Victoria Beckham's Optical Illusion

Call her a style icon or a walking mannequin, love her or loathe her, there’s no denying that Victoria Beckham’s style statements always grab the headlines! Her most recent public outing in Milan was no different, she stepped out for dinner with David on Monday, in this €1,171.36 Alexander McQueen column dress. It’s a strange optical illusion, creating curves from one view, and making her look even thinner from other angles.
If you stare at this dress any longer than 30 seconds you will be hypnotized, the monochrome blurred lines make me feel dizzy.

Well Victoria Beckham must be doing something right, because the dress sold out on www.net-a-porter.com within 24hours of hitting the newsstands. You too can take inspiration from her look and buy monochrome this season...however you may have to take a few shots of absinthe to get the dizzy effect!

VIP Style Awards?!?

At the VIP Style Awards held in Dublin last week, Ireland’s best-loved TV personalities and socialites didn’t fail to impress. This is the one glamorous award ceremony where you can take risks, have fun with your outfits and channel your inner Carrie Bradshaw…and they did just that!

While standing together, the Xpose team looked like they jumped out of a box of Quality Street , but when flying solo they looked great, staying true to their individual styles and being adventurous!

The Xpose host Lorraine Keane was crowned Ireland's most stylish woman! Hmmm, don't know if I agree with that, given some of the awful outfits she wears on the show. However on the night she picked one of the hottest colours for spring and wore a deep purple number by bridal designer Tamen Michael, looking her ever glamorous and groomed self.

Aisling O’Loughlin won best dressed of the night, in this peacock inspired dress. I love the top bustier detail, but the tulle bottom is a little over the top! This dress would have been more show-stopping if it was cut just above the knee and made into a cocktail dress!

Although Karen Koster played it safe in a little black dress, she hit two key trends with popping-red, statement shoes (copies available in Topshop) and a one-shoulder detail on the dress.

Yvonne Keating looked stunning in a powder pink dress, with diamond-embellished belt detail and ruffle detailing on the neck and base of skirt. She and husband Ronan Keating won most stylish couple on the night and we can see why - she kept it classic and age-appropriate but had fun with a summery colour.

My personal winner of the night was Pippa O’Connor in a dazzling blue, empire line, and silk-chiffon gown. It was elegant with a twist, having the one-shoulder strap with embellished corsages on it, and keeping it stylish with smoky eyes, nude lips and a loose chignon bun and minimal silver jewellery.

But the worst dressed award goes to Miriam Ahern…she’s a cross between a flamenco dancer and big bird dyed black! The ruffles…dear god, all the ruffles, this lady needs a crash course on how to dress for your body type…yes black is slimming, but not with layers and layers of RUFFLES and detailing! One good thing she did was to accessorise with red lips and nails and a cute red diamond bangle. (But that’s the only compliment she’s getting).

Oh dear God what was she thinking???

Loveable Paula Abdul from American Idol, has never exactly been top of the style polls! But she at least manages to look half decent on the show (the miracle work of a stylist)... however if you caught any of her reality tv programme, you'd see that unfortunately she likes to dress herself for red-carpet events! Bad move Paula, seriously bad move!

She recently wore a floor-length, flowing, canary yellow gown with jewlled detailing to the Grammys! Sounds stunning right??? Well check out this hot mess! (Photo to right) There's just too many trends in one dress, dwarfing the tiny star. Plus it doesnt help that she has a hairstyle to rival Marge Simpson..adding to the over-the-top look!

It's not the first fashion disaster she's had either, Paula regularly makes the worst dressed lists! Dressing too young for her age in cleavage pushing mini-dresses, or trying to be stylish and ending up frumpy, in over-detailed garments!

Hint to Paula...maybe stick with the American Idol stylist and while you may not become a style icon overnight...you can at least steer clear of articles like this about you.

Oscars red-carpet happy ending?

There was a fairytale feeling sweeping Tinsletown on Sunday, as all of Hollywoods’ leading ladies lived out the Cinderella dream through their dresses!

Big, bold and beautiful seemed to be the recurring theme for the night, with most actresses being a little more daring with their choice of attire! Sarah Jessica Parker drew inspiration from her tutu in the opening credits of Sex and the City and donned a ‘barely mint’, Dior Couture gown with a huge tulle meringue skirt.

Penelope Cruz dazzled in a white Vintage Pierre Balmain dress with brocade detailing and sheer touches while Jennifer Aniston showed the world just how she bagged her toyboy prince John Mayer, in a figure-hugging, strapless, white Valentino gown.

The two Disney starlets who surely should have the princess look down to a tee got it all wrong on the night. Vanessa Hudgens wore a black Marchesa dress with a fishtail, aging her by at least 30years and making me wonder if she’s auditioning for a new role as Mortisha Adams.

Miley Cyrus (right) also dared to be different in a stunning Zuhair Murad dress with scalloped layers. On anyone else this dress could have worked perfectly, but on a sixteen year old pop singer just screamed "I borrowed this from my mum’s wardrobe".

Freida Pinto may play a rags to riches orphan in Slumdog Millionaire, but she looked nothing less than regal in a royal blue, Galliano, one-sleeved dress with intricate embellishments!

On-screen queen in Starwars and off-screen, queen of the red carpet, Natalie Portman (below) wins my vote for best dressed of the night! She shone in a stunning, lilac-pink, Rodarte, strapless gown with Swarovski detailing and was certainly the belle of the ball!

So Hollywood proves, that when it comes to fashion, there can always be… a happily ever after! Pity the Disney Girls got it SOOOOOO WRONG!!