Isn’t it nice to see Kerry Washington on the cover of a major fashion magazine? I like this. I like that several projects all “hit” within a year and now Kerry has had her breakthrough, which was long promised. I remember when she was supposed to break through back in 2004-06, with roles in Ray and Last King of Scotland, but it didn’t really happen. She worked consistently, but now everyone is talking about her because of Scandal and Django Unchained, and because she’s one of the best dressed ladies on the red carpet. Anyway, her Elle cover story seems pretty basic (you can see the slideshow here):

On the career Washington thought she’d pursue:
“I imagined I’d be a clinical psychologist, with a focus on how performance shapes identity. I’d figure out ways to use role-playing in the healing of people.”

When asked if as a girl she thought she’d ever consider modeling or becoming a film actress:
“I was not that girl. I was a kooky theater kid, silly and goofy and academic.”

On getting red-carpet ready:
“I found out I enjoy the process. All these people show up at my house, they all have kits, someone has dresses. And it’s like, Let’s have fun. It’s not all about me. We’re able to create stories on the red carpet.”

On her current success:
“I’m the luckiest broad in Hollywood now. To be the lead actor on Scandal and to be in the highest-earning Tarantino movie- I don’t get to ask for more.”

[From Elle]

Do you think she was really the “kooky theater kid, silly and goofy and academic”? Eh. Nearly every actor these days claims to be the kooky theater type. I don’t really get it. SOME of them were surely the popular cheerleaders or star athletes, just by the law of probabilities. As for Kerry’s bragging about being “the luckiest broad” – I would roll my eyes if it was some 22-year-old who just came out of nowhere. But Kerry didn’t come out of nowhere – she’s a 36-year-old who has been slogging through Hollywood for more than a decade. She deserves this!

Photos courtesy of Elle.

Here are some photos from the red carpet for last night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the annual event where Washington journalists, Hollywood types and politicians come together to get really drunk. Every year, there are more and more celebrities invited to this thing, but please, don’t even blame the White House for that. Most of the celebrities in attendance were guests of the media outlets, who try to out-do one another by inviting bigger and bigger stars or whatever reality show “celebrity” will get them press. Unfortunately, most Washington photojournalists have no idea how to take photos for a fashion-heavy event, which is why we don’t have many beauty shots. Anyway, here’s Katy Perry in Giambattista Valli. Katy might have been the best-dressed woman at the event, quite honestly.

Kerry Washington in Wes Gordon. Please do not create some elaborate conspiracy theory about Kerry and Obama. Kerry plays a woman having an affair with a fictional president in Scandal. It’s not real life! That being said, I’m suspicious because her bangs look like Mobama’s.

Sofia Vergara in… I don’t know, can’t find the ID. She looks pretty.

Sharon Stone looking like Cruella de Vil.

Rebel Wilson in Theia – now, Rebel WAS a guest of Michelle Obama.

Julie Bowen in Monique Lhuillier – her hair is wrong, but otherwise she looks fine.

Claire Danes in Prada – I like it! Hugh Dancy needs some facial hair or something.

Connie Britton in Temperley London. Pretty color, but it seems like it’s too tight.

Elizabeth Banks in Roland Mouret. I don’t like her new hair color and I think this salmon/orange is wrong for her coloring.

And here’s the Duck Dynasty guy and his wife.

Photos courtesy of David Bodrick/DMBJ/WENN.com.

I kind of like how Kerry Washington has arrived, don’t you? She’s been on the cusp of becoming a big-name celebrity for a while, but it feels like over the past year – with Django Unchained and Scandal – she’s really become a big star. She dresses like a woman who knows she’s going to be discussed too. Kerry wore this Michael Kors mullet dress to the MTV Movie Awards. I hate it, I think it’s too dressy for MTV, and I hate that shade of yellow-orange. But props to her because she knows how to get talked about and because while I don’t like this look, I respect it. Mostly because I genuinely like her!

Here’s Ke$ha. She looked like hell but at least she got to get high with Snoop Lion.

Hana Mae Lee and her cigarette-butt hat. I don’t even know. She’s in Pitch Perfect, by the way.

And here’s Zoe Saldana in Givenchy. Now I kind of want Zoe and Tom Hiddleston to get together so we can concentrate all of the cheeseball cringe in one place.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Kerry Washington’s Miu Miu gown was one of my favorite looks at the Oscars. It was simple, classic, gorgeous, flattering, and she styled the gown beautifully. But today’s Page Six has an interesting backstory on how Kerry chose her gown for the Oscars. Kerry was invited to the Oscars to present, and because her film Django Unchained was up for several awards. Django was produced by Harvey Weinstein, who is a long-time supporter of Quentin Tarantino’s work. When Harvey produces a film and put his efforts into an Oscar campaign, you know what happens? The female stars of Harvey’s films end up wearing Marchesa, the label co-designed by Harvey’s wife Georgina Chapman. So why didn’t Kerry wear Marchesa, like, at all? Well, Page Six claims that Chapman had made a special Marchesa gown specifically for Kerry… and Kerry still went with the Miu Miu gown:

“Django Unchained” star Kerry Washington risked the wrath of Harvey Weinstein after his wife Georgina Chapman’s fashion line Marchesa created a stunning custom-made gown for her to wear to the Oscars — but the actress decided not to wear it at the last minute. Washington opted instead for a coral Miu Miu frock.

Some in the fashion business wondered, “Isn’t it career kamikaze to upset Harvey’s wife on such an important night?”

A Marchesa rep declined to comment. Washington’s rep didn’t respond.

[From Page Six]

Oooooh. There will be hell to pay! Kerry will never work on one of Harvey’s films again! Or something. Isn’t it interesting that not only did Kerry carefully avoid wearing Marchesa, but Harvey’s other starlet, Jennifer Lawrence, also managed to avoid the Marchesa fate too? Jennifer had a better excuse – she signed on to be the newest face of Dior at the beginning of the awards season, so it was pretty much required that she wear Dior to every major event. Kerry didn’t have the same excuse. She just didn’t want to wear Marchesa’s crappy, budget ice-skater designs.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Jennifer Aniston was one of presenters-to-watch before the red carpet even began. Everybody had such high hopes, and then she arrived on the red carpet and everybody was like, “Oh. Now I remember. She always looks the same.” When she first arrived, I only saw her from the waist up and I thought she looked so much like THIS – an old Emmys look from, like 1999. Like, I thought she was wearing the same Prada gown that she wore more than a decade ago. But this Valentino was different – it was a different kind of gown for her. She usually doesn’t do the big, full skirts. But other than that, it was exactly the same. I can’t believe she didn’t change it up AT ALL with her hair or makeup – there was nothing “special” about how she styled herself for the Oscars. It was so weird.

Speaking of EXACTLY THE SAME, Justin Theroux put his hand on Jennifer’s stomach and now everyone is like “OMG PREGNANT”. Decide for yourself. I do like Justin better with a beard – although it looks like he’s trying to copy Ben Affleck and George Clooney, right? Like, this looks exactly like Ben’s beard.

Also wearing a shade of red (but it looks more coral here)? Kerry Washington in MiuMiu. This was actually one of my favorite looks of the night! Kerry did something to take away those horrible bangs she had throughout the Oscar season (maybe the bangs were detachable?), and her dress moved beautifully. I think she’s gained some weight back after looking too slender as well. All in all, Kerry was one of the best looks of the evening!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

These are some photos from Friday night’s NAACP Image Awards in LA – you can read the full winners list here. Viola Davis won Best Actress for Won’t Back Down and Denzel Washington won Best Actor for Flight. Halle Berry was up for Best Actress (for Cloud Atlas) but she lost, obviously, and so she maybe looked kind of foolish in retrospect dominating the red carpet the way she did. Halle did look great though – she wore this beautiful Vivienne Westwood gown which makes her body and skin look amazing. Note: she’s wearing her engagement ring. God, that thing is so ugly, right?

I’m not sure who Joy Connor is, but OMG THIS DRESS. She looks like she mauled a Muppet and then wore its carcass.

Alfre Woodard looks fantastic! That color is beautiful on her, and her hair looks spectacular.

Freida Pinto looks fantastic in this James Ferreira gown. Should I consider this dress Grecian-inspired or sari-inspired? Great color on her.

Sandra Oh – pretty color on her, but the overall effect is meh.

I don’t love anything about Kerry Washington’s Oscar de la Renta look. First, the hair is too severe. I think she regrets a bad bangs choice and she’s trying to grow them out, but this is not the way to make it work. As for the dress… it just doesn’t look… right? Like, it’s two ugly dresses put together to make something super-fug. But! Kerry was a big winner last night – she won awards for Django Unchained, Scandal, and a public service award.

I love Archie Panjabi so, so much but I’ve gotten to the point where I can admit to myself (and all of you) that she always looks far better on The Good Wife than she ever looks on the red carpet. The stylists at The Good Wife just know how to sex her up and make her look so badass and beautiful. She always disappoints me on the red carpet. It’s not that this Lorena Sarbu dress is BAD, per se, but it’s just kind of blah.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Nicole Kidman was a double-loser last night. She was nominated for Supporting Female Actor for The Paperboy (she lost to Anne Hathaway) and for Female Actor in a TV Movie (she lost to Julianne Moore). The one category which I’m really happy about is the TV Movie one – Nicole just looked flat-out awful (as in, crazy Botox-face and lip injections) in Hemingway & Gellhorn, and Julianne Moore killed it in Game Change, so I’m glad that Nicole keeps on having to eat it when Julianne wins. What’s nice is that I think Nicole has acknowledged to herself that she’s going to lose, because she actually looked like she was having fun last night. She sat with Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber and she just seemed happy and “loose”.

As for how she looked – during the Golden Globes weekend, her face looked kind of crazy, but I actually thought “the freeze” looked a bit looser and “un-frozen” a little bit. The haircut helped – I think she was going for a blunt-cut, rock n’ roll style, but it looked kind of stringy at times. Her Vivienne Westwood gown was the bomb, though. It was one of my favorite dresses of the night. Beautiful color, great fit, lovely design. It suited her too.

Naomi Watts wore this totally boring Marchesa wedding dress. Right? There was nothing special about this dress at all, and there was nothing about to differentiate it from a wedding gown. She’s a beautiful woman, and I love that she doesn’t look “worked on” but I expect more from her, style-wise. I guess the nicest thing I can say is that for Marchesa, at least it’s not actively awful, you know? It’s just nondescript, boring and bridal.

In my mind, Kerry Washington regrets getting bangs. In my mind, she’s still trying to figure out how to do her hair because she realizes she made a huge mistake by chopping her hair and getting those awful bangs trauma. Thus, she side-swept them and tried to make the best of it. But I can still see them, and they haunt me. As for her dress – Rodarte. Eh. Much like Naomi, I expect more from Kerry, and I expect her not to wear a damn wedding dress. She has a great eye and she’s unafraid to try different looks, but this just looks like a re-worked doily and tablecloth.

Photos courtesy of FayesVision/WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Sometimes I get tired of my own negativity. For real. Which is exactly why I’ve been putting off my coverage of these ladies: Kerry Washington, Sienna Miller, Marion Cotillard and Zooey Deschanel. Like, I like all of those women (I’m not crazy about Sienna, but I don’t have a hate-on for her), and I’m an especially big fan of Zooey these days. But all of these ladies got it SO, SO WRONG last night. For Kerry and Marion, it was a question of length, and both seemed to not understand that they could really go BIG for the Golden Globes. Kerry just wore a huge ball gown to the UK premiere of Django, and then she shows up at the Globes in a little slip of a cocktail dress? NO. And Marion should know better too.

But let’s start with Zooey Deschanel in Oscar de la Renta. Yes, it’s a ball gown. Yes, it’s a bad red – too light and too orange-y. Yes, she styled it with a ponytail and giant pearls. I just can’t, okay? The pearls were the worst part of a bad look. They turned this from “unfortunate hipster princess” to “So Zooey is Barbara Bush now?”

Marion Cotillard in Dior. NO. I might have accepted it if it was full-length, but the asymmetrical look is done poorly, the color is wrong, and in photographs, it looks like a stiff poly-blend.

Kerry Washington in Miu Miu. You know what? I would have loved this at a premiere for Django. But she wore the beautiful ball gown to the premiere and the little cocktail dress to the Globes, and it’s just wrong.

And finally, Sienna Miller in Erdem. She said she wanted to go for a hot British designer, and it’s true – Erdem is all over the place these days, mostly because of Duchess Kate. But we’ll never see Duchess Kate in this child-like playsuit-looking fugness. I’m sorry, y’all, but I loathe this. It’s dated and poorly executed and it doesn’t flatter her.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

Kerry Washington hasn’t really been bringing her style game in this European tour for Django Unchained, right? The poor girl has worn a ruffled nightmare and then followed up with a cutesy/boob-cup combination that was like a triple gut punch to fashion lovers and even the most casual bystander. Although I thought the J. Mendel print dress she wore in Germany was slightly improved, most of you did not agree.

Now Kerry has travelled to the UK premiere and donned a milky white (and grey) Giles gown with Christian Louboutin shoes. As a red carpet dress, this is a little bit fussy but much preferable to the other outfits she’s been wearing to promote this movie. You can’t see the horse print very well in these photos, but it’s more visible in the runway version if you’re curious how it looks in better lighting. I really like the idea behind the fitted bodice atop a poufy skirt with this print — sort of like Kerry is riding in on a white horse, and it goes with the “rescue” theme of the movie quite well. Her makeup appears quite beautiful here, and the romantic, wavy hair really completes the look. This is the best she’s looked during this European tour.

Kerry also took some time to pose with Samuel L. Jackson and Jamie Foxx. I am certain that Sam has worn this entire outfit before on a red carpet, and he’s not even trying to look spiffy. As for Jamie, the purple suit isn’t awful (it’s at least interesting), but the sky blue shirt underneath makes me want to go colorblind.

Christoph Waltz was there, of course! His tie is wacky, but he’s so cute.

Finally, here is Quentin Tarantino himself. This movie will probably end up outgrossing all of his other cinematic efforts, and I really do think QT got robbed by not receiving a Best Director Oscar nomination, but he’ll be fine. This movie really speaks for itself. I’ve seen it twice, and I absolutely loved it.

Photos courtesy of WENN

I had been looking forward to Kerry Washington’s fashion for her Django Unchained publicity tour. Like, I had really high hopes after she wore that amazing Vivienne Westwood gown to last year’s Emmys – it was a rare moment where it felt like an amazing style star had arrived. Unfortunately for all of us, Kerry’s Django tour has been marred by some tragic fashions. I covered some of the weekend photos of Kerry yesterday – she wore a weird, acid-green ruffled dress for a photocall and a weird cut-out sack dress for a European premiere. It was just… not good.

And here are more choices from Kerry. Here’s the thing: I know she loves clothes. I know she’s actually working with a team of people to do some high-impact “looks”. But I’ve got to wonder what her “team” thinks about their work. The long, multicolored strapless gown is Rochas – Kerry wore it to the Paris premiere of Django. This might be the high point of her Django tour! While CB and I aren’t crazy about the structured boob cups, the fabric is pretty is the design overall is lovely.

And here’s the problem look – Kerry in Louis Vuitton in Berlin today. Outlets are saying that the white/pink bow (??) is Louis Vuitton too, so this might be a runway-to-red carpet look, as in this might be the way Louis Vuitton wanted their dress to be seen. If that’s the case and Kerry was told, “Darling, you must wear this checkerboard dress with this flirty little hair bow!!” then maybe it’s not ALL her fault. But it’s still just a weird/dumb look for an adult woman. Now, if this was miniaturized for Harper Seven Beckham? Sure. I would be into it. But this whole outfit makes me worried that LV is all over the infantilization of women.

(PS… Bonus Quentin Tarantino as Velvet Elvis… and look at his tiny feet!)

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.