HOT TOPIC: Girl Crushes

So here’s the deal, every month Hannah and I are going to do a collaborative post (horrendous dissertation deadlines permitting). Hot topic this time? Girl crushes.

CHARLOTTE: Girl crushes have become a modern phenomenon and we all know who’s responsible…

That song changed a lot of things for girls worldwide, mainly their openness to admit finding female celebrities attractive beyond the typical ‘I just admire her/want to be her’ excuse.

HANNAH: Ah Katy Perry. We've all sung I Kissed A Girl at the top of our voices, with a drink in hand, whilst trying to kiss our nearest girl- friend ( notice how I separate the two...) haven't we? Well we have. Well I have then... but I know I'm not alone! Katy Perry definitely gave girls permission to appreciate the female form! My only criticism of the woman is she's married to Russell Brand - what.a.bitch. But it makes sense because she is gorgeous isn't she? Although not so much when Brandy leaked a picture of her make-up less face on twitter...moving on...

CHARLOTTE: All of the above clearly only applies to celebrities; if your ‘girl crushes’ are on mates you know in life, you may aswell admit you’re on a train to bi-curious town with a one-way ticket. There’s nothing wrong with that, as me and Hannah would both agree, but that’s another story for another post…

So here is a little timeline we’ve put together of how girl crushes have changed over the past decade and why… We’re not just going to look at acceptable crushes though, we’re also going to analyse the ones that are a little bit dodge. There may be people out there doing blogs on climate change and gender equality, but here at TGOB we like to confront the serious issues in society. Let’s crack on.

JENNIFER ANISTON AND ANGELINA JOLIE ‘The Originals’ (2000 – 2008)

CHARLOTTE: I appreciate that many of you reading this will only have been about 10 years old in the year 2000, and completely oblivious to the idea of a girl crush, BUT there’s no denying Jen and Ange were the original women who stole our hearts.

At the time, Jennifer Aniston was playing Rachel Green in Friends (is it only me who still watches the repeats on E4 while I’m eating my tea, despite having seen every episode about a thousand times?) and Angelina Jolie had taken leading role in Tomb Raider. It was girl-next-door versus femme fatale, and it really was hard for us to decide who we were most loyal to. Coincidentally, Brad Pitt thinking exactly the same thoughts is what caused such a drama in 2005.

HANNAH: I too watch Friends episodes on repeat whilst trying to structure my dissertation/life..but anyway! Jen and Ange really are the originals ( well in terms of our lifetime anyway) and both, in my opinion, equally amazing. They each go for completely different looks, so it is down to personal opinion, and maybe something as superficial as hair colour preference! I do have a loyal streak though: Jen will always remain dear to my heart as I was very much 'Team Aniston' and secretly still want her to steal Brad back...But fair play to him really - Jolie is an undeniable stunner, it must have been a 'mare deciding between the two! Then again, perhaps it was a dream come true for him depending on how you look at it...

CHERYL COLE ‘The One Who Properly Started It All Off’ – (2008 – 2010)

CHARLOTTE: Jen and Ange aside, ‘girl crushes’ weren’t really properly acknowledged until the mid-noughties. Someone added fuel to the fire, and it was most definitely Cheryl Cole. The combination of her tragic break up with Ashley Cole (don’t even get me started, we’ll be here all day) and her debut as a judge on The X Factor made her the ultimate girl crush.

HANNAH: This reminds me of the days when us two used to go to Girls Aloud concerts (yes, we were that cool, we even had tour t-shirts. Ahem) I have had to physically restrain Charlotte from jumping on stage at various points, but again, that's another story entirely... Cheryl Cole is a national treasure and with that smile cough*veneers*cough she melts hearts not just in the UK, but right the way round the world! If you don't fancy her even a little bit then you have a heart of stone...

CHARLOTTE: Plus, look at the girl’s HAIR. Incredible…

HANNAH: I agree, that hair (aside from her being commissioned by L'oreal and therefore having access to some of the world's greatest hair experts) is absolutely enviable!

CHARLOTTE: Not just hair experts, but hair extensions us mere mortals could never dream of affording. Hair that's admirable but completely unattainable. Brilliant. Ultimately though, if I had to bet who the majority of the female population would choose to be trapped in a lift with (if they had to pick another woman. And they were forced. Look, don’t question the rules of the game) I would put everything I have on Cheryl Cole. Quite literally.

HANNAH: Annoyingly I have to agree there.She does irritate me somewhat, mainly due to her face being plastered on every billboard, magazine and TV screen in the WORLD. But there must be a reason for this. Even though I don't like to add to the army of Cheryl fans out there, she is definitely in the top 10 girl crushes of all time! I don't think she's that pretty though........ OK, who am I kidding, she's perfect, I'm jealous.

CHARLOTTE: What’s quite amazing is we all seem to have forgotten what she used to look like 10 years ago. It’s like we’ve been brainwashed.

Cheryl retained her status, not only as the nation’s sweetheart, but the nation’s number one girl crush until quite recently. Then a sudden, unprecedented, but very real, change of loyalty took place. To this woman…

RIHANNA (2010 – ROUGHLY TWO MONTHS AGO):

CHARLOTTE: As far as I can gather, it was this performance on X Factor that did it…

I know for a fact Hannah will want to say more than me on this topic!

HANNAH: Well. What's her name? (Oh I do apologise, there's just no need for my grossly cheesy jokes are there?) Yes that's it Rihanna. Ever since she stomped on to the scene in her (very tame by today's standards) video for Pon de Replay, she has taken the world by storm! Arguably Umbrella was her first 'hot' video and since then they've just got better and better! S&M sent youtube into meltdown as the website had to ban the outrageously sexy singer's risqué promo video.


CHARLOTTE: They've censored words in that song on Radio 1 too. 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but [blank] and [blank] excite me'. It makes no sense. I don't like it.


HANNAH: However, Charlotte is right, it was that x-factor video that really sealed the deal! I for one am definitely not over that video, especially when she takes that zebra print dress off...I know I speak for everyone when I say she clearly has the best legs in pop!

JESSIE J (ABOUT TWO MONTHS AGO – PRESENT)

CHARLOTTE: Again, I’m not entirely sure when this properly formed, but according to what you lot are writing on Facebook and Twitter, Jessie J is definitely the girl crush of the moment. The Essex girl’s fame rocketed when she released ‘Do It Like A Dude’ in January and now, it seems, everyone (especially girls) can’t get enough of her. Just as an added comment on said song, by forcing the idea of breaking down gender stereotypes into the public consciousness, 'Do It Like A Dude' has an element of importance that goes beyond it just being a good song to dance to when you're on the lash. Ciara kind of did it with ‘Like A Boy’, but it was a bit of a half-arsed attempt.

Also, here’s a little nugget of gossip for you that I bet you didn’t know before now. See this backing dancer?

That’s Jessie J’s ex-girlfriend. So just to confuse this idea of girl crushes even further, it’s a big possibility Jessie J would have a girl crush on you as well. Can I just say, I have no idea what Jessie J’s official sexuality is – it depends what other newspaper/magazine/blog you read, they’ll all give you completely different answers. But it’s 2011 right, who cares anymore?

HANNAH: Damn right it's 2011! I would just like to say that I had no idea that Jessie J had had a girlfriend, so now I have that knowledge I am even more intrigued by her than before! She's hot in a bit of a Catherine-Zeta-in-Chicago type way with that sleek black bob. That added to the mystery of her sexuality makes her all the more attractive! With the black lipstick, leotards in her videos, and a voice to send shivers down your spine, I don't think there's a straight girl in the country who could deny they don't have even the teeniest crush on our latest celebrity obsession! I really wanted to be harsh on Jessie J aswell as she undermines the 'fabulously fake-tanned and groomed to perfection' stereotype of your typical Essex girl! However, after watching 'Do It Like A Dude' on repeat, she may well be at the top of my girl crush list right now!

THE ‘CONSTANTS’ (Who always have been, and always will be, girl crushes - mainly because of jealousy)

CHARLOTTE: It seems to me that girl crushes rely on a pack mentality. Picture the scene: one girl has a magazine that they show to their girlfriends over lunch, comments such as ‘Oh My God, she looks amazing’ are chucked about all over the shop, and it becomes a kind of social event. However, a few of you will understand what I mean when I say you can get caught out. For instance, here’s a real-life conversation I was involved in a couple of years ago:

Me: Every girl has their one woman they would have a one night stand with if they HAD to… who’s yours?

Friend #1: Cheryl Cole

Friend #2: Beyonce

Friend #3: Megan Fox

Friend #4: Kate Moss… Because she looks like she’d be dirty…

Spot the odd one out. Now, there’s not a problem with having a girl crush on Kate Moss (did you see the photos of her doing the Louis Vuitton fashion show last week with a fag on? Google it if you haven’t) but it’s going against convention a tiny bit, and that’s where personal, guilty girl crushes come into the open.

HANNAH: I beg to differ actually! I think Kate Moss has every right to be in there, yes she does look a bit dirty, and granted she is a bit dirty (anyone seen photos of her snorting dubious substances and generally just looking like she hasn't washed in a week?!) but she is a model after all, so pop a bit of make-up on her and she's ready to go!


CHARLOTTE: I don't think she meant that kind of dirty Hannah...


HANNAH: Oh...erm...anyway! All the rest are just fairly...well...standard aren't they, just the type of crushes you'd expect to see in the list! Which is why it's quite refreshing when our guilty crushes are revealed.

CHARLOTTE: Here’s some examples. We didn’t get this idea from Heat’s annual Guilty Crush Awards at all. Nope.

GUILTY CRUSHES

Florence

Guilty because: 
CHARLOTTE: She doesn’t fit the ‘conventionally gorgeous’ stereotype that usually justifies a girl crush. She may be an amazing musician, but it can’t be denied, she does bear a striking resemblance to a certain ex-contestant of Take Me Out (I actually can't find a picture of her on Google, but you know who I mean...the one with the red hair...and the teeth...)
HANNAH: Florence is an obvious one here...she's ginger...joking! She actually has incredible hair. I would just like to clarify that red hair is my favourite and I'm definitely considering jumping on the 'Florence's fiery hair' bandwagon!

Frankie (Lip Service)

Guilty because: 
CHARLOTTE: For those of you who are familiar with the plot of Lip Service (basically, those of you who iPlayer-ed it due to intrigue) you’ll know why this crush is a bit wrong. This isn’t a hair/beauty/fashion envy crush, it is a genuine ‘I-would-if-I-was-drunk-enough’ situation. Frankie – confusing straight girls nationwide.
HANNAH: Oh God, I'm not entirely sure what I should say here...
CHARLOTTE: Try to retain some dignity...
HANNAH: Erm... she looks quite man-ish so maybe it's ok?!

Nicole Scherzinger

Guilty because:
CHARLOTTE: On a similar line to the previous crush, you don’t exactly look at Nicole Scherzinger in this video and think, ‘Oooo she’s got eyes to die for’.

It’s more a case of ‘I didn’t notice she even had eyes’. One of my best friends actually wants to marry the woman. What concerns me even more is when Nicole pops up on the telly for some reason, even my Mum forgets what she’s saying and gets a bit flustered, only managing to come out with something along the lines of: “She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life”. Well, the silver lining is atleast my Mum has good taste. Like mother like daughter…

Mila Kunis

Guilty because: 
CHARLOTTE: No matter how many men you’ve been with, how much you’re in love with David Beckham and how many Christmasses you’ve been given the ‘Hollyoaks men’ calendar for, it’s quite hard to think about blokes when you watch 'that' scene in Black Swan. Those of you who haven't seen it won't know what I'm on about, but if I posted a video of it on here, we'd get our blog removed... VERY guilty.
HANNAH: Charlotte... Nicole Scherzinger and Mila Kunis are not guilty crushes! They're obvious choices surely?! They do look similar though so I would'nt be able to pick between the two..

Helena Bonham Carter

Guilty because:
CHARLOTTE: Blatantly obvious reasons. But she is an absolute legend.
HANNAH: The Bonham-Carter! I can't be mean about her as I was quite harsh in the last blog...yes she is beautiful but Bellatrix Lestrange? No.

Who's your girl crush?

MUSIC: It wasn't like that in our day...

Somewhere in an old family album is a baby photo of me, with a pair of ridiculously oversized headphones on, being forced by my Dad to listen to a Pink Floyd album; I don’t have the photo to hand, but this is a good visual demonstration of the moment:

I’m sure I didn’t quite appreciate the lyrical genius of ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ at that innocent age, but what my Dad was trying to do was indoctrinate me with what he classed to be ‘good music’. He was obsessed with that band when he was younger, so he was passing it onto the next generation. Cut to present day, when only last week I overheard one of my friends, whilst listening to the radio, describe ‘My Humps’ by the Black Eyed Peas as ‘a classic’. A classic. I’ll be honest, I’m slightly horrified that a song containing the phrase ‘my lovely lady lumps’ has gained a status like that. This got me thinking (my first blog post and I’m already sounding like Carrie Bradshaw), what music will we want to pass onto our children?

Will we ever utter the words, as parents, “The music you listen to is just noise, back in the day we had I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry. You have no idea what good music is.” Alternately, is it the case that we’ll never be able to say something along those lines because we, as a generation, just don’t have anything worth passing on?

Let’s face it, the closest thing we have to The Beatles today is JLS. Forget Diana Ross and The Supremes, we’ve got The Saturdays belting out another generic pop song. Even if you told the new generation about someone seemingly worthwhile like Beyoncé, ultimately, a brief search on Google would reveal to the uneducated that she came from a band who spawned the lyric –

And that’s nothing to boast about…

If I go through the C.Ds, cassettes even, that I owned in the 90’s, there is not a. single. one that I’d be comfortable with showing off. My first ‘album’ was The Smurf’s Christmas Party – enough said. The music seemed quite good at the time didn’t it? But looking back?

Granted, I’m only talking about cheesy pop music here for emphasis. However, besides that, all our era really has to its name is RnB, dance music and dubstep, none of which is going to wash on the afternoon Radio 2 show in 2030. When Fearne Cotton is 50 and she moves to Chris Evans’ slot, she is never going to say, “And here’s one that’ll take you back, the dulcet tones of Heartbeat by Nneka, the Chase & Status Remix’. (Even if it is one of my favourite songs of all time).

To remain immortal, artists need to be unique, have a sound that is timeless, and lyrics that make still make sense 10, 20, 30 years on; all of the above is why I’ve got The Eurythmics Greatest Hits on my iPod for a laugh. The only band I can think of post-me-being-born that fulfil those criteria is the Prodigy. But here we go again, I can’t quite force my own 18-month-old to listen to ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ to satisfy my nostalgia.

At some point, I'll have to abandon the upbeat songs of my youth anyway. Unless I want to end up looking like this:

While we’re on the topic, at the moment the tradition seems to be our parents being disgusted at some of the ‘filth’ we listen to, with all the swearing and the references to violence and the sexually explicit lyrics. But I have a feeling the roles may reverse. Trust me, it is no longer going to be us, as parents, who are going to judge our kids; it’s going to be our kids judging us when we whip out a vintage Rihanna album to play on the school run and start singing, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me.” No one wants to hear their Mum say that. Ever.

The problem we have, as late 80’s/early 90’s children, is we came into the world at a time when music became less about expression and more about commercialism. I could go into a great big debate about this, but I’ll just sum it up – it was Simon Cowell’s fault. As much as I loved Pop Idol then, and The X Factor now (believe me, this blog will go nuts for it from August), reality shows really have destroyed music in an undeniable way. 

Music has no agenda anymore, no subtext, no passion. The Sex Pistols made music to rebel against the Government and fight for anarchy, Queen were at the Live Aid 1985 concert to fight against poverty. What is our music fighting for now? Well, Cheryl Cole was fight, fight, fight, fight, fighting for love apparently. With a sleazy overpaid footballer who wore horrible pants according to the Daily Star. Depressing isn’t it?

I know that there will be bands or artists you personally like which you will want to tell your children about. My favourite genre of music is mid-90’s trance/dance, and I will be forcing my hypothetical offspring to listen to various ‘Cream Ibiza’ albums to genuinely show them when I thought ‘music was good’. This is subjective though. There’s also a good chance I’ll still be requesting ‘Something Kinda Oooh’ by Girls Aloud at weddings when I’m 45, but that might not be to everyone else’s taste.

My main concern is we don’t have an Elvis, we don’t have a Madonna. Where is our legend? We need to be able to talk about someone as if they were a sensation, a phenomenon. Someone that 16 year olds in 2030 will put posters of on their bedroom walls. Someone who’s face they will want on a t-shirt to look edgy.  We need the equivalent of this bloke:

Then again…

She’s the one isn’t she?

Lady GaGa will be the person we talk about when we’re 40. Misty eyed, we’ll reflect, and tell the younger generation that those were the days when music was different and not just made for mass appeal. When popstars were unique, when artists fought for something. Regarding her legendary latest single, the best gay anthem we’ve had since ‘I’m Coming Out’, the woman herself (or realistically, one of her servants) posted a Facebook status yesterday saying 

“The point, with "Born This Way," is to fight for something that not everyone believes in. To overcome adversity with a message.” 

There you go you see. If you haven’t seen that new video yet by the way, you can watch it here:http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/lady-gaga?gclid=CJrS7ryix6cCFYFB4QodyGRvBg  It’ll blow your mind. 


Music used to be exciting, we’ll tell the new teenagers - our parents were there when Elvis died and the world stood still, we were there when Lady Gaga wore a dress made of meat to the MTV awards. 

Then the next year she had a kip in a giant egg for three hours before performing at the Grammy’s. We were there.

However, it’s not just the fact that she’s beautifully crackers that makes her the icon of our time – it’s her music. Rarely can someone release single after single that isn’t just ‘good’ but ‘amazing’. Her CV consists of 'Just Dance', 'Poker Face', and 'Bad Romance'. You can’t argue with that. 'Telephone' will become a true classic because of the video alone – she’s got Diet Coke cans in her hair for God’s sake…

It’s not just her singles that have been good; whereas other artists today would have albums full of ‘filler’ (you know what I mean), literally ALL of the GaGa’s songs are perfect. Have you heard ‘Teeth’ from her second album? No? Well, you should have done… 

On the phone the other day, I had this exact discussion with one of my friends from home – do we have a musical legend of our time? Instinctively she said Lady Gaga, describing her as 

‘One of a kind... She does what she wants, doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, and I love her. All power to her!’ 

 That sums it up in my opinion!


And if Lady Gaga the female popstar isn't enough for you, she's also got a male alter ego. If you didn't know about Jo Calderone before, here he is making his debut on the cover of Japanese Vogue in September of last year:

I'm not messing around with you - that is genuinely Lady Gaga in drag! It's things like that highlight her unique selling point: she constantly defies our expectations.

So that's that sorted then - Lady Gaga is our noughties legend...I’m personally looking forward to the Lady Gaga reunion tour, when she’s 75 years old, plays the o2 arena for one last time, and comes out wearing a bonnet with a lobster on it, pulling along a tartan shopping trolley made of cheese. 

Lady GaGa - you're our Elvis, our Bowie, our Madonna, all rolled into one. And we love you!

FASHION: I'm not a fashion critic but...

To kick start the first post on the blog, I'm going to have a good old bitch (everyone enjoys that don’ t they?) and a general rant about how envious I am of the fabulous people, and the clothes they have adorned, at the Oscars, the Brits and the Baftas in the past month. Plus, there's a cheeky bit of fashion gossip about the GaGa at the end...

Right on with the show (excuse the pun) and let’s attack the Oscars first as it was home to some truly awful outfits this year!

Hollywood Horrors and Delights at the Oscars

These are the belles of the ball, in their lovely shimmering gowns in varying degrees of floaty fabrics, what exactly is not to like? Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman after the success of the intriguingly avant-garde ‘Black Swan’ -which was dubbed a huge success by pretty much everyone alive- can do no wrong right now. So quite frankly I don’t think it matters as such what they wear on the carpet; they are both ridiculously beautiful no-one is even looking at their outfits anyway. Damn them...

On the other end of the spectrum, are the beasts of the ball (perhaps referring to strikingly beautiful actresses as monsters is a little harsh, but still, their choice of attire is not so... ) Unfortunately, it is our cream of British talent letting our side down, as Helena Bonham-Carter and Florence Welch of ‘Florence and the Machine’ stepped out in equally hideous frocks. Florence often goes for the quintessentially English look, making use of vintage clothing which is so ‘in’ right now. However, I really don’t think that stealing what looks like her grandmother’s lace curtains and table cloth, then stitching them together to form some sort of ‘ghoul’ ensemble, was one of her best ideas.

Scrap that, Helena Bonham- Carter’s atrocious outfit is by far the worst by any stretch of the imagination. The corset may have just been just about ‘passable’ with the dubious gothic skirt, however, the ripped sleeves that don’t seem to be attached properly really are an error. The biggest failure of all though, one that could have quite easily been avoided (had she not lifted up said skirt to reveal the monstrosity) is the Union Jack print garter. Words. Fail me. I don’t think any more needs to be said about that to be honest.

A close up is definitely required here...

Ladies, sack your stylists immediately!

Brits Blunders and Wonders
The Brits also offered a whole wealth of fashion hits and misses. Let’s start with the hits…

First up is Rihanna. This eclectic piece falls under the category of so wrong its right! The clashing blue skirt with bizarre ruffling, along with the ill-matching bodice and garishly bright neon bow, all sign-post this creation to be well and truly stashed under the ‘disaster’ pile. However, whether or not it’s Rihanna’s cheeky charm stemming from her latest saucy video, or whether in actual fact the dress is a piece of artwork, miraculously the girl pulls it off! It’s a big fat thumbs up for this. (Mainly for the fact that the skirt co-ordinates with her shoes. Genius.)

Cheryl Cole, the nation’s sweetheart, and yet again she doesn’t fail to impress. Even if she is only wearing half a dress, she does it with conviction and even a touch of class; one can’t help to fall in love with her! She has a figure to die for and her make-up, although perhaps a little OTT, goes with the dramatic statement of the outfit. ‘She looks beautiful’ pretty much sums this up. I have just realised, I’ve not really discussed her attire that much, but who cares? She’s Cheryl Cole, she could go out in a binbag and no-one would notice. One criticism - her shoes give her toe –cleavage. This upsets me a little bit.

And the bit you really want to see - the blunders...

Jesse J - love your voice, hate your outfit choice! I’m not entirely sure what sort of look she’s going for here. It’s sort of a cross between a trashy dress you might find on a market stall along with the shoulder structuring of one of Gaga’s wacky designs. This results in the Brit award winning popstar somewhat resembling a type of sea creature. Now I’m no expert, but you don’t have to be to work out that that’s not a great look and one that should never be repeated again. Ever Jesse J! I do love her songs though so I’m not going to let this terrible choice of styling, which might I add, she collected an award in(!!),put me of purchasing her album.

Now. Where to start with this one? The heels: wrong. The dress: wrong. The weird feathered bustle at the back: WRONG. Sorry Eliza Dolittle this just yells terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE and is, in all honesty, one of the worst outfits I have seen at any of the celebrity events! No offence, lovely songs, but everything from the straggly hair to patchy fake tan, not to mention the various elements of horror incorporated in this get up, is just so off the mark it’s actually quite surreal. (What is going on with all the holes at the back of the dress and the ones under the armpit? Not even going to attempt to try and figure it out. Let’s just move on….)

Bafta Beauties and Uglies
The Baftas then, another opportunity for the world of glamorous actors and actresses to show the ridiculous amounts of money they possess by flaunting themselves on the red carpet done up to the nines. Let’s see who gets it right and who gets it very wrong indeed (yes you Edith Bowman.)

Jessica Alba - one of the most fancied/sexiest/wanted etc etc females on the planet at the moment, so really you would have thought we’d all be sick of her. However, there is no denying that she looks absolutely stunning in this simple, yet extremely elegant, electric blue gown. The colour is bang on, so there is no need for lavish accessories or anything extra at all really. How irrititating. Would have been far more fun to put her in the ‘worst dressed’ pile!

Tilda Swinton opts for quite a controversial outfit here of the trouser suit and tuxedo-blazer combination. I think this is a very brave choice as she knows that everyone raves on about the fabulous dresses that are demonstrated on the red-carpet, which in effect, is more like a catwalk. To rebel against this and rock up in a stereotypically ‘male’ outfit is a scary thing to do! I for one am glad she did this though; it goes against all the hype of the ball gowns and which designer was used (although I don’t doubt for a second that this outfit was not designer) and proves that you don’t have to be dressed up like a dog’s dinner to still look glamorous. Initially my reaction was why isn’t she dressed up?! However, on closer inspection, she works the ‘Hollywood sensation’ look in a very subtle and refined way. Tilda takes the androgynous look to the max, although ironically this makes her all the more sexier and I would even go as far to say that this one of my favourite outfits. Well done Tilda.

Now onto the uglies, again I am referring to the outfits and not the people in them. Sorted.

JK Rowling, a very talented and imaginative writer, but clearly not so when it comes to selecting an outfit for potentially one of the most important nights of the year/her life. A full length dress - which I hasten to add is a little too long - of faux snake skin (although heaven forbid if it was real, that would be far worse) is a definite no-no on a woman with a more realistic figure, i.e. one with breasts of her own. It’s just not flattering in any way, I am sorry Jk, really I am.

I’m also sorry Edith Bowman, but this (aside from Helena Bonham-Carter’s Brit award eyesore) this has to be one of the worst outfits to walk the red carpet at the Baftas. To me, it just screams dull, except it doesn’t scream it, it whispers it from the corner of the women’s institute. I really don’t like being mean as Edith seems so sweet on the radio (yes I’m one of those who thinks they know people just by listening to, or watching, them on tv) but the dress is one of the most unattractive things I’ve ever seen. I know it’s not all about sex, but in order to be glamorous, which I thought was the point, then there must surely be a hint of leg or cleavage?! Perhaps I’m being too trashy. I do think the outfit is smart, but it definitely would not be out of place at a funeral. Sorry to lower the tone! She perhaps could have livened the outfit up with some sexy secretary red shoes. Better luck next time Edith.

And the person who stole the show?

Oh Gaga how we love you!( Well me and Charlotte do anyway so expect many more Gaga related posts!) Last week, the queen of all things wild and wacky in pop and fashion right now, sauntered into Thierry Mugler’s fashion show in a see through leopard print catsuit with the most rule-defying boots one could imagine. To see this outfit on anybody else would be a traumatic experience BUT on the Gaga it seems almost natural for her to wear such a thing. It is mad, it is crazy and, more annoyingly, she pulls it off effortlessly! The photos show her strutting down the catwalk in lampshade-like hats and corsets (designed by Thierry Mugler). Although they might not be something you’d pop down to ASDA in, they’re beautiful in their own right! I’m intrigued by what she’s going to do next!

Here's the full video of the proceedings for your viewing pleasure!