Our favorite Curvy Comic, Melissa McCarthy, was spotted at the Academy Awards 2012 on the red carpet in a custom couture Marina Rinaldi evening gown. After Badgley Mischka created her last two dresses for the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, the good news is she finally was approached by someone who truly designs for the double digit divas out there. She must have come to her senses and realized that Badgley Mischka is not a great choice if she is going to promote and endorse a designer who is firmly full figured. We all know that Marina Rinaldi is the plus size division of the Max Mara line, a high end Italian collection who has been designing classic, elegant clothing for tallie forte donna (translated: strong (!) size women) for several decades now. That won her lots of points in my bodacious book and with the other women who are looking for her to “represent” them on the red carpet. Octavia Spencer is divine, but she has a more mature look and choosing Tadashi to wear was so wise. Tadashi is elegant and refined and he completely understands her hourglass figure. His designs are made for that body type. Melissa is more challenging because she must “give herself a waist” so she doesn’t look like a block of color and appear wider on screen than she needs to. It’s all illusion dressing, after all, and you have to know your shape to show your shape. And hey, Meliss, a tummy isn’t the end of the world!
A few points on the MR dress and why it did and did not work for her. The gathering and jewels on the upper bodice were exactly right bringing attention to her face. The coral family was a color that washed her out too much in my estimation. She needs more vibrancy in her choice of colors. A muted salmon tone seems right on paper, but it missed the “wow” factor. But, the color was not my main criticism. My problem with the design of the dress was that it had an empire waist that was encrusted with beading and sat right under the ribcage and floated over her tummy. Yes, it gave her the waist she needs to emphasize, but the empire made her look short waisted and low busted. The real culprit with the dress was that the bottom 2/3 of the garment was too much of a solid block of color. It needed to have an opening so as to break up the eye as it travelled to the bottom of the hem. How interesting if it had had a slit, and maybe not as dramatic as Angelina Jolie’s was, but a slit that broke up the solid block of color and showed some leg from the lower thigh down. She became a “wall of color” and that translates into width and breadth and doesn’t provide the added benefit of a silhouette that can be much more complementary simply with that design tweak.
I heard an interview with her and she commented on her handmade shoes and clutch created by her old pal Brian Atwood. He wrote an inscription on the bottom of the shoes with the date and place she wore them. She seemed obviously touched by that gesture. She also stated that she is going to get back to designing her line of clothing hopefully due out soon. She said that she has been so busy and the Award Season really took some of her time in between working. The added time spent just trying to find wardrobe choices that were appropriate must have been maddening.
I understand her alter ego is Sookie St. James….hilarious!
Sookie St. James was the loveable control freak and scatterbrain/klutzy best friend of Lorelai Gilmore on the Gilmore Girls. Sookie is the executive chef at the Independence Inn and later, the co-owner and head chef at the Dragonfly Inn.
And I know what you’re thinking – no it’s not Snookie – it’s Sookie!!
Even in a Marina Rinaldi that didn’t work 100% on her, she looked a million times more polished and pulled together than the Jersey Shore nightmare that I am forced to watch on the wall of TV stations that are plastered across the treadmill/stationery bikes/elliptical machine workout area on the main floor of my Equinox gym. I actually have a name for the cookie cutter, incredibly loud and too extremely close JS women who emulate that pint size, over extended, spray tanned travesty — I call ‘em Snook-a-likes!
I can’t help but voice my opinion, though, that my favorite look of hers happens to be the ensemble she wore for her appearance late fall on the David Letterman Show. Her makeup is vibrant, the tunic with the grommets is trend-forward as are the slim leather pants. And the pop of electric cobalt grape ruanna wrap that she threw over it was simply divine and exactly the right layering piece. We all know that finding evening wear that works as well as our daytime selections is extremely hard to do. In trying to find the look that is so ‘special occasion’, the dress comes off too contrived and actually accentuates the very areas we don’t want to have attention overly drawn to. My hope is that her new line will have some dressier garments that we can all wear along with her for our ‘red carpet events’….I hope she remembers to “ride your curves, not hide your curves.” She does have a design and textile background, so I cannot wait till it debuts. Make the time, Sookie, we all need your sensibility and we will rally round the racks when it hits the stores!
By Catherine Schuller
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