Meryl Streep in Valentino

When I think of Meryl, I think of Basic Black. She's not particularly jazzy; she's safe. Which is FINE. It's completely fine, and also, she's Meryl T-Bone Streep so she only really has to worry about beating off people's terrible scripts with a large barbed stick. But it almost feels like she's working with a new person, or something, because this is just a WEE bit of fresh air blowing in. I love the black and white, the grace of the skirt, and the cute shoes. You could stick this entire outfit on Lizzy Caplan and it'd still make sense.

Meryl Streep in Derek Lam

And while this isn't necessarily the MOST youthful thing on the planet, Derek Lam is an unusual designer for her (I think) -- I BELIEVE the only times we saw celebs at his fashion show, they were Natalie Portman and Posh -- so that's at least an interesting factoid, and I think mixing the animal feel of the frock's print with the snakeskin design on the shoe is fairly bold for her.

Meryl Streep in Balmain

And at the Tonight Show, this seems like... a departure, perhaps, but this photo is not immediately concerning. OH BUT WAIT.

Meryl Streep in Balmain

And then Kellan Lutz showed up, if by "Kellan Lutz" you mean "A PIZZA DELIVERY JUMPSUIT." OH T-BONE. This is nutso. This is TOTALLY the work of someone who's like, "I need to give you some ROCK AND ROLL in your styling for this movie," and Meryl said, "That's insane, but I'll deal. I'm Meryl Streep. Even my morning breath has dignity." And that's true, but NEVER REST ON THAT LAUREL AGAIN, SWEET T-BONE.

Meryl Streep

I wash my hands of the shoes she wore to Live With Kelly and Michael (which posted this on its Instagram). I might disavow the jumpsuit, too. But it's in keeping with her trying to be either more unusual, or to look as if she borrowed stuff from her daughter Mamie. It's all just interesting. We had a more glam Streep, we had a Streep who mixed patterns, we had Streep with pizza from the new delivery place located in a dark corner of someone's soul, and now we have, dare I say it, Coachella Casual Streep. That T-Bone IS a chameleon.

Recent Fugs and Fabs: Meryl Streep

Remember when Meryl accepted her Globe for Julie & Julia and, in a reference to the esteemed Mr. Burnett, announced she should change her name to T-Bone Streep? I feel like there are EVER SO SLIGHT glimpses of T-Bone Streep starting to poke through during this Ricki and the Flash tour. With mixed results, sure, but I appreciate the effort; when you're Meryl Streep, you don't really have to give any shits, so it's nice that she still does. [Photos: Getty, Instagram]