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Fashion Hits And Misses At The 2012 Billboard Awards

AbWallman |
May 21, 2012 | 9:51 a.m. PDT

Reporter

The Billboard Music Awards took place Sunday evening at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, attracting both actors and musicians. This year, with Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell as hosts and performances from Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Justin Bieber and Chris Brown, among others, the red carpet featured plenty of hits, and inevitably some misses.

BEST

Taylor Swift - Easily my favorite of the night, Taylor Swift totally surprised me, and probably a lot of her fans, when she wore a scarlet red chiffon gown with a lace panel bodice by Elie Saab. The dress was a beautiful shade of red and Taylor wore her complimentary long blond hair down in a straightened style. She was actually entirely reminiscent of the model who originally wore the look in Elie Saab's Pre-Fall 2012 collection. Taylor opted out of the dress's thigh high slit and instead wore it with minimal jewelry, dark nails and a dark smudged eye and totally made it her own. She stole the show.

Carrie Underwood - I could see Carrie Underwood easily ending up on equally as many worst dressed lists as best after this evening's debut, but I think she absolutely owned the "princess look" in a silver and rose tulle draped Oscar de la Renta gown. The dress had a gathered strapless top bodice and a full-body skirt which Carrie wore with silver open-toe pumps peeping out from beneath. If anyone can pull off the princess look, I would argue it's Ms. Underwood and she did it flawlessly here. Her hair was curled in loose but thick waves and sideswept, offset by dark smoky eye makeup. I applaud Carrie for taking a risk here and wearing something that fit her personality. We needed a change from another tight sequined short mini dress on this red carpet, and Carrie delivered.

Julie Bowen - Julie Bowen went for a simple twist on the classic LBD (little black dress.) Wearing a glittering center panel cocktail dress from Doo.Ri, Julie gave the balanced illusion of being both classy and fabulous. The dress looks strapless but is actually supported by a clear panel yoke around the neck. As the host she stood out without taking too much away from all of the presenters and performers. It seemed like the perfect choice for the evening and was very age appropriate as well.

WORST

Truth be told, there weren't an overwhelming amount of terrible fashion mistakes, just boring been-there-done-that looks from people like Julianne Hough and Jordin Sparks. That said, there were a couple of unforgivable mistakes. 

Miley Cryus - Sorry Miley, we can't forgive you for this one. In a completely inappropriate and very puzzling choice, the 19-year-old wore a Jean Paul Gaultier plunging white jacket tuxedo dress. Miley's hairdo was all kinds of confusing, parted down the middle in a bob that would have looked better on perhaps someone slightly older. In fact, maybe the dress would have had the desired effect on someone older and more sophisticated. To top it off, her makeup and eyebrows were almost abrasively dark and domineering. Her only saving grace were her trendy black and white Jimmy Choo heels, but Miley probably can't be saved after this fiasco of an outfit.

Nelly Furtado - In what can only be described as a beach coverup gone awry, Nelly Furtado wore an odd white dress by Alberta Ferretti. The dress is mostly unforgivable because of its poor fit and the black bra she wore underneath, seemingly intentionally so that it would stick out as part of the outfit. The addition of a white choker necklace weighed her entire look down and was overkill on the white cutouts.

Katy Perry - Katy Perry's mermaid-esque Blumarine dress was fairly hideous to me…for a few reasons. First of all, the purple hue of the gown was overkill after the purple dyed hair and berry lipstick so the entire look appeared as a big purple mess. Purple can be a hard color to wear stylishly, and Katy Perry seems to have failed pretty fantastically in this respect. The iridescent gown was too childish and tacky for me. Sequins and shine can be worn favorably, but not here. It kind of looked like a mermaid decided to be a princess and then had an identity crisis. The only compliment I can pay Ms. Perry is that the cut and fit of the dress were flattering. She had so much potential if she had only toned down the shininess, the scales and her obsession with purple. Oh, and way to bring your grandma as your date, Katy. So cute!

 

Reach reporter Abby Wallman here. 



 

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