Carrie Underwood looked incredible at last night’s Grammys in a high neck long sleeve white and silver sequin Gomez-Gracia gown. It was demure yet sexy and featured a subtle cut out at the back. Our friends at Red Carpet Fashion Awards write that her black clutch was “too heavy for this look,” but I disagree and find it kind of striking against the white. I like her poofy hair and her heavily done eyes paired with neutral lips. In some shots her eyelashes look like caterpillars they’re so huge. It’s overdone but somehow Carrie pulls it off. Carrie was up for Best Country Solo performance, for “Mama’s Song,” which went to Taylor Swift for “Mean.” She performed a duet last night with Tony Bennett, “It Had To Be You,” which was flawless. (You can watch it here.) I loved her performance gown as well and she switched up her hair for that too, opting for flowing waves.

Kate Beckinsale was done to the hilt as usual, only this time she attempted a more “casual” look that’s just as constructed as everything she puts out there. I think Kate looks gorgeous, as she always does, and I like that she has her hair pulled up in loose curls. It highlights her pretty face instead of bringing attention to all the fake hair she has. Kate was in a short Zuhair Murad one-shoulder cream gathered gown with a black ribbon detail. It also featured a trailing chiffon scarf-like loop at the side. It was a decent dress and appropriate for the event but it looked like it should have been knee length instead of so short.

Miranda Lambert was in a peachy-biege embroidered cap sleeve Pavoni gown that had some superficial features in common with Taylor Swift’s dress. I don’t love it and found it somewhat predictable, but it looks nice on Miranda and I like her styling. Kaiser and I were talking about this dress and she thinks it’s very pageanty and similar to a lot of the other tacky dresses Miranda wears. It’s not bad for what it is I guess. What’s up with her shoes, though? Look at her toes peeking out under her dress.

Julianne Hough really rocked a tight sleevess black and grey Kaufman Franco with abstract bamboo-like stripe detail. I love this dress and find it both contemporary and very flattering. Julianne’s styling leaves something to be desired, though. Her makeup could be bolder and her hair is kind of underwhelming with that center part that ends halfway down her scalp. Still, one of the better dresses of the night.

On the other hand Alicia Keys took contemporary too far in this Alexandre Vauthier Couture. Red Carpet Fashion Awards has a photo of the dress on the runway and Alicia paired it with the exact same shoes the designer used. Her feet look crammed in there and like her toes are trying to escape. That’s just the design of the shoes, and it’s so unflattering. Those padded shoulders coupled with that poofy hair just looks ridiculous. Plus she had the worst accessory of all.

Photo credit: Apega/WENN.com and KM/FameFlynet Pictures

These are photos from last night’s American Country Awards in Las Vegas. You might be like me and ask yourself, “Why does Carrie Underwood look so insanely and uncharacteristically happy?” Seriously, Carrie’s sour puss usually rivals Jessica Alba’s “natural bitchface” – so why does Carrie’s smile look so unforced here? Is it because, at long last, after several years of being “Oh, her” at awards shows, Carrie was the undisputed STAR last night? Taylor Swift wasn’t there. Jennifer Nettles wasn’t there. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban weren’t there. It was Carrie’s moment to shine!

So, how did Carrie do? Horribly. The dress is Maria Lucia Hohan, and it looks like one of cream-puff dressed that Katy Perry would fail to pull off, or a dress that would make me yawn if Taylor Swift wore it. The skirt is too short, so it gives Carrie the look of a young girl who has outgrown her “party dress.” Plus, the Ryan Haber shoes just look awful and uncomfortable. I’m really disgusted with this whole ensemble.

Also sharing the spotlight with Carrie? Miranda Lambert! Miranda is big-busted, and I respect that as a fellow big-boob-haver, but I would love it if Miranda would find flattering dresses that showed off her figure in a classy way.

Speaking of boob issues, Kristin Chenowith. I love her, but this dress is WRONG. Whatever is happening to her boobs is just wrong.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

When bangs-lovers or bangs-havers yell at me for getting so frustrated and critical over the state of bangs-centric hairstyles currently invading celebrity women’s foreheads these days, one of the most common comebacks is often, “Some people NEED bangs.” I disagree on that point, almost always. You have to have a particular kind of face, or a particular kind of forehead issue to make real, honest-to-goodness BANGS work. I’m not talking about some little pieces around your face to add some depth – I’m talking about full-blown bangs (trauma), with the currently popular thick, blunt-cut bangs that go past a lady’s eyebrows. My point is almost always: “Look at how much these women look without bangs.” Look at Lea Michele before and after bangs – she looks so much better without. Look at Christina Hendricks, Rihanna, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lopez, and Penelope Cruz, and tell me that all of them don’t look so much better withOUT bangs. My point? It takes a certain kind of face to make bangs look better.

So these are new photos of Carrie Underwood debuting her new bangs over the weekend. Does she pull it off? Well… they’re not the too-thick bangs that are currently going around – these are more old-school, more “country/western” bangs that look flat-ironed and stiff. This is a look that many Southern ladies still do. For comparison, this was Carrie’s last hairstyle:

She had some shorter piece up front to add depth, and… in my opinion, that hairstyle was so, so much better. These bangs ruin her very pretty face. They’re also too long and too stiff, by the way.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I have my opinions about Carrie Underwood, but for the most part, those opinions aren’t based on anything other than how she seems, in general. To me, she seems rather snotty and bitchy, especially when the first Carrie story I always think about is this one, where Carrie was kind of mean to Leighton Meester. I know some of y’all like her, and CB seems to have some (begrudging) respect for her and the way she conducts herself. Anyway, Carrie is married to hockey player Mike Fisher (making her Carrie Fisher!), and they recently decided to make their home in Tennessee, after it was widely reported that Carrie had no interest in living in Canada, where Mike played for the Ottawa Senators. He got traded, and Carrie gets to make their home in Tennessee, just like she wanted. So, what does Carrie want now? She wants Mike to stop hunting. She wants to take away his guns!

Carrie Underwood has banned husband Mike Fisher from his favorite pastime – hunting! Carrie, a vegan, laid down the law after finding a box of guns and traps at Mike’s home in Canada, sources say.

“Carrie hit the roof when she found Mike’s hunting gear,” a source told the Enquirer. “She knew Mike has hunted everything, even grizzly bears, but she thought he’s given it all up when they got married. Carrie loves animals, doesn’t eat them and is dead against harming them for fun.”

To appease his wife, Mike vowed to quit hunting and squirreled his gear away, said the source. The hunting ban is another win for Carrie – sources say she pressured Mike to move from Canada to Tennessee to save their marriage – and he demanded that the Ottawa Senators trade him to the Nashville Predators.

Their marriage had been on thin ice last year, when Carrie reneged on a promise to move to Canada with Mike. The couple ended up buying 354 acres in rural Williamson County, Tennessee, where they are building a home.

“Carrie and Mike are creating their dream home in Nashville, and she doesn’t want any hunting gear there. It’s going to be a warm, safe love nest where they can start a family.”

[From The Enquirer, print edition]

If Mike wanted to put up a fight, it would get ugly. Like, the NRA would declare Carrie Underwood their public enemy number one and she would be derided and rejected by a good chunk of her pro-gun, pro-hunting, country-music-loving fan base. It would get Dixie Chicks-level bad. Thankfully for Carrie, it doesn’t seem like Mike is putting up much of a fight, which makes me wonder if he was even much of a hunter. Men who hunt all of their lives, who see it as a tradition passed on from father to son, they wouldn’t give up hunting so easily.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Carrie Underwood plays a supporting role in the new movie Soul Surfer, which tells the true story of a teen surfer who lost her arm to a shark attack. She’s on the cover of US Weekly this week and the article is your typical publicist approved piece about how she’s just like us and has a normal life during her scant down time. Carrie’s husband, hockey player Mike Fisher, recently got traded to the Nashville Predators and they’re finally living together. So the story is about how they’re so normal now, and it also includes some gems about how Carrie isn’t a difficult person anymore, while acknowledging that she has that reputation. They do a decent job at trying to make her seem like she’s softened up. I’ve never really disliked her, but I think she’s bitchy behind the scenes and is very competitive. I like that she’s acknowledging that she’s not going to have kids anytime soon and that she’ll be focusing on her career at this point. She’s not a bullsh*tter when it comes to playing the press usually, although this article may be an exception. Here are some highlights:

On how she’s “lightened up”
Everything is coming together for Underwood, including the luxury of sleeping under the same roof with her husband for good. And pals says she’s happier than ever. “She’s lightened up a lot since she got married. Now she is so much fun,” says a source. “She’s always in the best mood.”

Acknowledging how she was standoffish
The superstar wasn’t always so social. While competing on season 4 of American Idol in 2005, a very focused Underwood, then 21, kept her distance from the other contestants. “We’d get done with rehearsal, and she would go right into our room, close the door and not come out until the next morning,” Underwood’s roommate on the show, Mikalah Gordon, tells US. “She didn’t let anything distract her.” And while the five-time Grammy winner is still a hard-driving professional – she’s working on her fourth album in six years, a source says – she has become less guarded thanks to the friendly Fisher, who is known to wave and to chat with neighbors. “Mike’s outgoing attitude helps her feel a bit more outgoing,” says an insider of the popular center, who pulls in about $4 million per year. “With him by her side, she feels less vulnerable.”

On how she’s adjusting to life with Mike
[Life] together has had its challenges. “Just learning how to live together has been fun and frustrating and everything in between,” she tells US. In fact, the two are facing the usual newlywed negotiations. “He brought all this crap with him [to Nashville," Underwood joked April 7 on Ellen. He's like, 'Babe, I need more space in the closet,' and my heart just sinks." But it's not a one-sided argument. "I know he would say I'm too controlling and I nag at him to get his stuff put up," the star admitted.

On their life together
Underwood, a long-time vegetarian, prepares meatless meals for her carnivorous husband, who "is up for being exposed to new ideas," says their trainer, Tony Greco. "To be honest, on our collective days off, we just hang out," the star tells Us. They watch TV and read the Bible, says a source, who adds, "They're not into partying at all."

How she's just like us
Underwood is still an Oklahoma farm girl most at ease in sweatpants. "I think if I were 'Carrie Underwood the brand' everywhere, my friends wouldn't like me very much, you know what I mean?" she admitted to US. "If I always wore makeup, they would be like, 'What are you doing? We're going to TGI Fridays!"

On if she'll have kids
"We haven't even been married a year. We have plenty of time... We have dogs and are very content with that now."

[From US Weekly, print edition, April 25, 2011]

This is not a bad move for someone like Carrie. The bible-reading stuff was too much, but maybe they really do that. It’s a profile-raising piece and she’s not above that and she hasn’t reached some A-list level where this would seem like overselling. (see her fellow workaholic: Reese Witherspoon.) I also like that she’s letting anecdotes and insider information tell her story and isn’t giving some big long interview talking about her normal life. That type of thing is getting old, and too many celebrities are trying too hard. This is smart, and it leaves a little mystery while giving us a glimpse into the sort of life her people want us to believe she has. Plus, she’s changed! Did you get the memo?

Header image via Cover Awards. Carrie is shown at The Academy of Country Music Awards on 4/3 at the Soul Surfer premiere on 3/30, at the Golden Globes on 1/16 and at the American Country Awards on 12/6/10. She’s shown with Mike on 1/31/11. Credit: WENN and Fame

This is just another fashion post for the Academy of Country Music Awards – I already covered the two biggest “names” at the show, Nicole Kidman and Taylor Swift. I wasn’t going to do detailed coverage on some of the “lesser” country acts, just because I’m not a country music person and I don’t pay attention to it, but as I was looking through the photos, I was overcome by how badly these women dress. Maybe that’s the wrong word though – I’ve always felt that country music fashion is way more prom-y and “Southern” obviously. Big hair is acceptable and necessary. Glittery, sequined, beaded pastels are in vogue, forever and always. So… by those standards, how did these ladies do? Above, we have Carrie Underwood in a lovely jewel-toned alice + Olivia dress. I like the color on her quite a bit, but all of the glittery stuff at the waist makes the whole thing look cheap. And I would have liked to see her do something different with her hair.

Next: Julianne Hough in this orange monstrosity. I think she was trying to match it to her skin?

Brooklyn Decker’s boobs were there for some reason. I actually like the Victoria Beckham dress – I appreciate minimalism and a sleek sheath on a young woman. That being said, she needed to go up one size and have it tailored to her body, because this is too tight in the bust. I can make out every detail of her bust. Also: I’m disliking the haircut, but it will look cute when it grows out a little.

Jennifer Nettles in this sleek black number. I’m including Jennifer because I LOVE her. I think she’s adorable and so, so pretty. This is an interesting choice for her, and I like that she wore something rather sleek to a country music show.

Sara Evans. She looks like she works at a fancy Ho-Jos.

I like the idea of Miranda Lambert’s gown much more than the execution. Her boobs look great, the hair is cute, and white is a nice color for her (although she looks very bridal). I think my problem is with the metallic waist/belt thing – it makes her look “thicker” than she really is.

Martina McBride had a similar problem with her waist/belt too. I don’t like this gown on her at all, though.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

Us Weekly has a great gossip tidbit about a backstage act of bitchery at the CMA Awards a few weeks ago. Carrie Underwood was the hostess of the event, right? And she was backstage, waiting for her next cue, sizing up the presenters. Her eyes fell upon Leighton Meester, who was there to promote her supporting role in Country Strong. Leighton looked nervous, so Carrie gave her a very special lesson in bitchy pep talks:

Tough love? Carrie Underwood, 27, struck a sour note with Leighton Meester, 24, at the CMA Awards November 10, a backstage source tells Hot Stuff.

“Leighton was nervous before presenting an award, and Carrie said, ‘Get out there and don’t f-ck up,’” says the insider. “It made Leighton more nervous.”

The source added, “Later, someone said to Carrie, ‘That was mean,’ and Carrie said, ‘She’ll get over it. Someone said that to me once and I got over it.’”

[From Us Weekly, print edition]

Okay, so maybe it’s not that bad. But it is on the bitchy-Southern-girl side of harsh. That’s like saying to your best friend, “Try NOT to act like a drunken whore tonight.” It’s casual bitchery, in the form of friendly advice. Plus, I pretty much think Carrie is kind of bitch anyway, so I believe this. I know, I know – there will Underwood defenders on here momentarily to say that she’s always nice and professional and she’s all sugar and no spice. If that’s what you want to believe, sure. She probably is professional, and she probably is nice… to certain people. But she always comes across as the kind of sorority girl who would start a rumor about your boyfriend and his small dong.

Carrie Underwood, 27, was part of that Backstage Nashville special where LeAnn Rimes stole the show with her “poor me, I fell in love” act. I was impressed with how measured and practical Carrie was. While I’ve heard she can be nasty I just got the sense from the clips I saw that she’s very driven and focused. She reminded me a little of Reese Witherspoon in that way. As for what she talked about, I guess we can stop all the speculation that Carrie Underwood is planning to get knocked up now that she’s married her hunk of a hockey player. When Robin Roberts asked her if babies were in the works she very clearly said that motherhood is not in her immediate plans. Carrie also explained why she doesn’t use Twitter and told a cute story about how her husband’s mom wanted her to date his son back when she was on American Idol! The baby quotes are below, and the other two subjects are discussed in the video clips.

After their honeymoon in Tahiti, her husband, Canadian pro-hockey player Mike Fisher, immediately “went to Canada,” she said Wednesday on the ABC special, In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts: All Access Nashville. “So it was like … ‘See ya,’ husband.’”

Underwood, 27, who couldn’t join him because she had to go on tour, said it “was very strange. I really don’t feel like I’ve lived married life yet. … It’s great. Whatever it is. Whatever this is.”‘

When he’s away, she keeps busy by hanging with friends — and not at the clubs.

“On a Friday night, I’d rather go see a movie with friends or … like get together and play board games, or, something silly like that than go … party it up some place,” said Underwood. “I’d rather be in my pajamas hanging out with the people that I love.”‘

Despite their frenetic schedules, Underwood said Fisher, 30, is the ideal mate for her.

“He’s a perfect balance of a manly man and like a best friend,” she said. “He’s a rugged man. He chops wood and he’s outdoors and all that stuff, and he plays hockey, but … he also like loves to go shopping.”

When can we expect kids?

“We just want to be together and keep it as simple as possible. And I think a baby would just make things so complicated right now,” she said.

When her current tour wraps up in December, she plans to settle down with her man in Canada.

“I’ll be more home-based,” she said. “So I’ll get to spend, you know, my days with him. We’ll be more like a normal couple.”

[From US Magazine]

Here’s what I like about this. I like how she didn’t trip over herself prefacing her statement with platitudes about motherhood and children and how she wants a bunch of kids someday. (Here’s a link to a clip of her discussing that.) She was to-the-point, practical and she sent a very good message to her young female fans. Being a mom is hard and complicated even when you’re rich, famous, married and can afford all the help in the world. It’s not something that you should enter into lightly and it’s absolutely a life choice that should be planned. She really won me over with that comment, and with her sensible approach to Twitter. On Twitter she said “It’s not for me… I’ll blog… A lot of people get themselves in trouble on Twitter… If you’re mad or crazy at the moment [or] intoxicated twittering it’s too immediate and there’s no time to cool off and think about what you’re going to say before you say it.”

On how husband Mike Mike Fisher’s mom taped her on Idol before Mike met her

Why she doesn’t use Twitter

Carrie is shown in the header and first photo below on 9/7/10 at “Olay’s Challenge What’s Possible Campaign Launch and ambassador unveiling” in NY. Credit: Barcroft/Fame Pictures

Carrie Underwood bugs me a lot. She seems sweet on the surface and all, but there’s something super competitive about her, like she’ll cut you if you look at her wrong. Anyway Carrie recently got married, to Canadian hockey player Mike Fisher. I saw her wedding photos in People and it looked so beautiful, like a fairytale. Carrie bragged afterwards about how perfect and complete her life was, writing on her blog “I know how special these things are. There is nothing in the world that I could possibly ask for because you can’t add to perfection!” Maybe she’s just truly, genuinely happy and I should stop being such a cynic.

It looks like Carrie and Mike’s life is falling a little short of the perfection that they were hoping for. According to the National Enquirer, they can’t agree on where to live. Carrie has allegedly reneged on a promise to Mike that she would relocate to Ottawa, Canada where he’s from and works. She’s set on staying in Nashville to be closer to her work, and Mike isn’t having it.

“Reality is starting to set in, and it isn’t pretty. Mike is demanding that Carrie make good on her promise to move to Ottawa, Canada, where he’s based with his hockey team. But now Carrie is backtracking and refusing to leave her adopted hometown of Nashville.

After a lavish $1 million wedding in Georgia, the newlyweds honeymooned in Tahiti for eight days, and then spent another three days in California’s Napa Valley wine country, where their problems erupted in an explosive confrontation.

“Mike was going over renovation details for the 5,000-square foot house he’s building in West Carleton, Ottawa,” the insider divulged.

“He was talking about building a nursery when Carrie flew off the handle. She told Mike it was pointless to build space for a baby because she has no intention of living there.

“Carrie claimed she hadn’t thought the living plan through when she committed earlier. She told Mike that she’s most comfortable recording and writing in Nashville, and that her touring commitments make Nashville a more logical home base.

“Mike feels duped and raged that Carrie misled him. When Carrie said her mind was made up, Mike fired back ‘I’ll be living in Canada, whether you’re there or not!’”

“The conversation turned into a screaming match, and ended with Carrie in tears after locking herself in the bathroom.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, August 23, 2010]

The article goes on to say that Carrie just made some empty promises to Mike before the wedding. The couple is also allegedly trying for a baby and the Enquirer quotes a source as saying “Carrie is hoping that once she conceives, Mike will soften and relocate to Nashville, where she works and records.” Maybe that will work, or maybe Mike will resent the fact that Carrie is trying to have their family so far away from his job and where all his family lives. It sounds like she did promise him they could live there, only to change her mind once they made it legal.

Check out Carrie’s outfit on The Today Show late last month. And how many different ways can she show off her ring? These aren’t the only photos of her doing this.

What was it about July 10 that made everyone want to get married? Strange. Anyway, yesterday, Saturday, two somewhat prominent celebrity couples got hitched. First, we have American Office star John Krasinski and English crumpet Emily Blunt marrying in a private ceremony in Italy. Their reps confirmed to People that the wedding took place, but Us Weekly actually has some of the wedding porn details (Clooney was there!):

That’s amore! Emily Blunt and John Krasinski wed at the Villa D’este in Como, Italy, UsMagazine.com has confirmed.

“John and Emily were married on Saturday in a private ceremony,” Krasinski’s rep tells Us.

“It was an outdoor ceremony and absolutely beautiful,” says an insider. George Clooney and Italian girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis were in attendance; Blunt and Krasinski had been staying at Clooney’s nearby Lake Como estate since the July 4th weekend.

“It was an official ceremony. They are husband and wife,” adds the source.

After about a year of dating, The Office star Krasinski, 30, proposed to British actress Blunt, 27, with a 3-carat Edwardian diamond and platinum ring from Neil Lane, worth $100,000.

Krasinski told Access Hollywood that the proposal was “very casual” but very emotional, too. “She did cry after I cried, and we cried and then everyone around us was crying,” he said.

“She’s a wonderful girl,” Krasinski gushed at last year’s Emmys of his fiancee.

“So many people say, ‘You know when you know,’ and it’s true,” Krasinski added of his love. “It’s all true.”

Reps could not be reached for comment.

[From Us Weekly]

Oooh, I wonder if they actually got married at George Clooney’s Lake Como villa? That must have been beautiful. Do you think Elisabetta Canalis was like “George when are we going to get married?” If she did, she’ll be out the door soon enough.

Next, we have country singer Carrie Underwood and her hockey player Mike Fisher. They were married in Atlanta, Georgia, apparently, and it was a more traditional affair then Clooney’s Den of Sin and European Sex.

Carrie Underwood is a married woman! The American Idol winner, 27, wed her hockey player beau Mike Fisher Saturday night near Atlanta, Ga., UsMagazine.com has confirmed.

The two walked down the aisle in front of more than 200 guests at the Ritz Carlton Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga., in a ceremony estimated to cost more than $500,000, according to RadarOnline.com. Underwood and Fisher, who plays for the Ottawa Senators, said their vows under a lakeside tent.

After a year of dating, Fisher, 30, popped the question last December with a 12-carat ring worth about $800,000. “We’re both obviously excited and very happy,” Fisher said at the time. Underwood hired a wedding planner, but also ironed out many of the details herself.

“I bought a lot of magazines and am cutting out pictures,” she told Us in January. “I have a folder and I cut out pictures and glue them in. It’s in kind of a binder thing.”

Fisher was tasked with coordinating the honeymoon. “[Planning] that was Mike’s project,” she said at the CMA Fest last month.

“It’s a surprise. I have no clue where we are going, which is nice. I know it will be warm, that’s about it.”

The Grammy winner said she wasn’t worrying too much about slimming down before her wedding.

“I’m not a big stresser — Mike would love me if I weighed 800 pounds,” she told reporters after taking the entertainer of the year award for the second straight year at the Academy of Country Music Awards in April.

Underwood first met Fisher backstage after an October 2008 concert in Toronto. “I made sure he came in with some other people,” she told Cosmopolitan. “I was like, ‘What if he’s weird?’”

They made their first public appearance as a couple in January 2010 at an event in Quebec. After nabbing Video of the Year at the CMT Awards last month, Underwood gushed to Us, “No matter what happens, I go home a winner. I have the biggest prize, the guy sitting next to me. Win or lose, he is proud of me. Of course, it’s nice to share the good times too!”

[From Us Weekly]

Congratulations to both couples, I’m sure they will be very happy. Does anyone want to place any bets on pregnancies, divorces, etc? My bet is that Carrie will get knocked up before Emily Blunt, but that Emily and John’s marriage will last longer. But you never can tell with those British girls, really. Emily seems very down-to-earth, and there have already been rumors that she’s pregnant. Honeymoon babies for both?

Photos of both couples courtesy of WENN.