GEEKISTA | STYLE

Musing About the Met Gala 2013

The annual Met Ball Gala is dually a feast and nightmare for the eyes. As a fashion fan, I love it all because unlike the traditional red carpet event, Hollywood fixtures are obligated to dress for fashion and not for what will get them on the Best Dressed list. Well, in theory anyway. This year’s “punk” (in quotes) theme was interpreted with spikey coifs, cutouts and, for some reason, wearing trousers under dresses (???). I don’t get that last one either, but here are some of my favorite looks nonetheless.

Allison Williams channeling ’90s goth in this long, lacy gown.

I love the blonde pixie cut on Anne Hathaway! It looks fresh, doesn’t wash her out and contrasts nicely with this faux-shreddy long-sleeved cutout number.

Blake Lively combining elegance and whimsy.

I know Cameron Diaz’s royal blue gown will be polarizing but I LOVE it: the cape, the shape, the color. Fabulously futuristic and retro at the same time.

Cara Delevingne plunges in something appropriately punk-inspired. Dig the studs.

Looking ever the ladylike muse, Carey Mulligan in this all-black ensemble is cute and coquette-ish.

Adorable Emma Watson sasses up an elegant black gown with cutouts.

Midriff bare, don’t care. And that is why Gwen Stefani can wear anything.

Jaime King in a sleek pantsuit. So glad she opted out of attaching a giant skirt to this, contrary to some of her Met Ball peers.

Say what you will, but January Jones always dresses for fashion and I appreciate her for it.

I like about 90% of Jessica Pare’s combo trouser-gown (trown?. Had the peplum been longer and the trousers lost, I would’ve been on-board 100%.

Like only J. Lo could.

Punk? Not even in the slightest. Still, I love Lana del Rey’s old-school glam, compete with cape. Drama!

Both Miranda Kerr and Olivia Wilde reminded me of Leeloo from Fifth Element in their bandaged-cutout numbers.

The zippers seal the deal for Rooney Mara’s structured mullet-cut dress.

Jacket. Punk. Want. And rocked in that insouciant British way that only a Brit like Sienna Miller could.

Sources: Vogue.com, GoFugYourself.com

Only Gwen Could Pull This Off

Top Top Knots

Fergie recently rocked the perfect top knot to the debut of her footwear line at Nordstrom. I’m simultaneously obsessed and terrified of top knots: obsessed because with the right amount of hair and styling, it can look sleek, sophisticated yet slightly playful a la Gwen Stefani:

But since I’m Asian and my bone structure is particularly sensitive to anything that would make my face look more like a square than like a normal human being’s, I feel like I have to be EXTRA careful about how I top knot my head. I’ve found the key is to have a lot (and I mean A LOT) of hair and volume on top to balance out a stronger bone structure to avoid that awesome squashed-and-flattened pancake face effect.

My attempt:

Yep, still think I look like Rachael Leigh Cook from She’s All That when she’s working at the falafel joint:

Happy Birthday, Gwen Stefani

In the ’90s, “Gwennabes” were the little girls who walked around sporting bindis, midriff tops and Bedazzled bra straps a la a chick from Orange County named Gwen Stefani. She was the front woman of ska-pop band No Doubt and sarcastically wailed about how she was just a girl and walking into spiderwebs. Minus the bindi, I was kind of a Gwennabe; not gonna lie.

The quintessential California girl has evolved into a successful business mogul, mother and chick I still dig, so on today - her 42nd birthday (!!) - I’d like to thank her for inspiring me to hot glue red rhinestones to my bra strap in middle school. Oh yeah, that happened.