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My Best Dressed at the 2018 VMAs Is …

August 20, 2018 by WendyB

The MTV Video Music Awards have always attracted envelope-pushing fashion, starting with the first VMAs in 1984, when Madonna scandalized everyone’s parents with her “Boy Toy” belt and lacy bustier.

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Who could forget Rose McGowan’s naked dress in 1998?

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Lady Gaga’s meat dress in 2010 is in a class by itself.

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The VMAs let me down tonight, though. Nothing seemed truly inspired to me — not even Amber Rose’s early Halloween costume.

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I’m normally a big fan of in-your-face costumes, but this left me cold compared to the smart sartorial and political statement Amber Rose and Blac Chyna made in 2015.

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As a result, I don’t have a combo Best Dressed/Wear What You Want award to give! As I’ve explained before, the Best Dressed/Wear What You Want award doesn’t require that a look be “beautiful,” or “flattering,” or in any way acceptable to the vast majority of people. I don’t deduct points if you do look pretty, but “interesting” is more important to me than “attractive.” And, tonight, nobody had that Best Dressed/Wear What You Want je ne sais quoi. However, I do have a regular (degular shemgular) Best Dressed, because Cardi B — in her first public appearance since having her baby — looked absolutely luscious in an amethyst dress by Nicolas Jebran.

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I like purple and green paired together, and Cardi’s pixie hairstyle guaranteed that my eyes went to Cardi’s emerald earrings immediately.

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Of course, the earrings and matching rings were by Lorraine Schwartz — she’s been decking out celebs in big bold emeralds at least since Angelina Jolie wore a pair of Schwartz earrings to the 2009 Oscars. If you see big emeralds, it’s safe to assume Lorraine.

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I actually had a moment of thinking, “Wait … are they all wearing the SAME emerald earrings?” But I checked and confirmed all the emerald earrings I’d written about in the past were different Schwartz designs. Here are Angelina’s from 2009, for instance.

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The Schwartz emeralds that Zoe Kravitz wore to the 2018 Golden Globes do have an emerald-cut (rectangular) emerald like Cardi’s but it’s not the same earring at all.

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I confess I was hoping they were all wearing the same earrings like a luxury version of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Schwartz! That’s a movie I’d like to see. Anyway, props to Cardi and her stylist Kollin Carter, who put together a second beautiful look for her for the show itself.

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The red dress, by Azzi & Osta, was what Cardi was wearing when she accepted the MTV award for Best New Artist — well deserved!

Despite the dearth of interestingly outrageous fashion, the VMAs did provide a different kind of outrage after my main woman Madonna gave an unfortunately Madonna-focused tribute to Aretha Franklin. I’m seriously feeling this tweet. I laughed at this one, though.

Is this supposed to be an ARETHA or MADONNA tribute????? #VMAs

Is this revenge for the #QueenOfSoul dying on her 60th birthday? pic.twitter.com/k8jHh35n84

— 🇺🇸🇭🇹 Only4RM 🇭🇹🇺🇸 (@Only4RM) August 21, 2018


I mean, I did say that Aretha’s death upstaged Madonna’s 60th birthday last week. Maybe this speech is a moment of perverse trending-on-Twitter genius, if you believe there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Or maybe I made a big mistake years ago when I didn’t talk to Madonna at the Vanity Fair Oscar party. We might have become best friends and then a decade or so later, she would have asked me to read her VMAs speech ahead of time, and I would have been like, “No, girl. No.” Hmmm. From now on, I’m going to make a bigger effort to befriend celebrities just in case they urgently need an editor down the road!

UPDATED AUG. 21, 2018, TO ADD: Madonna says that her Aretha Franklin tribute that didn’t seem like much of a tribute was that way because it wasn’t supposed to be a tribute. So there!

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Filed Under: awards shows, Best Dressed/Wear What You Want Award, Celebrities, madonna, MTV VMAs, music Tagged With: cardi b, kollin carter, sisterhood of the traveling pants

Previous Post: « Happy 60th Birthday, Madonna!
Next Post: Jewel of the Month: Inspired by Egypt »

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MEET WENDY BRANDES

Award-winning designer of fine jewelry inspired by women's history and pop culture. A former journalist who writes about jewelry, fashion, medieval history, news, feminism, dogs, cats and whatever else is on her mind. Blogging since 2007.
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Original jewelry designs, photos and text are © Wendy Brandes 2007-2016. All rights reserved.

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