Romola Garei was nominated for The Hour, on which she was great, but I always felt like she got overlooked for how major she was in Atonement also. And obviously in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, which is of similar emotional heft.
But this not okay. It’s peculiar. It’s plain even though there’s a lot going on with it. Peekaboo skirts and sleeves made for butter-churning are strange bedfellows indeed. You can’t go on Rumspringa part-time, kid. It’s all or nothing.
Can this be repaired? What if she lopped off the puffs? Or extended the lining? Or made it a mini? For sure it needs better shoes, right? And awesomer hair? Somebody please style this girl. And until that happens in real life, let’s do it in the comments.
[Photo: Getty]
Comments (57):
Not good, which bums me out. She was the best Emma ever too. It didn’t hurt she got to play off Johnny Lee Miller (who makes all of his costars shine). She’s much younger than this dress, I’m sure of it. And look, a British actress who doesn’t look moody and pouty!
There is no way to unfug this mess. Absolutely nothing about it works.
Garai.
As for the dress…the individual elements are boring and altogether its looks weird. Nevermind unfug it up, just start over.
Yeah, it’s Romola GarAI, not GarEi. Her name got totally butchered during the Globes as well, which is a shame, because I have loved her in many things, including the two adaptations of my favorite books she starred in, Emma and I Capture the Castle. ANYWAY. The dress, not so much. The girl, love.
I Capture the Castle! Only one of the best books every written, and the film version did not butcher the story. She was a wonderful Cassandra.
I do wonder why she chose this dreadful dress.
I Capture the Castle indeed – maybe what this ensemble needs is a gorilla coat!
(That film is yet another reason to love Bill Nighy, too.)
AND AND AND – why couldn’t she have borrowed Rose’s dress for this???!?!!??
(Wait, movie what?)
Her name did get butchered, although I googled it and she does pronounce it “Garry” not “Guh-RYE” as I had always assumed. It’s Hungarian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/mar/19/syria-refugees-romola-garai
Take off the sleeves entirely and make the liner the entire length of the skirt (or take it all up above the knees) and you MIGHT have something. Might.
Have you ladies not seen her in BBC’s adaptation of “Emma”? You must!! She’s excellent, as is Jonny Lee Miller. Anyway, her outfit is clearly whackadoo, but no manner of snipping and cutting will help. It’s a ‘go home and change’ situation.
I don’t know if this is salvageable, actually. The colour (or non-colour, rather) is terrible on her and the lace looks a bit too doily-esque. And does this monstrosity have pockets? Really?
Also, it looks like she borrowed the shoes from her granny. (Are they satin?)
remove the sleeves, give her a full slip and a pair of better shoes, preferably in a brighter gold or pale green.
Too bad she didn’t wear that gorgeous black evening number that she wore in The Hour, because she looked stunning there. This is ugly all the way around and does her no favors. Too many weird elements in a drab color with terrible shoes and hair. I think this needs a do-over entirely.
Woof.
Um… well the puffed sleeves definitely need to go. I like the lace, and think it could work on the sleeves (just lace, no lining). The neckline either needs to be boatneck or v-neck. The lining needs to come down and I would love it if it were a darker color (blue? black? purple?). Also, the dress needs to be wider towards the bottom. I am thinking something like the dress Kate Middleton wore for her birthday, but slightly less serious.
Also, this is personal preference, but I don’t think dresses should ever have pockets – it looks like her hand is disappearing inside her hip, or like she’s reaching for a gun, or something.
I don’t think anything about that dress can be saved, but Romola is such a lovely name.
Romola Garai has been absolutely amazing in everything she’s ever been in (Daniel Deronda, Emma, Angel , Atonement, Glorious 39 , The Hour, etc.) except this dress. It cannot be saved.
Also, she’s far to pale for this shade. She’s a girl that NEEDS color.
Lop off the sleeves, Hem it to a mini, then give it to Goodwill. Burn the shoes.
Go shopping and start over entirely. Stay away from oatmeal colored clothes this time. Et viola, a masterpiece!
Sleeves off, belt off, fully lined to above the knee. Classic glamorous make up, hair either more casual or more formal (a committment please either way!) with stunning earrings, bracelet (cuff style that won’t snag the lace?) and a daring shoe.
Wait, there’s a lowercase edith here, too? There’s NEVER another Edith, this is AWESOME! Hi edith!!!!!
Ahem. Carry on.
She generally has a talent for wearing bad-weird, mis-shapen and unflattering things on the red carpet. And then you see her in a movie, actually STYLED, and go, “OMG this girl is drop dead gorgeous!” Which you’d never know if you’re just following the public appearances.
Six words….
THE CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE.
She is astonishingly good in the BBC adaptation, and for that I can forgive her anything, even that dress.
Am I the only one liking this dress? Though I would definitely change the make-up and the hair.
As for the dress, it’s all been said… Her hair looks like she’s just out of the shower. Also she has massive amounts of forehead. When I squint I can particaly see her bald. I wouldn’t necessarily fringe it, but a few bangs on the front wouldn’t hurt.
Nice try on the pink fingernails, but this is all still a shame.
This definitely needed to be fugged. I kept seeing her in the back of shots and thinking “who is that girl wearing the ugly Puritanical dress”? Bad color, bad hair, nevermind the design of the dress.
The short lining/long lace combination is giving me bad 90s flashbacks. Replace gold Nancy Reagan shoes with round-toed black pumps. Extend lining to just above knee-length. Cut entire skirt to just above knee-length. Replace PowerRanger belt with thin black number. Change lipstick shade to something darker. The look would go from hideous to palatable. I’m pretty sure nothing is going to turn this into an actual win.
Yuck awful dress and she don’t look much better. Sorry whoever you are…..
I’m voting with the folks who say that this can’t be saved. There’s so much wrong with it that by the time you fixed it you’d have a whole different dress. Which is exactly what she should have had.
Agree with miss carolina that she needs color and with just about everyone else that there is nothing right with this dress. I’m partial to her in the beautiful jewel-toned woolens she wore on The Hour, and she needs to let her hair down.
Maybe…shorten the dress to a mini, lined all the way…a lower square neckline bordered with the same white as the sleeve. A wider belt in like a plum or other color. Some chunky jewelry, shoes in any color. It wouldn’t be great but it’d be better. And, let that beautiful hair down.
I like her and her work.
As for the visual presentation, I personally would like to remove the sleeves and the pockets, add a more statement-y belt a la Lanvin (like Emma Stone’s, but different), make the shoes slingback peeptoes, and add 40s moviestar hair and makeup… well, it works in my head.
Yeah, she was AMAZING in The Crimson Petal & the White…and I really like how they tweaked the story a little to make it SO MUCH BETTER. Love her! Not so much this dress, though.
This dress is kinda hideous, but she did get to be Ioan Gruffud’s wife in Amazing Grace so I guess she’s winning at life.
Sorry, nothing about this garment deserves to be saved: Fug Madness nomination for the designer and the stylist who chose it.
I’m ignoring the fugliness but agree about how great an Emma she is. And wow, didn’t know they made a series from Crimson Petal!
Now tell me about The Hour. I know I can IMDB it, but…. I hadn’t even heard of it before it was announced at the awards.
I’d burn it, and the shoes. Make her take off that girly pink nail polish and start again. She deserves better than this dress.
Hack off the sleeves, either shorten the whole thing or extend the lining all the way down, and intensify the color. It’ll probably still be meh, but at least it won’t look like someone’s home ec project anymore.
make it a mini, change the shoes, fix the make up and hair then we might be on to something! but i dont think this colour is for her anyway
Allow her to buy actual clothing, instead of trying to fashion a dress out of a tablecloth and a couple of napkins.
It’s horrendous..this is the picture of ‘what not to wear’…Romola Garai is such a fantastically talented actress – surely some stylist could take her under their wing and help her out! She had a beautiful emerald green dress in a scene in Daniel Deronda – she should go for jewel colours – she is soo beautiful!
1- Get rid of sleeves
2- Add lining down to kneelenght.
3- Cut dress up to knee lenght.
4- Funkier/ open toes shoes in camel, gold – no nude.
5- Loose, sleek her or sophisticated updo.
I think it would be acceptable just then.
I agree with this, but I wouldn’t mind if it was floor length as long as it was lined all the way down!
Oh my god, she IS the British Christina Hendricks: smoking hot in 1950s drag in The Hour, but horribly dressed on the RL red carpet. This dress makes her look schubby, weird and inappropriate all at the same time. Amazing. It’s not salvageable either. She should throw it out ASAP.
While I agree it’s a total mess and beyond saving, just for fun I’d like to see the bottom half ditched and replaced with some wide leg black pants and a Sally Bowles bowler hat. Nup, it still sucks. Forget it.
The colour is far too pale on her! As a fellow porcelain skinned lass I love that she isn’t tanned but she has to learn her limits!
I think it’s salvageable – I’d chop the skirt to above the knee (and make the liner just a wee bit longer) and swap the poofy shiny sleeves for little white cap ones. Keep the belt. Then add some waaaaay hotter and more interesting shoes (a nice pink or red perhaps?)
Also she needs more makeup and her hair down to stop her being so washed out.
At first I thought that Warner Brothers logo that she is standing in front of was some kind of turned up collar to her dress! LOL
Never mind stylists. Actresses need protection from people who would dress them in dresses like this.
I’m not sure anything could repair this. It is reminiscent of the curtains in my grandmother’s parlor. Yes, she still refers to it as a “parlor”. Love you, Gran!
The lace overlay give it that sofa upholstery look, which is not good at all. She could McGuyver it up and whack the sleeves off and use the material to line the skirt all the way to the floor, and use an extra scrap to make a headband. Then she’d be presentable enough to make it into a taxi to get home to change.
I actually like this dress, and her overall look. It’s casual and vintage-y, and doesn’t mimic all the other same-looking stuff on the red carpet recently. Also, she looks more like a fun person to get to know and hang out with, and less like a primadonna ice queen. Works for me.
I love this girl – as others said she was so wonderful in Emma and she is really very pretty. But she always looks terrible on the red carpet – awful dresses, awful makeup. As TLo would say, she needs some gays. At the Evening Standard Awards in London last month she looked even worse in garish heavy makeup and a hideous red dress. This is nearly as bad.
A mini, instead of that horrible see-through length, and better hair. (I love Romola Garai. In interviews she sounds like a really normal person. And the Hour was great. If you haven’t watched it, people, do.)
Her name is spelled Romola Garai, not Romola Garei just thought I would let you know.
hem it to the knee, ditch the belt, hack off the sleeves, slicked down side parted hair, nude peep-toe pumps and stud earrings. OH and a different event entirely.
I don’t think it’s salvageable.
Ramola GARAI, not Garei.
What if the sleeves/belt/lining were a color? All the same color, but a bold color?