Fashion at the People’s Choice Awards: Best and Worst

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The 36th People’s Choice Awards, which kicked off Hollywood’s statuette season last night, is one of those award shows that are intriguing from a fashion point of view. Celebrities tend to be a little more daring (and a little more careless) because the stakes aren’t so high. (See also the Independent Spirit Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.)

Last night, the red carpet’s big winner was Carrie Underwood (she also took the favorite country artist award), in a black cage-embroidered cocktail dress by Mexican-born designer Christian Cota. (Last year, Cota won Fashion Group International’s womens’ ready-to-Wear rising star award in New York.)

The dress is from the Spring 2010 collection, and it features a cage-like lace made by stitching ribbons onto fabric, then melting the fabric away. I like it a lot; it’s edgy and pretty at the same time, and the below-the-knee length looks fresh and entirely appropriate for the occasion. Underwood accessorized with strappy Rock N’ Republic sandals and a black Lauren Merkin clutch.

Also a hit, Olivia Wilde’s (‘House’) one-shouldered Monique Lhuillier dress in white chiffon with a black-banded underlay. With a swishy skirt that hit mid-calf, the look was retro and sweet. (Click here or on the picture at left to see Wilde’s dress and the other outfits mentioned.)

Sandra Bullock (who took awards for favorite movie actress and favorite comedy movie with ‘The Proposal’) rocked an asymmetrically draped nude-and-gold lace gown that was the same mid-calf length. She also won points for her sculptural yellow gold and rose cut diamond Amrapali cuff, which brought out the color of the lace.

Lea Michele (‘Glee’) played up her diva-dom in a body-hugging strapless red satin frock and dangling earrings by House of Lavande. But those multicolored, striped Christian Louboutin peep-toe pumps are best left for daytime.

Ginnifer Goodwin (‘Big Love’), usually very well dressed, seemed uncomfortable in her Christian Lacroix draped minidress. The black-and-white striped satin looked as though it got caught in the wringer. The Carrie Bradshaw-sized bloom on the shoulder didn’t help either.

Kelly Rutherford (‘Gossip Girl’) was also a serious miss in a low-cut champagne-colored silk Jenny Packham gown with a train, and enough fringe and glitz on the bodice to make it look like an Ice Capades costume. Not to mention, she was also way overdressed. I think the only award show that is formal enough to warrant a full-length gown is the Oscars, but that is just me.

The men were a disaster too. It felt a bit like the high school prom, when the girls try so hard, and the guys could care less. James Denton (‘Desperate Housewives’) led a pack of dudes in denim who could have just rolled off the patio at Toast. And just because you wear a vest with those jeans (Mark Salling, Morris Chestnut, Jackie Chan), it doesn’t make it right. Invest in a suit for god’s sake. You made poor Kelly Rutherford look even more silly.

In a gray suit, a button-down shirt and a deliciously ironic-looking silk dog-print necktie, it was Chevy Chase who was the model for men’s dress-up decorum.

It’s official: Red carpet fashion has gone to the dogs.

--Booth Moore