CFDA Awards 2011

OK, OK, I know what you guys are thinking. This show was over 2 months ago! But unfortunately I could not review it at that time for a various number of reasons, so I'm doing it now. Better late than never! ... Right? But I'll make it up to you by making this post extra long! (Well actually there were so many pictures to choose from I couldn't help but make it long- too many favorites!)

Favorites

Of course, Gaga comes first! She looks glamorous as always in her custom Thierry Mugler outfit and her sky-high heels.

I really liked Naomi Watts in this Calvin Klein dress because it's sleek and simple, with nude shoes to match. Her blonde hair looks beautiful swept over one shoulder.

I've always admired the bright colors and patterns in Proenza Schouler's designs. Liz Tyler shows this off perfectly.

In this picture, Sessilee Lopez stands with designer Zac Posen while wearing one of his designs. It fits her beautifully, and I love the way the gold stands out against her dark complexion. Another person who sported this gold dress-dark complexion look was Estelle (below):

Supermodel Karlie Kloss looks beautiful in Jason Wu, posing next to the designer.

Vera Wang is such a small (but beautiful!) lady and in this gorgeous Rick Owens dress she looks so dignified, I couldn't help but put it on my list. The draping is so pretty, and if you've seen any of my other reviews, you would see that I'm a total sucker for draping!

Elettra Wiedemann (left) and Monique Péan (right) are looking lovely in their J. Mendel dresses. They are also wearing jewelry by Monique Péan. I love these dresses because of the color, it's such a pretty shade of pink! But mostly because of how the dresses flow down to their ankles so elegantly and there's also a certain charm in how similar their dresses are- it draws attention!

Doutzen Kroes rocking a sexy J. Mendel number. She totally pulled off the blonde bombshell look!

Karolina Kurkova wore something fresh and different this year. While everyone else was wearing dresses, Kurkova was wearing this cute Diane von Furstenburg item with some lovely Swarovski jewels to go with it.

Marchesa really is a lovely brand for making things like this. Most dresses have pencil skirts or A-lines, but Marchesa is something else entirely! Hana Soukupova takes her hair back and wears minimal accessories to keep it all about the dress.

Emmanuelle Chriqui (right) and David Meister (left). Emmanuelle Chriqui looks dazzling in this bright yellow dress. It especially pops out against the purple carpet! I guess she already had the same idea, since she made the choice to go with purple shoes.

Seeing that I was almost done going through all the pictures, and knowing that I already had a huge list of favorites, I was just randomly clicking through the last few pictures when I noticed Lucy Liu wearing this Monique Lhuillier dress. That huge fluffy skirts is gorgeous, that corset-like top is so pretty, and the way her hair ties the look together is awesome. And all though I'm making it sound like it is, this look is NOT my favorite of the show. I'm not really sure what is, to be honest. they're all so amazing, I had a tough time narrowing it down!

This has nothing to do with clothes, but can I just say, I am LOVING Chris Benz's hot pink hair?!

Least Favorites
No, I'm sorry, I'm still not done yet! I told you this post would be long. But hopefully you're still with me like a good little reader? <3

Sorry about the bad quality of this picture. I cropped out Alexander Wang who was next to her because it wasn't him I was focusing on, and then I had to make it larger because it was too small. But anyway, this is Iris Afpel who decided she should just pile on every accessory she owned, including the Harry Potter glasses. No, scratch that, her glasses are bigger than Harry Potter's.

OK, so can some please explain to me what Hilary Alexander was going for with this outfit? The colors, structures, and textures of all the pieces don't match at all! It looks like she just threw on the first things she found in her closet. And normally it would be okay for an outfit to be so random, as long as you find a good and creative way to make it all tie together. She missed that step!

I love DKNY! You can even see from my last post that I carry around my DKNY shoulder bag a lot. But this dress, as pretty as it is, does not suit Donna Karan at all. She doesn't have the right body type for it, and it just makes her look larger than she is.

The only reason I didn't like Vinoodh Matadin's (right) and Inez van Iamsweerde's (left) outfits was because they were too casual. Seriously? Jeans and a blazer? That's something I would wear when going for a walk or during a casual weekend at home. Not to a fashion awards show with top designers, models, and celebrities! I'm not going to say anything about Inez van Iamsweerde's outfit because I don't know much about menswear. It still looks pretty casual to me, though.

I never liked Betsey Johnson's designs. Why? Because of things like this. Do I even need to say how ridiculous Betsey Johnson is making her own design look? And she's so old she shouldn't be dressing like that. She needs to be more age-appropriate and that's what I've always disliked about her. I do like her jewelry, though. She should stick to that.

Again with this leathery material! It makes it stiff and the animal print on this Rodarte dress isn't helping. I'm all for the faux-fur and zebra prints and whatever, but when you put it with this material it looks real. And the thought of putting real snakeskin on yourself (or on Sofia Sanchez... well anyone, really!) as a dress is repulsive, and honestly, kind of disgusting.

Do I really need to explain why Brooke Cundiff's outfit is weird?

Fall 2011: Diane von Furstenberg and DKNY

I'd like to start by apologizing profusely, Fall 2011 is over and I've reviewed almost none of the collections compared to what is out there. I'll review the 6 collections I have left and finish the reviews for Fall 2011. For all of the collections of the season, click here. To make it up, I'll be doing a "Best of" post for Fall 2011, where I will display my favorite street-style, outerwear, long dress, mini dress, etc. of the season. Hopefully I can continue this trend for the rest of the seasons.

Diane von Furstenburg
This show was a bit of a let-down. It was my first time seeing a full collection of this iconic designer, and after hearing so many amazing things about her my expectations may have been a bit too high.
Favorites:
I don't have much to say for these. They were the ones I liked amidst... the others.

Least Favorites:
A lot of the dresses' necklines were very low, which is pretty, but they had nothing underneath! A look like this is very hip these days, but I think it's verging on slutty. They can wear a bra, they should wear something! A few examples:

There were also some loud, gaudy patterns that I didn't like:

Diane von Furstenberg Fall 2011

DKNY
The street-style in this collection was amazing. I have gone through a complete change in my taste in style because of this collection and it's opened my eyes to the amazing world of street-style.
Favorites:

I'm starting out with my favorite look of the collection. I've said that for a lot of different looks in many different collections, but this one was easy to decide. Anyone can wear something like this, not just a model on the runway, so I think this is true street-style at its best.

These two looks are still street-style, but they go more on the fancy, feminine side of it. The dresses are adorable.

Least Favorites:

Are those clip-on plaid boxer shorts?! Do I even need to go on?! This is hands-down my least favorite piece of the entire collection.

Sometimes, the baggy sweater look can be cute. But this just looks plain bad. The shades clash, the sweater is thrown on messily, and it's definitely not runway-worthy.

The model is dressed up like a nerdy guy, and not in the geeky-chic, boyfriend jeans-clad girl way. Anyone who would wear something like this should go on the TV show: TLC's What Not To Wear.

Hot pink and bright orange are a deadly combination. It hurts my eyes to look at it.
DKNY Fall 2011