Do you remember Nina Dobrev’s killer red Donna Karan at the Emmy Awards last year? It looked like she was born to wear it, and that’s how I feel about this amazing metallic Donna Karan dress she’s sporting at the MET Gala. It’s got a similar fishtail design to her Emmy dress and it just looks stunning on her figure. I love the draping near the asymmetrical neckline which continues around the open back. The dripping metallic design on the dress is fashion-forward and snake-like without making it look like she’s molting. Her updo coupled with elegant makeup and simple starbust earrings are just perfect. Overall this is an amazing look, one of the best of the night.

I’m not as fond of Jessica Alba’s bronze tinfoil-look Michael Kors gown. The cut is very flattering and classic, like old school Hollywood, but the fabric just makes it look cheap somehow. I love her styling though. Her sideswept wavy hair, simple red matte lips, and understated smokey eyes are so pretty and compliment this look. Her gold accessories go well with her dress, although she could have done without the chunky ring. She looks incredibly pretty, but the shininess of the dress is throwing it off somehow.

In silver metallic we have Lana Del Rey, in Joseph Altuzarra. She’s shown here with the designer. The dress might be stunning if I could actually see it. What’s with that bizarre diaphanous black cape around her shoulders? I get that it’s a costume ball and that some ladies are going to dress like superheros, but this is too much. The eggplant purple lipstick just manages to emphasize how bizarrely shaped her lips are. Her hair looks great, though. I like that she didn’t overdo the accessories and just tried to work that cape. It’s not really working for her.

Somehow Lana del Ray’s so-called “real” lips are still gathering attention in a most inexplicable manner. This story is a strange one though because Lana was photographed exiting the Chateau Marmont with Axl Rose (of the formerly awesome Guns ‘n’ Roses) in tow. Weird, right?

Ordinarily I’d try not to make a huge deal out of this sort of thing and assume that Lana, 25, and Axl, 50, are merely enjoying a platonic relationship. After all, they’re not holding hands or anything as they made their way to the same waiting vehicle. Lana is said to be a huge G’n'R fan as well, and she was photographed at two of their concerts during the month of March. However (and this is where it gets skeevy), Lana wrote a song called “Axl Rose Husband” during her pre-fame days. In other words, she has basically admitted to having a crush on the dude, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that these two might actually date:

She is a self confessed Guns N’ Roses fan, and even once wrote a song entitled “Axl Rose Husband.” And Lana Del Rey was clearly enjoying the chance to spend the evening with her idol – the group’s frontman Axl Rose last night.

The unlikely pair were spotted leaving West Hollywood hot spot Chateau Marmont last night, before driving away in an SUV together with a female companion.

Axl, who is now 50-years-old and looks a bloated shadow of his previous rocker self, sported a black hat, long sleeved top and ripped jeans as he followed his younger companion out of the hotel.

He also sported a rather unflattering strawberry blonde moustache and shoulder length hair. And 25-year-old Lana was equally low key, sporting slim fitting jeans, a pale denim shirt, flat black shoes and a white T=shirt.

They then got into a large black car, with Axl in the front seat and Lana and her female friend in the back.

Last month, Lana attended two separate back-to-back Guns N’ Roses concerts in LA – one at the House of Blues and one at the The Wiltern. She has also been spotted sporting a black Guns N’ Roses vest top which she happily showed off to photographers.

Lana recorded the song “Axl Rose Husband,” back when she was going by her real name Lizzy Grant. It featured the lyrics: “You’re my one king daddy, I’m your little queen.”

[From Daily Mail]

Did she really mean to write “king daddy … little queen” about Axl? How squicky. I mean, the dude used to be okay by hair-band standards, but he’s really let himself go over the years. Essentially, I lost interest long before he started sporting a headful of tiny braids. But who knows? Axl might be great company. After all, he was spotted playing pingpong with Scarlett Johansson in early 2010. Maybe he has … hidden talents. And I just grossed myself out.

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News

Here are some of the fashion photos from last night’s BRIT Awards in London. They’re sort of like the Grammys and the American Music Awards, I’m guessing. They give out awards to musical acts and there are lots of performances too. I already covered Adele’s multiple victories earlier. Rihanna also took home an award for International Solo Artist of the year. Rihanna wore this Givenchy gown which… is unexpected? I’m not used to seeing Rihanna in formal eveningwear, so it takes a moment to adjust. I’m not crazy about the gown on Rihanna – it seems like the dress is wearing her, and the gown is too “old” for her. I do love the leather gloves, though. Those are gorge.

Here’s Florence Welch in Alexander McQueen. Ugh. I love Flo, totally and completely, but I feel like people are trying to make her “happen” as a Fashion Girl, and I almost always think she looks like hell. Bad hair, bad makeup, and the dress does nothing for her. It looks like a tattered doily.

Lana Del Rey won the Breakthrough Award. She wore this pretty Vivienne Westwood gown which feels really plain on her, right?

Call me cray-cray, but I love this pale yellow Versace on Nicole Scherzinger. The fit is weird at the bust and the waist, there’s something “home sewn” about those beads, and yet… it all kind of works. She looks really good here.

I really like Jessie J’s voice. I feel like she’s trying to follow The Gaga Path – have a great voice, since dance tracks that the gays will love, wear shocking things, try to be provocative, and see where it goes from there. She would be more interesting if she wasn’t trying to be so “provocative” though. Her dress is Falguni & Shane Peacock – meh.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Last week, Kaiser asked a very relevant question about “singer” Lana del Ray in relation to her face inexplicably showing up on the Vogue UK cover — Why is this chick getting so much attention? Of course, a lot of the attention is quite negative especially in regard to del Ray’s disastrous “SNL” performance, but one is still left to wonder how this so-called “internet sensation” has gained so much mainstream exposure of late. Now del Ray, whose real name is Elizabeth Woodridge Grant, has scored an interview with the New York Times’ T Style magazine. There’s also a photoshoot by Terry Richardson, who shoots del Ray through his typical Lolita-esque fetish motif:

The shoot is actually one of Richardson’s blander extravaganzas. I guess not even he knows what to do with those massive lips because, you know, they sort of speak for themselves. Unbelievably, the NYT interview introduces del Ray as “a skinnier Adele.” Look, I’m not even a massive Adele fan (although I do dig her), but that is a seriously offensive statement. Yet this journalist appears to be under some sort of spell and genuinely seems to find del Ray to be both intellectually deep and fascinating. What gives?

She’s Not Manufactured? “I mean, I met everyone who is anyone in the music industry over the last six years and I was unsignable. That’s what I was told by everyone. I would play my songs, explain what I was trying to do, and I’d get, ‘You know who’s No. 1 in 13 countries right now? Kesha.’”

Her Lips Are, Like, Real Too: [T]he subject of Del Rey’s mouth is an irresistible one. So, sitting on the steps of a 25th Street brownstone, I ask the seemingly preposterous question. “It’s fine,” she assures me. “They’re real lips, I mean. In real life my lips don’t look that big. I think because I cartoonized the footage of myself in the video for ‘Video Games’ things look exaggerated.”

On Her Disastrous “SNL” Performance: “I’m not by nature a showstopper. I love to write and play songs, but onstage, all these things come into play. I’m always saying to myself, Don’t mess up. Don’t mess up.”

On Her Breakup Songs: “I felt the same way for a really long time, and then I met someone who I guess I fell in love with. I just didn’t know I could feel differently. That time with him became sort of a place that I fell back to in my memory. Well, I mean, the breakup is a part of it in the way that in the midst of loss you try to still look towards the light and not fall to pieces or do self-destructive things.”

Where She Lives: “Staying with my ex-boyfriend,” she says nonchalantly, then bursts into nervous laughter and admits, “I live on his couch.”

[From NYT T Style Mag]

Yes, the ex-boyfriend whose couch is her current crash pad just happens to be the same guy about whom she wrote her love and breakup songs. Is it just me, or does del Ray sound even more vacant than the usual pop star breed? I really hate to summarize this girl as “annoying,” but that’s all I get from this interview. And the photoshoot? The same.

Photos courtesy of NYT and the Fashion Spot

Some days, when CB and I can’t find anything to write about, we just start gossiping about someone random and, in my opinion, our conversations should be archived for hilarity’s sake. This just happened with Lana del Rey – she’s on the cover of the March issue of Vogue UK, she was just photographed in NYC last night, everybody has been talking about how much they love-or-hate her, and I just don’t get it. Why is Lana del Rey a thing? Why do people have such strong opinions about her? She’s completely fake and manufactured, correct? That’s my take – CB’s take was along the lines of (I’m paraphrasing) “That fake-lipped dumbass bugs me.”

I understand that Lana’s performance on Saturday Night Live a few weeks ago was universally panned. Here’s one of her live performances:

Awful. And shortly after that, Lana went from “barely known hipster whose real name is Lizzie Grant” to “object of universal scorn.” Her album, Born To Die, dropped this week, and critics had a field day shredding her apart. Here’s the music video for “Born To Die.”

Not as bad as the SNL performance, but why does she sing like she’s on Quaaludes? I still don’t get it. But the moral of the story seems to be that all press is good press – Born to Die is the number one album this week, and Lana thinks her fan base is growing. She tweeted, “Thank you for making the record #1 in 11 countries. Your sweet words have softened the effect of even the harshest reviews. I adore you.” For the love of God, WHY IS SHE A THING?

Here’s Lana outside of the Ed Sullivan theater last night:

Photos courtesy of WENN.