In or Out: Michelle Trachtenberg in Marchesa

In which T & Lo go on for paragraphs about the silliest stuff.

Michelle Trachtenberg attends the LA premiere
of "Take Me Home Tonight" in a Marchesa dress.

Marchesa Fall 2010 Collection [Modified Version]
Model: Sarah Dumont

Oh, "In or Out" posts. You're going to be the death of us someday. Probably due to enraged fans of some poor OUT'd starlet storming the gates of T Lo manse, ready to defend their diva from horribly nasty bloggers who say mean things. But we'll probably die from frustration first, because there are so many elements to the average RC look that boiling a look down to IN or OUT is a little too binary for us.

But this is the internet, where quickly formed, absolutist opinion-making rule and thus we are ready to fulfill our bitchy blogger duties. Let's break this down.

We're done with Marchesa. Seriously. We haven't seen a Marchesa dress we've actually liked in ages. We understand that each design house has their own aesthetic (or should) and that collections over time pay tribute to, or work variations upon, that aesthetic. That's not the case with Marchesa. They've pretty much made the same dresses, over and over and over. And while we think the frou-frou, folded-napkin, origami dresses have their place, we're just sick of everything that comes from Marchesa being ONLY those types of dresses. So yeah, not loving this dress because we're at the point now where we automatically dislike most dresses with a Marchesa label. Besides, that ruffle looks weirdly crushed and if we have to pick one, we think the original version looks better than the one Michelle is wearing. Just don't like the way the ruffle zigs right across her midsection like that.

But what makes this difficult for us is the accessorizing. As our devoted minions know, we have something of an obsession with what we consider bad red carpet accessorizing. This obsession is two-fold:

1) Stylists are a bunch of high schoolers who concern themselves more with what everyone else is doing than what looks good or stylish, which results in a lot of trend-following on the RC, especially when it comes to accessories. This is why you hear us rail against nude shoes or peep-toes. It's not because we hate those things or there's anything wrong with them; it's just that they're overused to a ridiculous extent before the next trend hits the RC, then THAT becomes overused to a ridiculous extent.

2) Matchy-match accessorizing. For some reason, this really bothers some people. What can we say? We can't stand it, 9 times out of ten. A woman wearing shoes, a belt and a purse all in the same color looks like a Barbie doll. A woman who wears all three accessories in shades that match her outfit exactly isn't really doing anything wrong, but we expect stylists and starlets to be a bit more expressive.

Okay, the reason we're telling you all this? Well, one, to once again point out to those gals who love nude peeptoes that we're not criticizing them or their shoes; we're criticizing the ubiquity of those items on the RC. But also, we're pointing this out because, although we hate the dress, we kind of love the accessorizing here. Nothing matches and everything goes. Granted, we're not totally in love with those pumps, but we do love that someone thought to pair silver shoes with this pewter dress, and then pairing a cream-colored clutch and that cuff just sent it into A+ territory. Keeping the earrings in the same family as the dress was also a smart move.

Given that we like the hair and makeup along with all the accessories, we're going to have to go with an IN on this one, even though we don't love the dress. The dress is a taste issue; meaning, we don't like it but that doesn't make it bad. The rest of it, all that stuff we praised, that's demonstrating real style.


[Photo Credit: getty, elle.com]

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Labels: Fashion, In or Out, Marchesa, Michelle Trachtenberg, Red Carpet