With all the different things I love about fashion, over-groomed starlets wearing expensive dresses is not usually at the top of the list. I’ve usually already seen their clothes at preceding fashion weeks, and so there is generally very little exciting about seeing them again on unnaturally shiny celebrities. I am more interested in the Met Costume Institute exhibition than I am interested in who wore what at the gala that opened it (well ok, with the exception of Chloe Sevigny).

However, as things tend to happen following an event of this sort, the entertainment blogs and mags like to divvy up the looks into the thoroughly scientific categories of what is “hot” and what is “not.” The best dressed lists seem to consist of those who were the most traditionally pretty: buzz words like “flattering” and “feminine” get thrown around. Which, naturally, leaves everything else to the worst dressed list. Perhaps it is my inner contrarian that needs to defend the honour of the riskier pieces, perhaps I just like to cause a fuss with my clothes (like that time in the tenth grade I went to school wearing leg warmers over flared jeans in order to prove a point to my mom - a point which I cannot remember, but it was important, let me tell you). Yeah, yeah, we all know Marion Cotillard and the legions of ladies in sparkling floor length gowns looked nice, but they’ve gotten enough praise already.

I decided I would put Kristen Stewart (wearing Chanel Haute Couture) first because 1) it was probably the most universally panned by bloggers and 2) got your attention, didn’t it? MTV says: “Her outfit last night looked like a prom dress gone wrong. Essentially, the cut and shape were totally unflattering.” Maybe it’s just because the girls who covered teen magazines when I used to buy them a long time ago (read: 2004) tended to be impossibly sunny and dressed in technicolour poufs (you wanna talk prom dresses gone wrong?) Either way, I can appreciate the existence of a teen queen who prefers to wear a sheer skirt on the red carpet and who doesn’t know how to fake a smile if her life depended on it. I swear I’m not just saying that in an attempt to get page hits from Twilight fans.

What I love about M.I.A. (here in Alexander Wang) is that she rocks the hell out of whatever she wears and yet continues to be a target for critics (I probably don’t need to tell you to google “Henry Holland + Grammys”). She continues to provoke and keep things interesting in a way previously seen with certain swan dresses of red carpets past. Is she wearing a gold knit dress over a leather catsuit? Yes. Am I going to question it? God, no.

My favourite ensemble of the night (but anything Rodarte I tend to automatically fawn over), Kirsten Dunst’s dress was well recieved, although her footwear, not so much. Personally, I think the white tights and laced shoes create an unexpected addition to the dress’s victorian details and layers of lace. In other words, she looks like an elegant grandmother who could hold her own in a fight. That’s a compliment, by the way.

To be honest, Tina Fey’s look didn’t make me gasp in awe, but I felt her choice was in tune with the gala’s theme of the American Woman. Her decision wear pants in lieu of a dress that night was very modern, just like the type of woman Fey herself is. Plus, out of all the looks that night, this one was probably the most convenient when time came to use the washroom. Which, you know, is always a plus.

Disagree with me? I’m sure at least one of you out there must, at least on KStew. Tell me your own picks in the comments.

- Anna Fitz

How did you dress in high school?
Terribly. I went to a private middle school where we all wore uniforms, so by the time I started high school I had no idea how to dress. First, I wore these baggy corduroys every day, plus lots of Emily Strange stuff. Then I got really into ska music - I thought I was the coolest kid ever, going to shows every weekend with ripped jeans, band t-shirts, and hair dyed black. It’s painful to look back on. Towards the end of high school I started to become interested in fashion, but still played it a bit safe - I had that “Audrey Hepburn, but edgier” phase that so many teen girls go through.

Who would you rather be trapped in a broken elevator with — Karl Lagerfield, Tyra Banks, or Lady Gaga?
Gaga. I’d use the time to get her to teach me the Bad Romance dance.

If you could dress like your favourite food what would it be?
This one time when I was a teenager, I stayed home sick from school and made layered jell-o with six different flavours. It’s not my favourite food per se, but I think it’d be pretty neato to translate into an outfit.

Last fashion related book or article you read. Was it good or bad?
It was a profile on Rodarte in the New Yorker. It was an alright read, but it didn’t really give me any new information and I didn’t agree with the author’s interpretation of their spring collection. I’m kind of a huge Rodarte fan - I read everything I can about them. Kate Mulleavy and I have the same favourite band, book and movie and that gives me the warm fuzzies.

What fashion blog do you think is underrated?
There are many, but lately I’ve been digging À l’Allure Garçonnière. Canadian ladies with intelligent musings on fashion? Yes please.

What fictional character has the best style?
Tie, between Pretty in Pink’s Duckie and Annie Hall. I like anybody - lady, gent, or other - who can rock a good vest.

What do you think about the relationship between fashion and conspicuous consumption?
Oh man - I think it would be hard to pretend that that relationship doesn’t exist, especially in a lot of mainstream fashion magazines. That being said, I’ve always been more interested in how people wear their clothes than the money spent on them (and I’m pretty sure that sentiment is shared amongst the Wornettes). I do tend to purchase my own clothing rather than making it (I’ve never been that handy with a sewing machine), but thanks to my university-student budget I’ve learned to become creative in finding thirty different ways to wear the same pair of jeans.

What movie’s costumes/clothes were better than their plot?
Would it be cliche to say Marie Antoinette? Yes? Ok, I’m going to go with Miranda July’s wardrobe in You and Me and Everyone We Know. Half the Worn staff tries to convince me I have no soul for disliking this movie, though it’s been a while since I’ve seen it so I should probably just give it another chance. For the record in every interview I’ve read with July she herself seems pretty cool - although all this is me straying from the original very simple question about the movie’s clothes. I liked those pink ballet shoes, let’s leave it at that.

What are your thoughts about this quote? “On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.” – Thomas Jefferson
I’m not against the occasional swim with the current, but I think that really depends on where it is heading! I’m in the “do what feels right to you, everything else is incidental” camp.

Finish this sentence: There are two kinds of people in this world….
Those who can properly pronounce “Olivier Theyskens” and those who just sort of mumble his name when it comes up in conversation. I am in the latter category.