I typically enjoy Christopher John Rogers’s experiments with color, but I can’t really tell how I feel about this one because the entire gown feels off. I mean, obviously it is how he intended it; you can see here on the runway model that it’s still long and crumply and inexact. It actually fits Kerry better, but the intentional imprecision — and the material that enhances it — is still very much present. I just can’t decide why. The blue folds on the bodice could as easily be even, for example, instead of longer on one side than the other. The middle red bit is off-kilter in the other direction, but they don’t balance each other out. And the skirt just looks… rough. Kerry’s version is better — like someone actually did attempt to tailor it to her — but there’s got to be a better dress straining to get out of this one. And I say that knowing the basic design IS of one dress trying to hatch from another. It wasn’t my favorite collection of his, but there are several things in it that I think would’ve suited her better. Maybe this one. With a hoik, how about this one? Or this? If wackitude is required… well, mentally I still have this one pegged for Tracee Ellis Ross, but maybe a version of this would have been workable. Or, maybe you’ll look at all those and be like, “No, she picked the best of what was around,” which… is still not a ringing endorsement.
