Anna Wintour's "Curious" Dress At The Big Ball

All of the important pretty people got dressed up for the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute Gala, which was themed "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy." Vogue editor Anna Wintour wore the Karl Lagerfeld Chanel dress on the left. Of this creation, Australia's Age said Wintour "got it horribly wrong;" one blogger said it was "one of a kind... which is good because we don't need two of those;" and the diplomatic Times said it "had curiously curling crescents attached at the hips and the shoulders, giving Ms. Wintour... the fuller-bodied appearance of Botticelli’s Venus on her clamshell." Ah, "curious," not the highest of compliments. Anna could use a break, what with the LeBron James King Kong cover, the Rodarte weight thing, getting dissed by European fashionistas, etc. etc. Sad, pitiable Anna. Laugh (at a few more media celebrities' outfits, starting with Katie Holmes, pictured right) through tears (for sad monster Wintour) after the jump. More »

Print Journalists in Movies Exhibit Integrity, Excellent Racks

The Washington Post directs your attention to the startlingly comprehensive Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture project at USC Annenberg. Cataloging over 46,000 references to fictional journalists in books, print, films, and TV, the IJPC concludes that print journalists appearing in movies are generally depicted as beacons of integrity, while TV journalists come across as sleazebags. Project director Joe Saltzman theorizes this is because print journalists are mostly abstract figures that readers only encounter on the page, while TV folk appear in living color, flaws and all. Hence Scarlett Johannson in Woody Allen's new movie Scoop, adopting the glasses-make-me-look-smart school of journalist acting. It's a two-part denial process, though — we only believe a nubile young starlet as a hard-working reporter because there are few enough popularly envisioned print journalists to counteract the fantasy with pale, doughy, stubbly reality. Then again, there's no reason one can't envision Scarlett rolling around on a Lebanese beach with CNN mancake Karl Penhaul. Even NYC-local newsgal Jodie Applegate would have to call that cool. More »