5 photos in galleryThis one was another source of mild disagreement at GFY HQ: Jessica was intrigued pretty much across the board; I thought the depth of the pattern and its sparkle, which came through on TV, were a bit lost in photos. But mostly, I think it’s a classic case of the dress wearing the lady. Which is a shame, because this particular lady usually knows how to wear the hell out of a dress.
Loading ...[Photos: Getty]
Comments (63):
This dress just didn’t photograph well at all. I would think that any good stylist would take a picture of his or her client in a dress being considered to see how it would photograph. This dress looked great on TV, but almost ugly in pictures.
You’re right it didn’t photograph well… considering… there is no photograph. I suppose that is the definition of photographing poorly.
the photo didn’t show up in my feed.
Photo didn’t show up in my web browser!
mine either
The photos should work now. Thanks!
I think this looks like a bedspread from the Motel 6. I love her; I do not love the pattern.
Full disclosure: I generally prefer solid/metallic dresses to patterned ones; a pattern had to be AWESOME to win me over. But this one? Looks like a quilt.
Yes! I was thinking it also looked like my grandma’s dressing gown.
I actually unreservedly love this on her. I thought the pattern looked like a Monet painting and was just so different from what she normally wears.
Plus, pockets on a formal dress…I always love pockets on a formal dress.
Yes, my very first thought was “oh, pretty…waterlilies!”
I like this look from the waist down. I’d prefer to see the bodice in a solid shade (most likely green) and a more flattering cut. Also: can’t stand this hairstyle on her, pretty face or no.
Good grief, those are some beautiful people! I do love the colors, and her earrings, and it’s hard to go wrong with that face, but don’t care for the pattern.
They are both beautiful. Who cares that the dress is a bit much. I do like pockets, though.
Her tan line’s bad. Her boobs look like they’re being squished in the first shot, although, not so much in the other shots. The pattern’s a bit much. However, all-in-all, I still give it a weak thumbs up. Love her unreservedly!
The tan line is awful. Like they don’t know they have an awards show to attend! Why not apply bronzer or something to make it less obvious. It’s very distracting.
Agree! The first thing I thought was “Hello Tan Lines.” The second thing was, “That’s a lot of pattern.”
Hair down, make the neckline something besides straight across and we’re in business. I love patterns and am always so sad when none show up on the red carpet. Yes, this may be a little bedspread-ish, but I think that’s due to the cut up top more than anything. It has a tendency to look like she forgot a dress and just wrapped this around her instead.
But my god does she have great skin and a great face (and also that husband omg)!
I concur 100% about the neckline and the pretty pattern and her hairdo.
But the last photo darn near gave me seizures. Warn a gal, won’t you?
I’m with you 100% on the neckline and hairstyle and patterns in general. REminds me of Monet’s Water lilies.
But that last photo darn near gave me seizures. Warn a gal, won’t you?
I love the dress, pattern and cut and all. I think it’s her hairstyle. With so much dress I would have gone with bigger hair, so she didn’t look lopsided. As is, the proportions are out of whack and her head looks too small. Lovely, but small.
What Lils said: Needs more hair to balance out the skirt.
Thirding the hair. I know we’ve seen her in loose waves a million times, but that’s because she looks like a million bucks in them, and I think they’d balance this dress.
I agree that the hairstyle is the major problem here. It’s a gorgeous and interesting gown, but her above-the-shoulders styling is far too severe for it.
Love her and The Good Wife, can’t wait for the new season. This dress? I’m torn — agreed with the tan line comment, the lack of a necklace pains me and the hair is a bit severe — but it’s so different from what she usually wears (note to Elisabeth Moss: This is a better pattern than yours).
That being said….great skin and great smile (especially the fourth photo), and Keith Lieberthal on your arm and wearing a tux always makes everything look better.
The skirt seems really heavy. I saw her swoosh it around on the carpet, and I don’t think it is too heavy, it just looks that way. The dress might have worked better and not worn her so much if the skirt were somehow floatier.
So this was sort of my problem with this dress, as well. I loved the print and the fabric (I even didn’t mind the heavy weight of the fabric), but the cut of the skirt is unflattering on her–it widens her (and I think it’s really the cut that’s evoking the bedspread ideas, not as much the actual print). If the fabric were lighter and softer, the skirt would probably fall better and be floatier, as you suggest. That would be fine. But I think it would also be fine if the fabric remains slightly thick and stiff, and the skirt gets cut much closer to her body–I’m actually thinking that it should be quite narrow all the way down.
I agree – I LOVE this dress. It was stunning on TV which is really what counted at the time. However, her hair is so severe.
Tanlines! All I can see are the tanlines!
Me too @sop! That’s ALL I CAN SEEEEEE!
I’m not sold on this example of her taste in fabric. Her taste in mates, however, leaves me speechless, envious, and drooling.
I’m not really a fan of green or of floral designs in formal dresses, but I really love this dress. It’s like fine art.
When I saw this dress, I was positive you would review it with the words “grandma’s tablecloth.” Then I had to go through this whole argument with myself about what what Jess and Heather might say vs. what I personally thought, and if it is possible once someone gives you a psychic suggestion to ever see things with true perspective…. I want you two out of my brain, immediately. I DO love the pattern, very fresh and graceful. I personally would not have seamed it down the front, it calls attention to every awkward aspect of working with print. The top is a little bare…perhaps letting her hair down would help.
I dont like this at all. It’s too busy. Too much. Too much like my gran’s couch looking.
Her husband? I’m totally on board with him. He’s one sexy M.F. (Cue me singing Sexy M.F. ALL DAY NOW!)
My first thought was that she had taken a cue from Fraulein Maria and bedazzled the drapes from “The Sound of Music” .
Her face is undeniably awesome. However, she also has awesome hair, and so rarely seems to execute it well.
I sympathize, having a large mane of curls myself, but slicking them back isn’t always the answer.
Totally agree- enough with the slicked back society-matron hairdo on younger women!
Especially when she’s got great curly hair. Is this the red-carpet equivalent of a mom-do?
Also, it’s hard to wear anything this floral without looking like you’ve been upholstered, but she does pretty well.
I think she and the dress are lovely. A nice change from the boring black/beige/grey.
I’m shocked I’m going to say this because I don’t care for cosmetics all that much …but smoky eyes maybe? She looks washed out. Plus tan lines which makes her more like a “real person”, but doesn’t help the dress. Or looking washed out. Because the colors of the dress are fabulous.
I agree. I was thinking a stronger lip would have helped. But I love the dress. It has a wonderful vintage feel to it.
Like somebody said above, I think solid green on the top, and pattern on the skirt. Would have been better. Or even solid purple on the top?
I do think the skirt is quite fantastic.
The dress is awesome. The tan lines, severe hair and underdone makeup are the problem here.
That pattern is Klimt by way of a petri dish.
On tv, I thought it was so pretty and different, but the photos are making me think bedspread. I don’t think I realized how much material was in the back, plus, I feel like the top needs to be yanked up a little bit. I still like parts of it, but it needs some tweaking.
The hair is way too severe and the tan lines are terrible. It also seems like her boobs are being strangled. The pattern is gorgeous and I think some tweaks could have made this a standout.
It’s funny, I saw this on TV and immediately was like “I love it!” “or do I?”. I think if I saw this in the store I would want to try it on, and then maybe I would doubt it once on. It’s so pretty, but something just doesn’t quite work. It is gorgeous…maybe I would like it more were she at a garden party in england in the summer.
When I saw this on the tv, all I could hear was Bridget Jones in my head saying, “I was wearing….a carpet.”
The cut is nice. The fabric is straight from the JoAnn Fabrics remnant bin.
And her hair is far too slicked back. She looks like a dum-dum pop stuck in an ugly, granny couch.
She’s gorgeous. This dress is not.
i don’t normally like prints, but when i saw her on tv in this dress i was mesmerized. other than the tanline (oh god so many tanlines at the emmy’s this year.) i think she looked lovely.
I agree! Call me crazy, but this was my favorite. So different from what she normally wears. I adore it.
Who shot the couch? Rather; who shot the settee in the elderly lady’s bedroom in the 1970s?
POCKETS! This formal gown has POCKETS! how fabulous, and they don’t even interfere with the lines of the dress. If I had formal gowns, I would insist that they all needed to have pockets, if for no other reason, than I could put my hands in them when I don’t know what to with them.
Like pantsonfire said, it’s way too heavy. Or at least it looks like it. You need a REALLY light fabric to pull off that busy of a pattern. Plus, especially because of the fabric, it just doesn’t look like it fits all that well. Like someone in a beginning sewing course learned to make a skirt out of a circular pattern. The pockets don’t help. Also, probably not the best look for her hair.
I don’t dislike the dress – although it needs to be fitted better. But her hair and tan lines make the whole look pretty awful.
As soon as I saw this on TV, I got a call from a friend in Florida who shrieked, “OMG, she’s wearing a hotel bedspread!” So, I think there’s some consensus for the bed linen opinion. What clinches it for me is that seam running down the front which, from a distance, doesn’t look like it has any particular design purpose except to show a break in the pattern – all she needs is some piping around the edges and a couple of tassels.
YES! The seam!
Is anyone bothered by the seam up the front? I can’t stop staring at it. It ruins the dress for me.
On board with all of the tan line comments, too severe hair comments and will add that, like most strapless dresses, this needs a few more inches up top. In that last photo, her right boob looks like it is going to make a run for it.
I think this dress just gave me Katrina PTSD. It looks like mold growing up a wall to me!
Anyone else getting an Annie Lennox vibe? A sort of high-class *handsome* glam. I’m actually enjoying the face+pattern two-step, I think it lightens things up, and it’s spring in my part of the world so that feels right.
I could definitely see Annie in this!
Usually I find this type of floral pattern a little too suited to the drapes or couch, but this one actually steers clear and it quite lovely. I absolutely agree with those who note the cut of the dress is not quite right to her figure, and the hair is definitely wrong for it. If her hair had been free, and the waistline and neckline cut to better flatter her figure, this would have been a winner. Technically it’s not a loser, but it’s so close but not quite there that the failure is somehow more disappointing than something that was straight out hideous from the beginning.
The hair and makeup is TERRIBLE.
NO! FUG!!!!!!
i tend to love patterns, but the seam down the front of the dress totally ruins this, bedspread or no. And her hair is horrible!!!! If it was down, this would have been so much better. And she has such fabulous hair. And finally, the weird tan/marks that show she was wearing a swimsuit top at some point make the whole thing cringe-worthy. I love her so much. I’m so sorry this happened to her.