1997

It seems only right to open with Goldie, her mom and spirit-alike. They can both have the same screwball charisma. At this point, Kate hadn't done anything but a short bit part on Party of Five. She was 18, if I'm doing my math correctly, and she looks it.

1997

And look, it's young Oliver! He's cute here -- facially; that enormous leather jacket is sized for Shaq -- but I think he's aged into his best self.

1997

Please first examine this ad for its surly, squinty vibe, which is not very appealing (or very Tommy Hilfiger). Then please know that the campaign was for "next generation jeans," and while that's doubtless a "genes" pun for a legacy kid like Kate... she also isn't wearing any. It is hard to sell jeans when you are pantsless.

1998

Oh, wow, we all had those shoes in this general era. I don't think I even liked them that much when I had them -- I like my shoes to have backs -- but they were what I could get. In related news, I also like my dresses to have fronts.

1999

And there is the signature Goldie Hawn expression -- her major inheritance.

1999

Here, she was on the cusp, having been in 200 Cigarettes, and about to feature in Dr. T and the Women before her big break in Almost Famous. This outfit is ridiculous. She looks like she's marrying herself at a commune.

2000

This photo just made me laugh. Her purse looks like she might be carrying a severed body part in it. Did she and Luke Wilson ever date? Nothing is on her Wikipedia page other than her marriages and her current partner, and his has been scrubbed of all dating references.

2000

Don't Launder Your Blazers: A Cautionary Tale.

2000

Sometimes I forget how truly young she was when this came out (21).

2000

At first I thought I could see her underwear, but that's actually a waistband. This is pretty.

2000

Wow. Every material here, the purple bra... it's a feast for the eyes, but a meal you don't actually want.

2000

At an early age, she liked the low necks and tight frocks. This is hard to argue with, although I feel like the likelihood she sprung a nipple was high.

2000

She's also VERY into cropped tops.

2000

I wonder if Kate ever borrowed Goldie's dress, or if Goldie is borrowing one of Kate's.

2001

Okay, now we're at her awards run -- she won the Globe in this for Almost Famous. I keep forgetting she actually WON things for that role. This is clearly in line with her tastes as we've seen it thus far.

2001

Well, I'm glad she clearly stole a coat from Penny Lane, because that dress is incredibly boring without it.

2001

One other thing about Kate: Sometimes she looks grown up and sometimes she looks impossibly young. I think it's the combination of th hair flower and the cocktail-length dress, but she looks like a high-school here, almost.

2001

What is HAPPENING with her sleeves.

2001

Someone on Twitter recently was remembering this outfit as one that had imprinted upon them. It IS very Chic Pirate Wench.

2001 in Stella McCartney

And, lo. The disastrous Stella. You can see her navel. It has FRINGE. It has curls the likes of which you see on a saloon madam. I don't watch Westworld but I imagine you being able to toss this into season one and have that be its ONLY context. I believe this was custom-made for Kate, and maybe she loved it. I hope she loved it, because what a huge night to be stuck wearing something that crumbles your soul like a stale Ritz. 

2001

"Yeah. I know. Trust me."

2001

This feels way more her speed, except...

2001

... hopefully this did not come as a surprise when she watched it back later.

2002 in Michael Kors

I love this. Flat-out. To me, this is peak Kate: It's glittery with just the right racy flourishes, her hair is like spun gold, she's beaming, her personality is out in full force. It just really, really works, and I can see why Kors is a well she's turned to again and again.

2002

And now let the pendulum of good sense swing back and crack you in the ribs.

2002

I feel you, Dress. I couldn't decide what to have for lunch. But I did eventually MAKE a decision, rather than just making myself two.

2003

You know, this is also really cool, and feels absolutely right for Kate Hudson. It just does need a hoik, but honestly, that's on brand for her too.

2003: How To Lose A Guy Etc

I couldn't resist including this poster, because honestly, of all the things Kate Hudson has ever worn as HERSELF, I think this dress has become more iconic than all of them. (This movie, though, IS TERRIBLE. I didn't remember disliking it so much at the time, but wow.)

2003

The dress sincerely did not look as good in the actual film. I'm not even sure yellow is really her color.

2003

At the premiere she wisely steered clear of that color, in favor of a curtain she got caught in her sewing machine the first time she ever tried to use it.

2003

Very regal.

2003

This Met Gala theme was goddesses, more or less, and this... GENTLY adheres, though I think the design and stitching are sloppy.

2003

HOIK IT KATE.

2003

That's a bathrobe and a blush accident, Kate.

2003

And THAT is a Missoni lobster bib and a bronzer binge.

2003

Reader, I screamed. This is arguably the worst thing 2003 could have done to her. She's like a Pier 1 lamp that never sold.

2004

Post baby, she was feeling it. (I thought this was Kyra Sedgwick for a second?!?)

2004

That lace feels like an emergency boob bib.

2005

I think she dislikes this as much as I do.

2005

Kate REALLY loves that bandeau-style bodice on a dress. This is UNTOLD levels better than the one in the slide before it.

2005

Oh dear, she caught The Sheers.

2006

This is pretty good. Wedges and a sexy cocktail dress and that beachy hair feel VERY much like her vibe.

2006

That's a lovely dress, too, but I don't know about the slick pony with it. Maybe a looser updo?

2006

And that is GORGEOUS. You, Me, and Dupree was such a stinker of a movie, and yet her styling was so good.

2006

This is all very Pantene, but that's not a shirt, Kate, and we both know it.

2007 in D&G

Hello, Scrolldown. This started promisingly, like a Dynasty blouse, and then slowly becomes what you wear to the goodbye party the office throws you after your semester-long internship.

2007

And here is her first toe-dip back into yellow. It's intriguing on her, at least.

2008

We revisited this on St. Patrick's Day, in our slideshow of bad green outfits, but I had to toss it in again. This photo is so funny. McConaughey is taking it SO SERIOUSLY and Kate Hudson emphatically is not and looks insane.

2008

Again: That's VERY much in her wheelhouse.

2008

Where even are her limbs?!?

2008

Here, we have an adjusted version of that super successful 2002 silhouette. It's not as good, but it feels like her.

2008

I actually like this, too. It's so interesting on her.

2009

This would sadly have been so much cuter on a warmer day, without tights, and with metallic shoes.

2009

This somehow feels so off to me -- like she was standing there and someone walked up and placed the dress around her and it was the first time she'd seen it. She isn't so much wearing it, as it's... around her.

2009

Love the skirt, love the capelet, don't think they should have been worn together.

2009

Oy.

2009

KH: Nicole, your dress is a drag. NK: Kate, your dress is a droop. KH: It's okay, no one will remember this. Ever. NK: Oh, for sure, the Internet will die in a year and then we'll be fine.

2009

Did they forget to talk about her hair?

2009

"That would have been JUST fine without the butt strip," Goldie is thinking. "I wish Kate had meditated on that."

2009

No, not a red carpet, but the MOST 2009 outfit: a romper and tall Uggs. Children, back then, celebrities had NO idea whether they were cold or not, and it showed.

2010

I couldn't wear that bodice unless they found a down-alternative.

2010

How does this not fit thee? Let me count the ways. (I'll do it in my head. We have a long way yet to go.)

2010

This is an impressive array of gams, and Stella managed to crank out a very glam dress for Kate.

2010

"Yeah, I drove here with my head out the sunroof; what of it? How else was I gonna get my hair dry?"

2010

This is all wrong. Everything about this is asking your eyes to go straight to the giant zipper.

2010

"If ONE MORE PERSON tells me I am dressed as a goddess of fecundity I am going to scream."

2011

She has a real hoik allergy. (She had also had a baby somewhere in here, so it's hard to be too fussed about it.)

2011

This is ALSO a Stella dress, but it feels like Stella knocking off somebody else.

2012

I don't HATE this...

... but the closer I get to it, the more the illusion is punctured by ye olde netting.

2012

Gorgeous.

2012

Ode to My Ruined Nylons.

2012

Yep. That's underbuttock.

2012

Another good one!

2012

I completly forgot she was on Glee. Kate REALLY likes a white pant and/or suit, but she is not super at shirts.

2013

And I liked how sexy-witchy this was, though I think I'd have revisited curly hair, or swept it back.

2013

Zzz.

2013

Well it looks comfortable, at least until someone catches their heel on the train and tears it away. But she'd roll with it.

2013

Quilted for better absorbency!

2013 in Gucci

Hard to argue with this, although she's burnished to such a gloss that you could do your makeup in her cleavage.

2013 in Stella

Needs a necklace, but as Stellas go, it's good.

2013

This is only PRETENDING to be separates, right?

2014

Glam!

2014

She should not have changed to tragic taupe tulle.

2014

"Kate Hudson is effortlessly beautiful," read the photo service caption, and I said it then and I'll say it now: This outfit is effortfully hideous.

2014

Kate does veer into gym hair a little too often. I don't know why she veered into this jumpsuit.

2014 in Gucci

Classically lovely.

2014

HOIKKKKKK.

2014

It's like she had a rib belt put in to make sure everything stayed where it needed to be.

2014

Is this really just midriff, or is it just... full riff?

2014

That is closer to midriff. Or snippet-riff. (Also: Her favorite top style, her favorite slightly-too-low seat for it.)

2014

BOTH of these people look good. Huzzah.

2014

Ehhhhhhh.

2015 in Kors

I LOVE THIS. With one glaring exception that's on its way, Kors has been so right for her.

2015

And so often, Donatella is so wrong for her.

2015

I think that is Versace. It fits like a dream but looks like something with glittery teeth bit her.

2015

This is the more glam callback to the red frock she wore to the Almost Famous premiere, but her makeup and her gym topknot are all wrong for it.

2015

ANOTHER good gown torpedoed by bad eye shadow.

2015

I am very interested in whatever marine life this is.

2015

Cheer up, Kate. That dress is awesome, although I understand why you are questioning your hair.

2016

... Were we wearing pants this low a mere four years ago? Surely not.

2016

I like her in a FASHION PANT!!! but her shirt looks like a kitchen range hood.

2016

Finally her hair and makeup work, but she wastes it on that!?

2016

The best thing about breastfeeding drapes is you can just wear them over and over again!!!!!!

2016 in Maria Lucia Hohan

She looks like she just climbed out of the tub.

2016

I wish this had been a better photo, because that dress seems pretty.

2016

This is pants. Yes. Pants. 

2016

And HERE is the Kors that's lame. I mean, the fit is as perfect as you'd want, it's glitzy and shimmery, and it's a freaking tube top and a collar.

2016

WHY WITH THE TUBE TOPS, KATE?

2016

WHAT DID I JUST SAY.

2016

This pantsuit is so busy that it's breaking a sweat.

2016

I completely forgot she had that phase where she wrote a couple books.

2016

2016 was a busy year for her, as she also had to deal with a tragic case of wardrobe gangrene.

2016

Better.

2016 in Versace

I believe the theme for this one was punk -- that's Gaga behind her -- but the gown looks more like poorly executed papier-mache.

2016

She changed into this for the afterparty, and I feel like... don't you want to RELAX at an after-party? This seems needlessly stressful.

2016

A boring outfit for a movie nobody remembers.

2016

But this is charming.

2016 in Roksanda

Is this... wetsuit material?

2016

We are still in 2016, by the way. Kate Hudson's 2016 was almost as long as the last two and a half weeks of March 2020.

2017

Finally a new year... but not a happy turn of events. I think this was Dior? Is that right? It's SO BAD.

2017

Sigh.

2017

She wore this when Goldie got her star on the Walk of Fame, and I don't know what she was thinking. It looks like it tore when she slid out of the car.

2017

This was the Rei Kawakubo "The Art of In-Between" Met Gala, and I'm unclear what she thinks she is in between?

2017

I'm sure I've botched the chronology of the buzz cut outfits, so I apologize for forthcoming inconsistencies there. Kate shaved her head to star in Sia's directorial debut, which I fear must have been ghastly, as it's still in post-production despite having been shot three years ago. 

2017

Seriously, Kate, step away from the tube bras.

2017

And another one. ANOTHER ONE. SO MANY. She's like a candy striper whose main function is giving people at the hospital something fun to complain about: "Honey, that's not a real shirt, that's a NAPKIN."

2017

I kind of like the idea of this, but the sleeves are too long.

2017

I believe that's Kors, as it was for an event of his, and I think she looks stellar in it.

2017

Well, I love the coat?

2017

"Yeah, I don't know what this is, either, there's a reason I skipped the red carpet."

2017

This suffers greatly for being jixtaposed with the crisp cute outfit of the woman next to her.

2017

This was, I think, the hardest time she had with the haircut. Her face gets lost under the heavy dress and makeup.

2018

It's a depressed produce bag!

2018

Oh, Stella McCartney, I am so glad you put down the peachy-pink leather right after you picked it up.

2018 SAGs

I BELIEVE this Valentino won worst-dressed this year in your poll, and deservedly so. It is hilariously ghastly and it does not serve The Haircut. 

2018, in Valentino

Betcha didn't know the Playboy Mansion had a drive-in restaurant!

2018

I think Kendall Jenner wore a more flamboyant version of those pants. NEITHER of them are a good idea.

2018, in Kors

This is a GREAT bob on her. 

2019 in Kors

Kors IS truly her best bet, historically.

2019

Somewhere in here she had a baby. This is a glorious outfit on her. She looks beautiful. There is a tiny sliver of pizza in the front here and I don't even care. It all works

2019

Who played this cruel prank on Kate Hudson? This is the fashion equivalent of short-sheeting the bed.

2019

Then she... launched a booze? Are you really a celebrity if you haven't hit the trifecta of a) lifestyle book, b) booze, and c) scammy side hustle (in her case, Fabletics)?

2019 in Stella

No no no no no no no.

2019

Back to her comfort zone, and with good reason.

2020

ANOTHER comfort zone. But the metallic bra was clearly molded to someone else's body and makes her boobs look like they have folds in them.

2020

This was such an unexpected choice. I don't hate it.

Yesterday

And yesterday, Kate enjoyed some champs on the street as people drove past her house to wish her a socially distanced happy birthday. Which I assume someone told the paps was going to happen. She's basically at her own house, in her slippers, so I'll give her a pass on the mask thing. No one but the photographer got out of the car, and that lens is probably very long. I hope she had a very cuddly day and that she's back in action soon. Kate, I will even be happy to see a new tube top. Well. Within reason.

The Kate Hudson Birthday Retrospective

Fasten your seatbelts.