MET Costume Institute Gala 2008: The Mortals

Now that we've looked at the "superheroes", I thought we can take a look at what the mere mortals were wearing that night.
One of my favourites (besides Christina Ricci and Camilla Belle) was Bee Shaffer's Nina Ricci dress. It was very fairy tale like and whimsical. It looked like she was floating on a cloud. And I thought her messy bun was a nice touch. It kept the whole outfit from looking too put together and sophisticated. It was a good balance.A super hero we missed yesterday. I thought Amber Valletta looked absolutely fabulous in Atelier Versace. The sleeves and the little cape at the back totally fit the theme too. I also liked the dresses on Lauren duPont (left), from Valentino, Margherita Missoni (center), from Missoni- where else?, and Candy Pratts (right), from Givenchy Couture. They were fun, youthful and cute. I loved how Lauren paired her ruffled pink dress with such a tailored black jacket- it was genius. And Margherita and Candy's dresses were just refreshing but still very flattering and cute! Somehow my attention was caught by the champagne colored dresses on the red carpet. It has a certain elegant yet feminine quality to it that makes Kristin Davis (left) in Michael Kors and Scarlett Johansson (right) in Dolce & Gabanna look poised and sophisticated. Then there are the Gossip Girls, Michelle Trachtenberg (left) in vintage and Blake Lively (right) with Penn Badgley, both in Ralph Lauren. Michelle's gold dress is a bit of a hit and miss, but I think it suits her. She looks like an evil Egyptian temptress- just like her character! Blake's outfit just looked kind of standard and boring.
Also spotted some of my old TV favourites on the red carpet, Mischa Barton (left) in Missoni and Sarah Michelle Gellar (right) in Bottega Veneta. Mischa usually looks good in everything, but I really don't think this dress suits her. Something odd about the neckline... too weirdly low I think. Sarah Michelle dress was nothing special, but I just love her timelessly elegant look.
Speaking about timelessness, Michelle Managhan (left) in J Mendel and Emmy Rossum (right) in Phi were definitely not. This may sound harsh and maybe a bit farfetched, but does anyone else think that these two dresses and their cutting a bit dated?
I don't understand how or WHY Donna Karan (left), a fabulous designer, would dress herself in a drapey bag of a dress. And in such a clashing color too. I especially didn't need to see any glimpse of her sagging chest. Then there was Amanda Brooks (right) who dressed herself boxy dressed from Marni. To give her credit, I thought her squared shoes were a good match to the dress.
Colourwise though, Donna Karen's dress could not have been more clashing than Joy Bryant (left) in Emilio Pucci and Allison Sarafim (right) in Alexander McQueen. I thought both a bit too much. I understand that Joy's dress is just pure Pucci, but there really is no excuse for Allison in her rainbow colored wrap. It looked more like a sari or something she picked up on holiday in Phuket or something meant for the BEACH, than something coming from Alexander McQueen for the red carpet....
No one can fault Lake Bell for not trying to fit into the theme in this Balmain dress. Its super tight and has sparkly red lightning bolts all over it. It's just......not very aesthetically pleasing. I thought the whole over the top layer thing was over with last season's YSL, but seeing Alexandra Kotur (left: from Vogue!) wearing this Carolina Herrera, it is obviously still here. Shame. She looks like an multi-layered cake. And I love Burberry, I really do. But all this feather on Cat Deely (right) is just too much. Maybe it is just my aversion to all things feather period, but she looks like an overstuffed black bird.
There is too much and then there is too little. I don't care that Thandie Newton (left) is wearing Chanel. It looks like she's wearing lingerie- which should be kept inside the bedroom! As for Gisele Bundchen (right), her Versace Atelier dress is actually very elegant, I just thought the bodice part could use a bit more cloth.

Image Source: Style.com