Helen Hunt in a pantsuit, victorious at The Spirit Awards: cool and casual?


At last night’s Independent Spirit Awards Helen Hunt finally took home a statue for Best Supporting Actress, for The Sessions. (A complete list of winners is here and nominees are here.) I’m so happy for her! I’m not going to front like I’ve watched the whole Spirit Awards yet, 10pm is past my bedtime, but I did tape it and fast-forward to Helen’s win. Helen thanked her her co-star, John Hawkes (who also won a Spirit Award!), saying I “got to dance with the sexiest dance partner who never moved.” She also said that she was surprised that that a film about healthy sexuality got made. She ended her speech with a reference to her daughter, Makena, who turns 9 next month. “I hope that my daughter stands in the light of the spirit of this movie for all her days.” Does she mean the spirit of gentle compassion? I was a little confused by that.

Helen wore some black skinny jeans paired with a white dressy tee and a black jacket. She looked awesome and very appropriate for the more casual style of the Spirit Awards. (Just Jared identifies her jeans as J Brand in the “Maria” style.)

Nina Dobrev wore this Michael Kors shirt and dress shorts combo which was just ok I guess. The top is gorgeous and she may have been going for “casual” with those shorts, but I don’t think dress shorts look good on anyone other than Dr. Zoe Hart. Plus what’s up with her hair?

Also in dress shorts we have the venerable Marcia Gay Harden. What do you say about this outfit? The shorts have the word “Carpe” written large on the hem, and her tucked-in shirt is somewhat sheer and yet still has a baffling sequin design that wouldn’t be out of place on an Ed Hardy design. I like her white coat, it’s kind of boss.

Laura Dern continued the sheer shirt trend with this totally see-through pink lace sleeveless top and cranberry pencil shirt accented by a bright blue bra. I haven’t been watching Enlightened on HBO this season, having only seen the first season, but this reminds that I might want to check it out again. Maybe Laura isn’t so unlike the wacky, unhinged character she plays on the show. She’s really great on it, but she gets in such precarious situations that it makes me uncomfortable at times, kind of like this outfit. It’s like you can’t look away.

Photo credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet

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45 Responses to “Helen Hunt in a pantsuit, victorious at The Spirit Awards: cool and casual?”

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  1. Lucy2 says:

    Helen and Nina look good. Marcia’s look is like a lab coat thrown over vacation clothes, and Laura looks like she was dressed by a crazy person.

  2. lisa2 says:

    I never liked Laura Dern; and looking at how badly she is aging confirms for me that Karma is a good thing.

    Congrats to Helen on her win.

    • Jane says:

      Helen looks good and appropriate. Not sure what is going on with Marcia’s outfit, but otherwise, not bad. Dern looks rough and the outfit is horrid.

    • Salms says:

      Pardon me?

      She seems to be ageing pretty naturally – at the least, more naturally than her peers.

      I think your exposure to an influx of jacked-up, Botox queens has distorted your perspective of ageing.

      I don’t know, and neither do I care for Laura Dern, whoever she is. What I do find deeply disappointing, however, is when women pick on other women for their appearance. Not only is that immature behaviour that should have been left behind at the playground, but it is a new low to pick on somebody for ageing – a natural process we cannot help! Targeting the so-called ‘flaws’ of one person creates a breeding ground of insecurities for other women to sady tap into. Sorry to get preachy, but grow up and pick on her for something tangible if you must.

      In any case, she looks fit, healthy and glowing for her age.

      • lisa2 says:

        I don’t know where everyone here lives. I don’t live in Hollywood. And the women I see daily are not using botox and fillers. Great she is aging naturally. But that does not mean she is aging well. She looks way older then 46. I see 46 year old women and most of them don’t look like that.

        And at the beginning I said I DON’T LIKE HER. and I could rag on her for a lot of thing outside her looks. I didn’t say anything about wrinkles or whatever. I stated she is aging badly. You can fill in your own blanks. She is not “glowing” and I think she does not look great for her age. I think many 46 year old women look better.

        JMO.. and yes I’m biased So there.

      • Joanna says:

        I agree, Salms. She just looks to be aging naturally. I actually think she looks good. The other women, imo, have Botox at the least. I would know, I do Botox around my eyes. I think as botox, fillers, etc, become more common, natural aging is coming to be disparaged. I am 37 and rather terrified of growing older. The comments and put-downs on women who age naturally do not help those fears.

        For instance, I can remember an article on Cameron Diaz a long while back. All people could do was rag on how bad she looked, b/c she was showing signs of aging. Now she looks better. I think she’s done some botox, etc, to her face.

        I’ve seen comments on Jessica Chastain and some women who look gorgeous for their age. In their cases, I think they’ve had stuff done but people think they haven’t, b/c it looks so natural.

        I guess we better save our money for treatments, bc god forbid we age naturally. that would be just horrible (sarcasm).

      • skipper says:

        Im with lisa. Thats a rough 46. And it appears that she does have some fillers in her cheeks.

      • Mr.Smurf says:

        @Johnny
        As for the Cameron Diaz thing you mentioned, when I saw pictures of her months ago, I thought she looked terrible because she’d overdone it on the botox and fillers. Maybe I’m just bad at knowing when people have had work done, but she looked puffy and tweaked…the rest of her looked fine. It was really weird in her mouth area and cheeks.
        Now she looks like she quit it, and is going back together how she should be. So it’s not her wrinkles..it was how puffy, waxy, and tight her face looked.

      • claire says:

        I guess the fact that Laura has wrinkles, one could say she’s not aging well. But I have to say, I think her face looks f’ing beautiful. If the shirt hadn’t been sheer, that outfit would have been perfect. Helen on the other hand looks much older than she is. It’s not in the wrinkles – it’s in the eyes.

      • Suze says:

        I wanna move wherever Lisa2 lives because Dern looks like most of the 46 year old women I know – well, probably better than most.

        But her outfit is HORRID.

        Helen Hunt has always annoyed me. I think I’m supposed to like her a lot more than I do. That said, I like her clothes here. Very chic and minimalist. And I am far from an advocate for all women over 45 cutting their hair (I’m 53 myself with hair just past my shoulders) but Hunt really needs to lose a few inches of hair. It would soften her up immensely.

        She’s always resembled Jodi Foster, and look how good Jodi looks with shorter hair.

        Marcia Gay Harden doesn’t look very happy in these shots, and I don’t understand the shorts. But she is still a very pretty woman.

    • Lucy2 says:

      I don’t think she’s aging badly at all. She looks natural and not tweaked, and has a great figure.

      If karma makes people age badly, i think about 80% of Hollywood would look like the crypt keeper!

      • Becky1 says:

        Yeah, while I think Laura Dern’s outfit is horrible, I don’t think she’s aging badly. She just looks like she hasn’t had a bunch of stuff done to her face. I’m 40 and I’ve done Botox a few times and have mixed feelings about it. It works but it’s expensive and I feel very weird about having a toxin injected into my face to get rid of wrinkles. I don’t know if I’ll do it again. I think it’s great once it starts to wear off a little bit but when it’s at it’s peak it can make you look a little weird even if you haven’t gotten too many units.

        This is a bit off topic, but Laura Dern is really good in “Enlightened.” It’s not always the easiest show to watch, though…it can make you feel uncomfortable because her character can be so inappropriate.

  3. Emma says:

    I thought Helen look really good. I typically really dislike skinny jeans, but I do love them when they’re paired with a matching shoe that connects it all together. It looks really sleek to me anyway.

    I would have really like Laura Dern’s outfit if the top wasn’t see through. I absolutely hate this trend. She should be wearing a camisole or something underneath. It makes the look trashy when really it would have been very well put together. :/

  4. Happymom says:

    The one thing I really like about Laura Dern is that you can see wrinkles on her. Yay-someone who is actually not messing with their face and doesn’t look totally plastic and jacked up.!

  5. Jennifer12 says:

    Love that these women aren’t jacking their faces to hell and back. The outfits are terrible. Helen should have paired that outfit with a flat boot because the outfit can’t carry it and her hair looks hideous. Laura needs less fussy hair and not to show her bra as though it’s a shirt.

  6. MrsBPitt says:

    Jeez…as I was scrolling down and Laura Dern’s picture popped up, I was terrified for a moment…

  7. Isa says:

    I think I would have really liked Laura’s outfit if the top wasn’t see-through and she ditched the weird colored shoes. I like maroon and pink together.

  8. j.eyre says:

    I do love Laura’s skirt. Is the turquoise cummerbund attached to it or seperate? I like her shoes too, although not with that skirt. And I will leave it at that because the outfit looks like she promised her daughter she could dress her.

    I like Helen’s outfit. I am saddened by Marcia’s. Everything is wrong. I love her. I want to give her all kinds of passes but she even got the shoes wrong. And I am dying to know what is printed on the other side of her shorts; that’s going to drive me crazy – Carpe what?

  9. T.C. says:

    Helen Hunt looks amazing. I wanna steal her earrings. I like Nina Dobrev’s outfit too. Laura Dern, girl no. Just no. No, no,no.

    • karmasabiatch! says:

      ITA w/u, T.C.

      Love Helen Hunt’s earrings. Since we’re going all Crackie on her wardrobe, I plan on stealing that killer-cut black jacket as well. Love the cut-in look on the sides of the jacket, cool!

  10. T.Fanty says:

    Do you think Marcia’s bottom has “diem” written on it?

    It’s a hot mess from beginning to end. HH still needs an age appropriate haircut, and Laura Dern looks entirely and insanely appropriate for independent movie awards. And I love the maroon/turquoise combo on the skirt.

  11. Rita says:

    Helen has always been one of my favorite actresses in the movies or TV. IMO, one of the greatest acting scenes of all time by anyone was her portrayal of the mother of an asthmatic son in “As Good As It Gets” starring Jack Nicholson and a great cast. In the movie, Helen is sitting with her mother (Shirley Knight) at the kitchen table making excuses for not being able to enjoy life because she needs to take care of her son. In that moment, Helen realizes her son has become her crutch that she uses to avoid the outside world. Helen breaks down and relents to her mother’s demand that they go out on the town. Her acting was so genuine and gripping, she pulled the empathy right out of the audience. She’s wonderful!

    • bettyrose says:

      She won the best actress Oscar for that film, no? The same year as winning the best actress Emmy for Mad about You, if I’m not mistaken. Man, her career was on fire at point. At the time, it never even occurred to me to be impressed that someone with a fairly natural look (very attractive, but not surgically altered or anorexic) was so successful. That was a different time.

  12. Dee Cee says:

    Everyone pictured here appears to need sleep., less stress and some me apart from the cruel world time for a year?

  13. elceibeno08 says:

    Shorts are in now I guess.

  14. A Fan says:

    Nice to see some ‘real’ faces with wrinkles and natural lips/cheeks…

  15. Mrs. Ari Gold says:

    Laura Dern is amazing on “Enlightened”. It’s a great show. It’s very much a woman’s show and very funny & smart. I think it’s nice to see a hollywood actress not using Botox or surgery. Go Laura!

    And Helen Hunt is all class. Her speech was beautiful. She might be the dark horse and win the Oscar tonight if Sally Field and Anne Hathaway split the vote. Her performance is extraordinary in The Sessions and she could be THE upset of the Oscars this year!

    • pamspam says:

      Wouldn’t it be an amazing surprise if Helen took the Oscar??? And not just because Hathaway would have a meltdown (though I admit, as mean as it is to say, I’d like that…).

  16. ValinFL says:

    Dearly love Helen Hunt’s outfit, but I think she needs different hair. Too long and too stringy. It appears as if her hair is thinning, so it’s time for a new look.

    And I love that HH and LD are not jacked up with Botox.

  17. blonde on the dock says:

    Who did their hair? No one’s looks good other than LD.

    • pamspam says:

      It was really windy here in LA yesterday. Maybe the wind combined with the sea air had a negative impact on the hair? It sure made mine look a mess!

  18. Ethel says:

    John Hawkes was finally acknowledged for his outstanding work in The Sessions. He was also great in Lincoln. One of my faves. Why does the one link list him as getting the award for some movie called “Battery Dying”? Never heard of it.

  19. Janet says:

    Laura Dern’s hair looks godawful. Somebody buy her a comb.

  20. taxi says:

    Laura took (half) a page from KStew’s fashion book, Marcia looks ridiculous.
    Nina’s shoes cheapen her look a lot. Just hooker-ish with too-high heels.
    I love Helen’s jacket. The knee & ankle wrinkles look “off”. Jacket 2 inches longer & no knee bunching would be better. The jacket hits at the widest part of her hip – either shorter or longer is better.

  21. hmm says:

    1. whoa, Helen hunt is still alive. Good to know.
    2. Love Marcia Gay Harden, such a versatile and gifted actress
    3. Lara Dern you can do no wrong. Love love love her
    4. Nina Who?

  22. Claudia says:

    Helent Hunt looks awful these days. She used to be so pretty. I wonder what it is– maybe she needs to lighten her hair? I think the present color makes her look dowdy. Her makeup needs a general change as well, it’s always earth tones that are too close to her hair or skin color.

  23. skkuddles says:

    Poor Helen Hunt looks like she’s going bald. But she still has a nice figure.

    I get the strongest feeling Laura Dern did her own hair and chose that gross outfit herself.

    Don’t even know what to say about Marcia Gay Harden…

    • Claudia says:

      Did Marcia Gay Harden get some work done to her face? The latest episode of Law & Order SVU had her character (FBI agent Dana) come back, and I was struck by how odd her face looks now… her mouth, cheeks, and eyes are looking plumped and plastic. Even the way she sounds/talks is different, which could be due to lip and cheek fillers.

  24. Jayna says:

    Marcia Gay Harden is such an excellent actress.

    Helen has one of those faces with hard angles, so when aging needs to carry a little more weight, which she doesn’t. Add to that really stringy, thin hair and a huge forehead, there’s nothing to soften her face.

    I saw a movie she starred in and directed a few years ago with Colin Firth in it. She looked horrible. She said she wore little makeup or did flattering lighting on purpose. Why? Drab is an understatement of how she looked in the movie. Her hair was a drab color.

    • Claudia says:

      I saw that movie too. Did she also write it? I can’t remember. In any case I found it odd that the movie had numerous references to her character’s ‘beauty’ when she looked like hell in it.

      • Jayna says:

        I don’t know if she wrote the screenplay, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I saw an interview she did after saying she was surprised by all the comments about her appearance and that she shot it that way on purpose. I thought, why? No one wants to see you looking so gaunt in the face, little to no makeup, circles under your eyes, dull color hair, and not shot in flattering lighting. Who is going to believe Colin Firth is chasing you? LOL

  25. Meanchick says:

    Whew! Helen and Laura=NOT AGING WELL.

  26. Boxy Lady says:

    Helen Hunt had a veneer situation going on for awhile there that was not attractive (Jordana Brewster seems to have the problem these days) but it seems to have toned down, judging by the pictures. I think she looks great and I think she’s aging very well. Love Nina’s outfit, but not Marcia’s (love Marcia though). And Laura Dern….no.