Fug/Fab Face-Off: Katherine Heigl vs Herself

At the premiere of One For The Money last night — which looks crazy terrible and farcical and slight, by the way; I had heard good things about the books, so fans will have to let me know if this is a fair representation — Katherine Heigl’s styling was eerile familiar. I present to you Heigl circa 2008, at the Oscars:

And Heigl last night, in New York:

Both are red shifts with all the design emphasis on the shoulder, red lipstick, big hair. Obviously they’re not identical: Heigl in 2008 had Dirtyface — her makeup was so relentlessly slathered on that she almost looked in dire need of a bath — and Heigl in 2012 appears to have forgotten her own dress size. Which is probably exactly the same as it was before, except for whatever vanity led her to subtract two from that already tiny number and decide it was still a perfect fit simply because it zipped. Her chest looks like it wants to burst.

Even in spite of the makeup (which is still heavy in 2012, but in a slightly cleaner Miss America kind of way), I prefer 2008. It’s better-fitted, more graceful, younger. In fact, the comparison of the two illustrates a bit of the turn Heigl’s overall styling has taken since then. She was an ingenue in ’08, of whom we expected big things, and now she always looks old for her age and juuuust a hair off the plot — less your fresh-faced and talented rom-commer next door than a kooky Grande Dame who plays bridge with Sharon Stone, eats gimlets for lunch at Musso & Frank, and occasionally pops up in movies opposite famous-ish dudes with whom she has no chemistry.

But hey, at least she’s having fun. This photo ALMOST makes me want to give 2012 the win — that bridge game WOULD be a kick, especially if she and Sharon can get Courtney Love and Meryl as their partners — but considering that physically you can’t see the intervening four years (wish I could say that), I think 2008 did her more favors. Oh, 2008. Nostalgic already.

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