you to peruse, and as a bonus, seeing how awesomely her face has aged may inspire you to moisturize and drink more water. Which might be your New Year’s resolution anyway. Win-win.
Jane By Design premieres tonight (January 3rd) at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. central time) on ABC Family, and airs every Tuesday after Switched at Birth.
Comments (61):
Why is this a retrospectfug when it’s really more of a retrowellplayed? Was there a single questionable outfit?
Keyword: sponsored retrospectfug
The opinions in those posts are always our own; we will never write anything we don’t believe, and we were not required to keep this positive. We just don’t have as pithy a word as “retrospectfug” for the complimentary stuff.
Actually, I was surprised to see that she almost always looked good at red carpet events. Who knew?
I sometimes think the models-turned-actresses are usually the ones most likely to get it right on the red carpet. (I used to say it about Halle, but she has gone the mutton/lamb route lately – it’s only that amazing face that saves her.) These are women who were trained to be aware of how their image is captured on camera, and what does and doesn’t look good on them.
(As an aside – I remember during Michelle Obama’s visit to France that they were trying to compare her style as equal or superior to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy’s. I laughed and laughed and laughed at that.)
Andie MacDowell isn’t a brilliant actress, but she is undeniably gorgeous, and I love she hasn’t apparently Botoxed her face into unrecognizability.
Say want you want about her acting abilities (and I agree, they are marginal), the woman knows what looks good on her. 12 different dresses, and not a single one made me wince. How many celebs can you say that about?
If I thought that skin was entirely due to moisturizer and hydration, I’d drink a lot more water. She does look amazing, but there has to be much more to her skin-care routine than that.
She grinds her superior genome into a fine powder, makes a paste of it with a little water and unicorn tears every morning, and rubs it in. Duh.
lol
Someone once asked Lauren Hutton – in her later years – why she looked age defyingly younger.
She credited it to the fact that as a model, not only did she had to take care of her skin from a relatively young age, but she also had professionals helping her take care of her skin.
I don’t know if it’s all about moisturizer and hydration, but I think it’s just it’s part of AM’s job to look good, so she pays attention to her skin. I’m sure most of these celebrities have dermatologists on their speed dial.
Of course they do! A family friend of ours is a nurse in a dermatologist’s office in Hollywood, and has met so many celebrities she’s totally blase about it.
I have to admit, I miss her curly curls. I don’t like the straight hair on her as much.
But yes, her skin is amazing still.
The straight hair makes her look too much like Mimi Rogers. But Andie definitely looks terrific and knows how to dress to flatter her thankfully not too thin figure.
Her curly hair is so pretty, it makes me sad when she straightens in.
She looks great in all of those
I am not sure what other movies she’s been in, to be honest.. Green Card?
Sex, Lies and Videotape
Tarzan (Greystoke)
St. Elmo’s Fire
Groundhog Day
Michael
Multiplicity
Town and Country
Bad Girls
…can’t forget Hudson Hawk…
(it’s sooooo bad it’s good…or at least funny)
Thank you! I guess I could have just looked on IMDB
I kinda wish this retrospective would have gone back further in time, all these pics are from the post stylist era…You know if you look back far enough that Demi was wearing bike shorts on the red carpet Andie probably had some crazeballs outfits.
And yeah, I’m pretty sure the Andie, Kari and Ash combo was a L’oreal thing as they all are/were the faces of it for a time.
Yeah, unfortunately our photo license didn’t go back that far — sadly.
wow!! that 2nd pic of aishwarya rai..sigh…now i can see why she often is voted the most beautiful woman in the world
I’ve had a serious crush ever since I saw Devdas in college. Have you seen it? You need to. It’s a super tragic love story/musical and the clothing is freaking gorgeous.
Devdas is awesome. “DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!”
I re-watched “Four Wedding and a Funeral” this weekend. She really is just not a good actress. Really brought the movie down from being great.
but she is freakin’ pretty and mostly always well dressed.
Her forehead is Botoxed into oblivion, but I appreciate that the rest of her face seems to be mostly untouched. She is certainly a terrible actor, but I’ve always liked her, mostly because she looks a lot like my sister.
AM is one of my all-time crushes, starting way back in 1981 with this:
http://youtu.be/pMuccU4xvLA?t=3m6s
Lovely lady but awful actress.
I think the Kerry/Aishwarya/Andie business was some Revlon campaign…..why I remember this? I do not know….
Is this the first sponsored fug? Neat idea on the part of the promoters, and I don’t mind it so long as the fun u-sponsored fugs are predominant.
Also, the opinions in any sponsored post are always our own, just so you know. We wouldn’t agree to write something we didn’t believe. It worked out well that Andie looks great most of the time.
Fashion syllogisme :
L’Oreal is the sponsor of le festival de Cannes;
Aishwarya Rai, Kerry Washington, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh and Andie Mac Dowell are ( or used to be) L’Oreal ambassadrices;
They show up on the red carpet of the festival.
ambassadrices = my first best new word of 2012. thank you gaelle.
I’ve always irrationally disliked Andie McDowled … maybe because the movie Groundhog Day terrifies me. I mean since I was a small child, I have disliked her and any movie she has been in. Maybe she reminds me of my mean kindergarten teacher? … BUT I love this slideshow. She looks so pretty! Her outfits are tasteful and they fit and she picks good colors. You ladies may have changed my entire opinion of this woman in 12 well chosen photos.
She looks excellent sleeveless, even in the orange sofa upholstery, but all the sleeves are too tight and unflattering somehow.
And, gosh, if it’s sponsored, if they’re paying for your praise, let them pony up for a photo license to go back as far as you want. I’m having a hard time with the whole idea, I guess. I understand you have to make a living, but maybe you can charge a lot more for the huge side ads, and the junk on top that take so much bandwidth to download. Or maybe add a “donate” button? Heck, you deserve at least a buck a month from every one of us frequent flyers.
She looks gorgeous in every dress. Well done, fellow South Carolinian…. plus, she doesn’t look snipped and botoxed. The burgundy dress was just fantastic on her. She is so pretty.
Maybe that’s also what I love about her. The lack of snipping and botoxing.
I have an almost irrational aversion to Andi MacDowell ever since she ruined both Groundhog Day and St. Elmo’s Fire with her smug yet terrible acting. Bill Murray and Emilio Estevez were too good for the pining they did for her.
I thought she was cute in Beauty Shop.
Anyway, she’s so gorgeous and every dress in these pics flatter her. Oh, to be …
Oh wow, my kingdom for the dresses in slides 10 and 11. But what is going on with Aishwarya’s leg in that second pic of her? I’ve been staring at it for ages but can’t work it out. Surely somone that beautiful doesn’t have legs that lumpy….
I was wondering the same thing. I stared at it for awhile. I can’t figure it out.
I’ve loved Andie ever since her modelling days. There’s something about her beauty that’s comforting. Certainly unconventional but I can’t really describe it. And I love that she lives on a farm.
I need to shop with her! I am not a floral girl,but both floral gowns (pics 1 and 10) are fantastic. She is so pretty. Also, agreed on the Aishywara Rai leg issue. It baffled and disturbed me. Maybe it is her secret shame (lord knows the rest of her is flawless.)
ALL the L’Oréal girls walk the Cannes red carpet every evening. They take turns and show up as part of the “dream team”. Diane Kruger herself goes to Cannes for that reason (parading Pacey around is an added bonus!) Every day they switch. You get Eva Longoria, Aishwarya Rai and their friends posing together and even going to Le Grand Journal (French talk show live from Cannes during th festival) while they really have nothing to promote there BUT it’s always a good moment for fashion (seeing Pacey being paraded around is an added bonus!)
It premieres tonight… and sorry folks but I’m betting it’s an early 2012 cancellation (although please Gods of Fashion destroy WORKING IT first… not for any GLAAD reason – it’s just terrible.)
She is one class act. And my kingdom for that white lace dress in photo number 9! Must. Have.
I’ll start by saying, yes, she looks pretty damn great in every pic. Lovely, almost ageless (which is totally annoying, in that me at 33 look older than her) person. However, HOLY SHIT, I cannot stand her acting. I’ve always said that you could put a freakin’ cardboard cutout of her in her place in every movie and BAM just as good a job.
I don’t mean to be an arsehole but far out this seemed phoned in. Maybe because it was sponsored my natural cynicism kicked in but I thought a few of those dresses would have gotten at least a question mark. Like the light blue one where she looks like she’s missing a boob. Or the orange one which, while a great colour, certainly precariously walked the ‘these used to be curtains’ line.
Then again I am a curmudgeon so it could just be that.
I’d have to agree with you. I know the girls have said several times they wouldn’t write anything they didn’t believe – and I believe them – but it does seem odd that in this sponsored post, they didn’t find anything to question (agreed on the curtain-esque dress). Or pictures of less flattering dresses to post. Certainly the woman has made at least one fashion faux-pas in the last decade! I enjoy my fashion critique with a bit of bite, which is why I love this site – bring back the snark!
Hate to agree, but agree. There have been quite a few of these retrospectfugs lately, and this had the fewest photos and sparsest comments by far, not to mention some seriously questionable footwear left without comment. My husband has a line that “Andie McDowell ruins everything” (referring mostly to Groundhog Day). I still don’t agree with him, but that line definitely came to mind!
Basically, Andie looks good all the time! The woman is GORGEOUS and the last 2 dresses are AWESOME!!! Sadly, even though I had written down in my calendar that the premiere of her show was tonight, I missed it; so, I’ll watch it if they rerun it! And, she was very good in the indie film “Daydream Nation” (2010)!
What do I have to do to have her face and body in my next life? Ah forget it, I’m not that saintly.
This may sound odd, but I never realized how pretty she is. And with pretty good taste in clothing to boot (no pun intended).
Michelle Dockery is the star of Andie MacDowell’s Inhumanly Perfect Skin: The Next Generation.
After seeing all the places she’s been in the last few years, I’m not only jealous of her very nice style, but I’m deeply coveting her LIFE. I want to wear an awesome gown on a red carpet in a foreign country. Of course, later today, I will be slinking around in a pair of old jeans in the grocery store in the South. That’s, er, close. ::cough::
Maybe I’m biased since I love her in “Hudson Hawk” but dang, she looks good!
Not only can she wear great clothes, but she has excellent taste (or at least a very good stylist that she feels secure enough to trust). I love that floral print gown and her pose in front of gorgeous blue, copper and white Russian building–it is perfect. As for her acting, she’s not that bad, and many who are more famous than she are a lot worse. I don’t think Sex, Lies, and Videotape would have been the success it was without her contribution; and there are films like Diane Keaton’s Unstrung Heroes or Altman’s Short Cuts where her performances were very good. She does choose good roles, and then seems to choose the big budget Hollywood roles where she doesn’t need to do much more than just turn in a flat performance (but then again, those characters are pretty much flat characters anyway). I don’t mind defending her acting ability because it’s actually there, given the right role: you really can’t say that for too many actresses or actors at this point (and if you don’t believe me, ask yourself the last time you saw Halle Berry choose a movie you wanted to see–except for her lucky break in Monster’s Ball, they are all forgettable to a one. Beautiful woman, talentless in choosing films).
I just realized Iove her. Hands down, pretties woman ever.
Gads, I hope I hold up half as well as she has. She’s stunning.
Andie, if nothing else, knows how to style herself beautifully and even as a man, I am inspired ;3
Lots of beautiful outfits here, although I think she looks far better in colors (aside from navy which I find aging on her) than in black or white.
And I thought she was note-perfect in Sex Lies and Videotape.