Fab or Fug: Lauren Ambrose

Personal preference, I just can't get behind any of these blouse-dress things. Even more so when there's a nude strap holding it up and a gaping sleeve. Not a fan of those either. Guess I'm just a hater today.

A little off topic but I WANT her hair colour

It's nothing I could wear personally(34G cup lol) but I don't mind it on her. It is a nice color. She could do much better though.

love Love LOVE a redhead in red! She's totally representing for the sisterhood.

I think the straps might be hidden under her lovely hair. I love a red head in red.

Sorry, but this looks like the napkin a magician uses to cover up his hand whilst procuring a plastic bouquet of flowers in Atlantic City. Not fashionable, just odd.

It's so unflattering around her waist! Maybe it would work if it was a bit shorter...

The drape is really lame. Like the low-quality tablecloth you get when you rent the cheapest table at a product convention. Like the color, though.

I don't like the illusion straps (which are clearly visible in the photo, btw) - would be cute if it were just a slightly shoulder-baring scoopneck dress with actual sleeves.

Really what I love is her awkward/cute facial expression. Reasons Why I'm Glad I'm Not A Celebrity Getting Photographed All The Time #493.

I wish it was actuallly connected on top of her shoulders. that would make it perfect for me. Oh Lauren Ambrose,I love you.

Nude strap indeed.

I WANT to love it. She's so pretty, and cheery, and other bits of the look are in place, but, alas, although in principle I like floaty things, this just doesn't work in practice. Same fabric, same color, same length, but a fitted sleeveless dress, sort of classic Audrey Hepburn style, would most likely be SMASHING.

Upper part of the dress is too droopy, rather than drapey, which would look better. The color is lovely, as is the length, styling, etc. That top half of the dress is a deal breaker for me, though.

Eh... the color is great on her, but the top is giving her saggy, nonexistant boobs and a pooch where I am sure she is pooch-less. But the torn-looking sleeve? Ick.

The skirt is flattering, and the shoes are nice - they let the dress be the focus.

Wish it was more structured...shorter, skirt and more fitted bodice. Love the nude shoes and the color though.

as some ppl have already said, i too love a redhead in read (i am a red head and represent the sisterhood in that fashion)
i dont like the invisible strap, tho it would have been my greatest desire and would have rocked my world around time for my school dance in 1991.....
i think yesterday there was some dress with an odd strap in the back... cant we have unique dresses without crazy ass straps and bindings?
otherwise, she looks pretty...
i'd like a better waistband (or belt) but i can live without that

It would have been better if the shoes were in the color of her purse.

Ya know, there are some little issues with the dress, I am unconvinced about the straps, but ya know, when someone looks THIS DAMN CUTE IN SOMETHING ... it's time to let that go.

The dress: too droopy.
The hair: ever so pretty.
The red in red: lovely.
The fact that she seems to be pointing out that she and the Wild Thing share a hair stylist and colorist: priceless.

That kind of saves the day.

Better shoes, and a wider, more defining belt. The way it is now, it looks like a sack tied with string, or possibly one of those paper "gowns" they make you put over yourself at gyno visits that are always bunching and sliding off of you awkwardly.

"Spaghetti strap" is too weak a description for this--more like "fiber-optic strand" or "nasal hair of a dung beetle" and I don't like it. It needs to be thicker, and she needs an interesting necklace, preferably with a big pendant. Also, UGLY SHOES should be outlawed!!! Who told anyone that Caucasian-flesh-toned shoes were ok??? They are NOT. Perhaps they are better than, say, lime green cankle bootlets like the kids are wearing these days, but they are certainly not good. Black or brown or silver or something. Hair is cute though.

I immediately thought of Chrissy Snow from Three's Company when I saw this dress! Cute if this were the 70's and she was on that show, but not now.

Meh. I just can't get excited about this dress, other than the color which is fantastic. It reminds me of something from "flash dance" and the shoes don't thrill me either. Maybe I'm in a fug mood today.

Love Lauren Ambrose!! Not a huge fan of the nude strap, but otherwise I like it -- I don't think celebrities need to always wear something closely fitted, and I don't think that a blousy dress is inherently frumpy on her.

Not thrilled with the choice of clutch and shoes though.

Less shoulder please. Either a dress has sleeves or it doesn't. But other than that she looks good in a droopy kind of way.

I'm of the opinion that redheads shouldn't really wear red (at least not a full red dress). Being a redhead, I can make that statement. It's just a little too MUCH, you know?! In another color (maybe blue or green), I'd love it!

The dress has fairly wide straps. They are just in a nude tone, same color as her skin, so it LOOKS like there's nothing there. I think some people are confusing a strand of her hair with a spaghetti strap. Click on the pic and you'll get a larger view of the photo.

It's the awkward nude straps that kills it for me. If the sleeves were connected a bit, that would fix this.

It's the awkward nude straps that kill it for me. If the sleeves were connected a bit, that would fix this.

It... it's a saggy toga-shaped sack with weird sleeves that looks like she's wearing someone's t-shirt fabric dorm pillowcase to a bad halloween party. And the red's too pink for her hair color. The illusion strap isn't doing it any favors. Were they casting for a remake of Aphrodite? Are you all mad? (incidentally, t-shirt pillowcases are awesomely comfortable and I wholeheartedly recommend them, I just don't think they make a dress).

I love the "wouldn't want to date it" option!

Also, I like the dress, but it's belted too high, I think. She looks strangely pooch-y.

I know I should like the red-head in red but I don't really love it, I must admit. Call me pedestrian. But I could live with that if 1) it didn't hang shapelessly on her, and 2) she was wearing different shoes.

1. love lauren ambrose
2. the dress is meh, it actually looks kind of cheap, and doesn't accentuate her lovely figure.
3. love redheads in red (or any other color; i've spent most of my adult life as a redhead), but something about this red on this fabric looks, again, kind of cheap.
4. don't like her lipstick.

I love it, but I feel like I would LOVE it if she had a cinching, thick black belt and sexy black pumps. Fellow pasty girl, nude heels don't do great things for our skin tone. Okay things, but not great and you are on a red carpet, friend.

I hate the purple clutch. It alone is cute, but purple and red are just not colors I like together.

And actually, as I'm writing I am changing my mind... if she wants to keep with the "cute" look as opposed to "sexy", she doesn't have to add belt and heels, but rather change the clutch. Her accessories are gold and lets stick with that.

I don't think the dress flatters her one bit.
It just hangs on her.
The shoe color is an awful choice for any ensemble.
Just blah.
I don't get the red dress/purple handbag/tan shoe combo.
The whole thing is just a wash for me.
But she does have pretty hair.

droopy, saggy, non-shape flattering

THUMBS DOWN

It's a short chiton, that's all. The length would be scandalous in Ancient Greece, unless you were Artemis, but it's a nice variation on a really old style.

Whether it's fab? I don't know. It's a cute and comfortable dress, and the red is excellent on her, but I guess I'm looking for the rest of the cast of the Iliad to show up? (or the Lysistrata -- hee! -- or, better! a remake of Troy with historically accurate costumes: hot naked athletic men yay!)

At least it's different from what everyone else is wearing lately.

Meh. It looks like a prom dress I wore in 1999... when I didn't have a date, so I just grabbed the cheapest thing on the rack. The color is pretty though.

I'd love anything that Lauren Ambrose wears. She could come out rocking a garbage bag and I'd be all "Oooh, girl, try that with this flower I made out of a crumpled Burger King wrapper. You look so prettyyyyyyy!"

If we could see what was holding it up, I'd think it was fab.

I really loved her in Can't Hardly Wait circa 1997.

Lauren Ambrose can do no wrong. I love her.

The dress is great but I'm not a huge fan of the shoulder area. But, she looks fantastic in this picture.

I'd reach for my Singer sewing machine, and run a seam right across the top, giving it some much needed shape. Bare shoulders are SOOOO Flashdance. Then I'd toss on a few funky, chunky necklaces and chains, fun earrings, and swap those yick shoes for some zebra striped pumps or something. If I show this to my bestest gal pal, the redhead, maybe she's try wearing red for a change! She'd be smashing.

Great color, especially with her skin and hair, but I'm not a fan of the gaping sleeve hole thingy either. The dress would totally work in a blouson style without the "magic" straps. She's so pretty and talented. I miss Claire!

Lauren Ambrose is an adorable girl. The dress, however, looks like she's wearing an old shirt of her mom's backwards so she won't get her school clothes messed up with finger paints. The shoes: just... no.

I LOVE nude shoes -- they make your legs look so long. I think they're great.

Her hair and makeup are gorgeous. I'm guessing that color is natural, but if not, her colorist deserves a huge bonus this Christmas. Oddly, I also love that color dress on her. On first glance I expected it to clash, but it is lovely. Also, the cut could look kind of dumpy, but I think she pulls it off. Go Lauren, you cutie pie.

love the color, it fits her fabulously, but, you know, the laws of physics are there for a reason. Humans are comfortable with them. Optical illusions that appear to defy them are clever for the half-second it takes for you to figure out what's going on, but after that, they're just bewildering.

I agree that it is kind of fabulous, but I don't know why my skin crawls a little when I look at it. It must be my right brain and left brain duking it out. It's gorgeous in color,shape, and fit, but the defiance of gravity is too much. It might even be unnecessary.

I'm not a fan of the baggy bunchy business going on at her midsection. Then again, I have loved Lauren Ambrose ever since Can't Hardly Wait. Aw, hell. "Love it" it is.

I'm not hugely fond of the cut, but that colour is adorable and perfect on her. And the cut isn't that bad, at least not on her.

ah, yes, now I see the nude straps. . .AND I HATE THEM EVEN MORE!!!1111%*&&^(*&%%^$)__(*^*&^$AAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH but still, I don't HATE the dress itself. Someone said zebra striped pumps up there and I can totally get on that wagon, but I don't mind the ACTUAL shoulders, actually--just want different straps!!!

Ok, has no one noticed that she looks like the wild thing behind her? Because I can't even focus on the dress when I keep wondering what magical adventure she's about to take me on.

Dress fine.
Bangs bad.

OH MY. It's not often that Wrink can actually imagine herself in something you girls take aim at, since there's generally so much boning/ruching/nekked areas going on.

But nekked shoulders? I could totally do that. Plus, sleeves that hide arm flabbage. And a demure hemline.

All of which obviously means that it's not a great choice for someone who doesn't come close to being a Wrinklerette.

Not a personal choice, but it looks fab on her!

It's cute, in a 'Logan's Run' sort of way. I agree that some sort of funky necklace would help.

Not bad, but it doesn't send me. And as a redhead myself, maybe the prohibition against wearing red influences my "not done, Dear" fuddy-duddiness. But may be that's old-fash. Glad so many people seem to like red on red though. Maybe if it were another dress, just not this one.

Logan's run nailed it. I like the dress, in that Logan's Run kind of way (Aquarius, 29! ZAP!!!) It's a bit baggy, but she's got a good figure and can carry it off.

I wish it were black or dark navy. I also wish she had on a necklace which hit about mid-sternum.

And I'm not crazy about the clutch with this. The shoes, they are sublime.

Actually, I'm so traumatized by that foul thing Serena is wearing from yesterday's photos that I'll let anything that isn't pink and silver slide from now on.

I'm gonna go against the grain here and say that redheads in red = noooo. I am one, and it pains me to see that horrible, horrible clashing.

The dress itself is lovely, though.

I think by now this is kind of a running theme in my GFY comments, but I have strong views about waist definition. I just don't like saggy, shapeless waists. I like where this dress was going with the whole shoulder thing, but really, a bit too much Tacky Toga Party and not nearly enough classy.

I won't ever buy into that hanky/capelet looking top that's everywhere - it's just too 9th grade dance circa 1981 for me. Do we have to bring EVERYTHING back?

I'm indifferent. I like her hair and I like the colour of the dress and the shoes, but I am in every way against a dropped waist.

it's claire! it's claire! i love it but i mostly love that it's her. where has she beeeeeeen?

I like it, but if there was a little less bulk in the fabric above the waist I would LOVE it. Plus maybe a sparkly belt.

Meh. I think I'd like it more if it weren't held up by magic and had just regular sleeves. I do like the color on her though.

Oh, look, SHE is so cute don't you think that might be why you are so won over by the dress?

You point out the problem right at the start: like any "illusion" effect on an outfit, if I am spending the whole time staring at the illusion and trying to work out what's going on, the MAGIC is kind of spoiled.

Unless it REALLY IS a magic act and the obvious "illusion" effect is a decoy for a real trick going on elsewhere. I expect Lauren to remove a rabbit (or my purse?) from my handbag any moment now.

The only thing really bugging me is the nude strap. If it was a teensy string maybe? And with something more interesting around the waist, like a gather to the side. Also, is she pointing to the poster because that's her wild thing? Same hair, is all i'm saying. Kind of look alike, in the best possible way.

Personally, I think it's one of those dresses that falls into the "Okay" area. It's a nice length and a good color, but I'm not a fan of the top portion of it.

off the subject (sorry), but doesn't january jones look like claire danes in the previous post (Fug the Cover)?

It does zero for her figure. See: her completely flat-looking chest and FUPA effect.

I envy the clutch (!), but dislike the gold bangle with the nude shoe. Also, the color clashes horrifically with her hair.

And the sleeves? What is their purpose? They could not possibly be warming her arms. And the fact that she is carrying the clutch (seriously. I want it.) proves that the sleeves are not secret pocket concealers, otherwise, why would she need a clutch. Because if she didn't need it, clearly, she would have sent it to me. Right, Lauren Ambrose? Or did you lose my address again?

Anyway, despite all the flaws, she looks so darn happy, it erases (most) of my doubts about the look.

As is, it's not bad at all, but I'd like it even better if the sleeves were either on her shoulders or not there at all.

Meh. She looks sort of cute. But for me, this falls into the "neither love it nor loathe it" category.

She looks like Mena. I had to do a double take. The dress is kind of saggy but I like the colour. I also like the bag/shoes. A bit bland though.

Miss Ambrose is a lovely young woman with a lovely young woman's figure which includes a pair of lovely young breasts, none of which one can discern from this foolishly baggy and droopy (yet MAGICAL) and ill-fitting dress (WHICH, I remind you, IS MAGICAL, and a nice shade of red, I suppose). 12 points for trying. Negative 43 for hiding the lovely young lady's lovely young ladyness.

I forgive all, however, because I love both her hair and her expression. WE ♥ YOU, CLAIRE FISH– uh, LAUREN AMBROSE!

I actually really like the dress, although the waist looks a little too elastic-like, but I think it would be way better in another color, and with other shoes. It's not that I don't like redheads in red, sometimes it works wonderfully, but red doesn't do wonders for her skintone either. I would go with blue or green or somewhere in between those two. And not flesh colored shoes... Style-wise though, I love it.

I actually love the dress, just not on her. Rule of thumb - if you have piano legs (no defined calves) and ugly knees, a below the knee skirt is much more flattering. If this was below the knee I think it would be ravishing on her.

I love the red on her, but question the shapelessness of the cut and the choice of what appears to be a purple clutch. The shoes are gorgeous and I am digging that bracelet. Her hair, makeup, and legs all look great.

color is great but droopy and messy and the waist is completely unflattering.

Have they put her in front of that ginger wild thing on purpose?
Anyhoo love the pose and the hair but not much else.
The dress is just plain odd, I cant put my finger on it.
xx

so I voted "love it" before looking at the full-size picture and now i am having DOUBTS, i really like the dress but the nude illusion straps are kind of icky, especially given how they coordinate with her blah nude shoes. I just really hate "nude" as a color, and in person it would be so distracting! I am wondering if I would like it more if the straps had an actual color instead of beige-blugh, either the same red (eh) or or a high-contrast choice (black! shut up my color choices are not based on the fact that I am secretly a fifteen year old goth.) or MAYBE if they were replaced by metal chain, something that lies flat and the links are elongated ovals or some such. Something you'd see double as a (useless) belt, not hanging in a dungeon. This also opens the possibility of coordinating metallic shoes, and who doesn't love that?

Redheads should NOT wear red. Green, hon.

From the waist up, fine and dandy. The waist and what is below it, frumpy. Does nothing for her, or the world.

I just love how well her hair matches that of the Wild Thing behind her. She's kind of gesturing towards it like, see? The color works on anyone!

Cute. But that shade of orange-red with her hair? Nah.

Does the dress come in navy?

Hoe exactly is that dress being held up? Seriously, it's defying gravity. Call me old-fashioned, but it just looks awkward... I'm not sure I'd like how it looks even if it had straps though.

This is not the worst dress I've ever seen by far. But the top makes her look like she has droopy boobs, which I'm pretty sure she does not. I would definitely not date this dress, and she should either. She could do so much better.

This dress is horrible. Enough said.

Hey, sisterhood! Redheads look HORRIBLE in red -- and in pink! (And everyone except YOU seems to know this.) WHY must you insist on wearing clothes that clash with your hair?!?

And the beige-y shoes look lame with a red dress....

What's with the beige shoes? I see them on all the celebrity fashionistas these days - a beautiful color dress & then those blobby shoes that don't go with anything. If you don't want to be matchy-matchy what's wrong with black or gold or silver? By the way, the red looks fabulous on this redhead, but not all redheads.

Love the color. Love her hair, makeup, and most of the dress. It's the top. . .I don't love the magical sleeves. Not cool; I concentrate way too much on that part and miss her cute expression!

Eek, hate the shoes. And they're too large for her on top of it all.

The red with red looks great ~in this case.~ It's a tricky thing and I don't want to encourage it in general, but she Did It. I'm actually really torn about this because, aside from the magicness of the straps (they should be visible, y'all are right), it looks pretty terrific on her. You need a certain kind of body to hang this kind of top off of, and she's got it... but that brings me to the other half of the "torn," which is that I can't get behind this kind of dress, ever. I got behind it when it looked good on me in the mid '80s. But, see, I was ~prepubescent.~ And that's why it shouldn't exist for adults.