Ariana Grande in Giambattista Valli
This confection was Ariana's first one. Some of the context for all these gowns might be that she bailed on last year's Grammys, claiming she wasn't given enough creative freedom for her performance, and posted a pic of herself in her Zac Posen gown at home. So this year, in her return to the stage, she WENT FOR IT.
Ariana in Schiparelli
And then on the CBS pre-show, she popped up in this one, which I think is -- sorry, Schiaparelli -- vastly inferior and has dumb boob darts (though I appreciate that she recycled the gloves).
Ariana immediately put the other one back on, so it must have been her far-and-away favorite. Maybe there was a miscommuniction and Schiaparelli thought they'd been promised something? I don't know. I mostly bought this picture because of how hilarious she looks sitting in a small Staples Center seat in that GIANT gown.
However: Having the Grammys at Staples with Kobe's banner overhead mere hours after his startling and tragic death, must have been a strange scenario for everyone. But, as much as I'm all for celebrating life, all the coy vamping on the red carpet did come off as really out-of-touch and tone deaf -- which, please know, I say in full awareness of the fact that the entire Grammys probably seemed that way, too, in a macro sense, and yet they couldn't cancel them. I'm not sure this lengthy stop-drop-and-pose was fully necessary.
Billy Porter in Baja East
Okay, here is Billy. As Jessica said, the big risk of going somewhere dressed as a glamorous lamp is that if something really awful happens in the news right before you arrive, you are then STUCK dressed as a glamorous lamp. [Just as a note, I got the "glamorous lamp" descriptor from someone on Twitter and I cannot remember who. If you are the person who originally called Billy Porter a glamorous lamp, please take credit! - J] The other risk of dressing up as a glamorous lamp is, indeed, looking like a glamorous lamp AT ALL. Anyway, here is the hilarious hat in its closed position.
And here we have it halfway open, like if Billy is going to peek at you before deciding whether you're allowed his full splendor.
And here is the full monty. The tiny inner fringe is an amusing touch. I love and respect the attitude that merely ONE ring of fringe was not sufficient.
Lizzo in Versace
Lizzo declined interviews, citing the Kobe thing, but I have to think that was also partly because she was opening the show and had to hustle inside -- I think traffic in that area was BONKERS yesterday and it's a miracle any of these people got there in time, unless of course they stayed in a nearby hotel. EVEN SO, it had to be impossible to get around, so maybe she was running late; I saw her being rushed inside with about half an hour to go before the show started, and she had a costume change to do. Anyhoo, she looks dishy and splendid.
Priyanka in Ralph & Russo
This is in here because it's "big" in the sense that it literally looks baggy. I really do not like how it looks on her. The depth of the vee takes it into Tackytown for me.
Shania Twain in Siriano
OH SHANIA. Am I going to be making "that don't impress me much" jokes EVERY TIME you come to an awards show?
FKA Twigs in Edmarler
You can't really tell in this pic, but the giant neck piece here is also a hoodie. This is very Saucy Westwood Bordello Fantasy.
Camila Cabello in Versace
This doesn't seem as big somehow after Ariana et al. I also think... it's a limp execution in a year when people are REALLY not messing around with gigantic skirts.
Chrissy Teigen in Yanina, with John Legend
Well. I like the color? And John's jacket is neat. I think Chrissy as a whole looks overly orange. She also tweeted about how hard it was out there and how everyone was shell-shocked and wishing they could crawl back into bed and just be with their families.
On the point of the dress, the slit and the ruffles and whatnot conspired against her in some photos.
Joshua Johnson, Tarriona 'Tank' Ball, et al, of Tank and the Bangas
I flagged her dress at first, because it IS big -- the feathers! the extra skirt! -- but I also think she looks tremendous in it. It's a way more interesting take on the two-skirt thing than Camila's, to me, even if they're also not perfect analogs to one another. But then I saw that her whole band semi-coordinated, and of course that dude. The question marks are there because the captioner messed up and combined some names of members, and I THINK there are also more of them? I didn't want to mislabel anyone. However, the one in the shorts is wearing a GREAT jacket and his trousers turn him into Sir Dingus of Dinkville.
