Kate Hudson
Stella McCartney, who designed this dress on the left for Kate to wear to the 2001 Oscars, did a really funny interview with Kate recently in which she essentially apologized for this. Or at least parts of it. Specifically the fringed poncho part. But she's also correct that the updo was a huge part of the problem -- and look how well Kate fixed THAT issue. I'm not even a particular Kate Hudson FAN and I have serious Everything Envy of that second photo.
Nicole Richie
Nicole's might be the biggest recovery, because it's also been the most consistently successful. Back in her Simple Life days, we despaired of ever seeing her look composed and clean, and then suddenly she woke up one day and pulled it together, had her kids, and started turning up looking routinely cute and stylish and BRUSHED. I mean, if this isn't proof that there's a sartorial life preserver for every celebrity, I don't know what is. Sometimes the best fashion fixes start with something as simple as a shower.
Rose McGowan
I do not need to show you the back side of this outfit, because, well, it's LITERALLY her backside. Frankly, she could have recovered from this with ANY of the bad "before" pictures featured herein, but Rose managed to take it a step further and embrace actual functional clothing that's also bright and cute and ten times more flattering than a gown you could also use as a guitar. Nicole Richie may win for the most consistently good rebound, but Rose takes the crown for the biggest mountain climbed. I wonder if she ever looks at these pictures and says, "Man, I dodged a bullet there."
Toni Braxton
This toilet-paper dress is giving Charmin an identity crisis. It's SO infamous that my brain actually blocked it out -- although luckily maybe Toni's did as well, and that's why she's so easily molded herself into something more fab than flushable.
Celine Dion
The thing about this outfit is, the OBVIOUS fix -- turning it around and wearing it NORMALLY like a REGULAR HUMAN BEING -- wouldn't even have done the trick. She just needed a fresher, sexier approach. I mean, if you looked as good as she does, would YOU hide it behind a fedora and a satin straitjacket? Didn't think so.
Hilary Swank
This was in Hilary's post-Boys Don't Cry "LOOK, CASTING PEOPLE, I'M A GIRL FOR REAL I AM GIRLY GIRLY GIRLY I CAN DO YOUR LADY ROLES TOO" phase. But all that pink was a bridge tulle far. And that pun was even hackier than the gown. We far prefer our Web site when I am not trying that hard, and likewise, we far prefer Swank when she is similarly relaxed. Luckily she seems to be realizing that also.
Ashlee Simpson
We wonder if anyone was happier than Ashlee herself that she was allowed to grow out of her bargain-basement hipster punkette phase.
Kelly Clarkson
We often say, and still mean, that we will never love another reality show contestant the way we loved Kelly Clarkson. Which is why this dominatrix bride phase made us so terrible depressed. But look how well she's recovered -- that floral pattern is adorable and summery, and we're guessing she's a whole lot happier, if for no other reason than how itchy all that tulle must have been. Nobody likes a side-ab rash.
Cameron Diaz
I love this photo. It's as if Leonardo DiCaprio is studiously avoiding any and all acknowledgement that Cameron's dress is even happening. It surprised me that this was only as old as 2002 -- I'd have thought a sparkly see-through toga and booty shorts were a rookie mistake, but this was for Gangs of New York, and Cameron was already a bona fide star by then. Now she seems to understand better that less is more -- or at least that more is only more when you're SMART about it. The color and the simple sexy cut do enough work here that she can relax about flashing us with anything else.
Britney
"HEY Y'ALL! I may have just proven that 'better' is a comparative term, but I ALSO just proved that almost anything is better than looking like Tie-Dye Lovers Barbie."