As usual I didn’t watch the Emmys.
I only care about the red carpet and I knew it was all going to be an endless parade of one shouldered goddess or mermaid gowns (check) the annoying girl from Glee would wear too much dress for her body (double check) and no one would do anything even remotely interesting (with the exception of Alan Cumming, check).
I only spotted two big girls from my photo service:
Kay Cee Stroh
I have no idea who this girl is, but Google tells me she’s a Disney product. Pretty enough girl, Very Bad Dress (edit: Alert Reader Maura spotted this technicolor tragedy as Igigi’s Black Magic Gown)
There is a rule, generally speaking, that you don’t put a big girl in a big dress, and while it’s not especially big in the way of say, Mindy Kaling who, at 5’2″ had No Damn Business wearing that much dress:
It is a LOUD dress. There is a lot going on with the lava lamp treatment and the random shoulder shroud. As big girls, our bodies are already loud, so this is what happens when you try to drown it out with an overly busy dress.
Ooh ooh! A TV star I know! Amber Riley plays Mercedes Jones on Glee and makes a solid choice (you thought I was going to say “hits a high note” or is “on key” didn’t you? Well I didn’t, so there) in a white goddess column dress.
Honestly I don’t just love the dress. It’s fine and pretty and although I could’ve done with a bit more boob wrangling, I’m not docking points. SHE, however, looks about 12 shades of thrilled to be there and I love her for it.
Isn’t that first one an Igigi dress? I think I remember seeing it on their website and being momentarily appalled by all the competing design elements.
Comment by Maura — August 30, 2010 @ 3:53 pm
@Maura: it is indeed! Figures.
Comment by Plumcake — August 30, 2010 @ 4:13 pm
I feel like, between the goddess dress and the plain-and-sparkly accessories, Amber’s look is aging her somewhat. Also, I’m kind of sick of white dresses on the red carpet right now. But you’re right; she looks like she is enjoying every minute of it, and if I got a chance to pile on the borrowed diamonds you had better believe I would take it, whatever they looked like.
Comment by daisyj — August 30, 2010 @ 6:00 pm
Mindy Kaling is fantastic no matter what she wears.
Comment by Harri P. — August 30, 2010 @ 6:48 pm
Amber looks gorgeous in white, and I would have liked a more lively hairstyle but damn, that’s a pretty girl.
Is there a woman who could pull off the Igigi dress? Or, hell, a drag queen?
Comment by Jane — August 30, 2010 @ 8:09 pm
Ok, I don’t see how Mindy Kaling is a “big girl” for the purposes of this post…
Comment by Gauss — August 30, 2010 @ 10:56 pm
I would like a lecture on how to wrangle boobs (and rolls, for that matter) in formal wear, especially when you get into strap issues. The evil strapless bra just does not cut it. What does one do? Longline? Corset? What???
Comment by Rebekka — August 31, 2010 @ 3:46 am
What did you think of Anna Paquin Plumcake? Not a big girl I know but at leasst she did something interesting!
Comment by bushpiglet — August 31, 2010 @ 4:36 am
I’m with Gauss. How is Mindy Kaling a big girl? She’s not a size two, sure, but I don’t think there’s a store/designer out there who would classify her as plus size. (I also happen to love her dress and think maybe, maybe she’s a little short for it, but it’s gorgeous and so is she.)
Comment by Tracy — August 31, 2010 @ 7:52 am
@Tracy & Gauss. She’s not a big girl, obviously. I said I only saw two big girls, Kay Cee Stroh and Amber Riley who were big girls. I was just using her as an illustration as someone wearing Too Much Dress.
Comment by Plumcake — August 31, 2010 @ 9:57 am
I kinda like KayCee’s dress, but what hit me about it is that half of the “big girl” dresses at the EMMYS ferchrissake is a $189 dollar dress from an online retailer. You mean to tell me that not one traditional designer wanted to get on the Disney HSM train?!
Comment by Emi!y — September 1, 2010 @ 12:05 am
@Emi!y: Igigi is very aggressive in getting their dresses on big girl celebrities. Remember when people cared about Nikki Blonsky? They were ALL. OVER. THAT. It’s good marketing.
Comment by Plumcake — September 1, 2010 @ 10:56 am
I think the Igigi dress would be passable- not Emmy material, but passable- without that weirdo black drape. What you can’t see is that it doesn’t go all the way around- it’s literally just a piece hanging off the front and a piece hanging off the back that you tie over the shoulder, and the purple bodice is visible all the way around. KayCee’s got a good seamstress who took off the straps and added some structure to the bodice, which is a good start, and if she’d done that and gotten rid of the black drape as well, she’d have something a little more respectable- or even if she’d done something neat with the tie and brought some interest to her shoulder maybe? The way the tie’s just hanging there just looks like the poor girl gave up before she got there, and even though I have no idea who she is, nobody should look like she gave up before she got there. That purple looks like it would be a flattering color for her.. she could have picked that up in her accessories instead of going for plain black. I dunno- if she was going to go with an Igigi dress, she still could have done plenty better than this one.
Comment by Maura — September 1, 2010 @ 11:34 am
Does Christina Hendricks count as a big girl? That purple dress scared me, and yet still made her look gorgeous. (Although I’m not sure there’s anything that could make me think that she isn’t lovely.)I’m confused about it, and I was hoping it would be on here. Alas. ‘dramatic sigh’
Comment by Courtney — September 2, 2010 @ 6:46 pm
I think Amber’s boob-wrangling dilemma boils down to one simple point: strapless bras over a DD are next to impossible to find. Torrid makes them up to a DDD, but beyond that is mail order or custom-fit territory.
Also, issue #2 is that her bra is white. Classic rookie mistake among Women of Color and those who like to tan.
Comment by ChloeMireille — September 3, 2010 @ 2:03 am