Well Played: Ariana Grande in Christian Siriano at the Time 100 Gala

Well, we still have the ponytail, so that’s not ideal (she must not have gotten the Full Updo memo that went to Nicki Minaj and Priyanka Chopra). But I actually enjoy this on her.

Ariana Grande is a tiny, tiny little tiny person, but she’s not allowing herself to get lost in that fudge cream puff of a dress. Also, the Time 100 has to be a big deal to her. It’s a proper grown-up event full of proper grown-up people, unlike pretty much every music industry award show. And she is treating it a bit like her Oscars. Which I like. Go big or go home, and I’m glad she picked the former. Instead of tottering out in a strapless short cocktail frock and 5-inch platform stilettos, and inducing a yawn, she opted for the kind of gown that seizes this moment and feeds it carbs and Champagne and a sandwich and just bloats the HELL out of it.

It looks cozy. Like Little Miss Muffet wanted a portable tuffet that expands and retracts based on whether she’s sitting or standing. I had a travel cup like that once, for when I brushed my teeth. Sigh. I miss that cup. My sister Paint Pen’d my name onto it, with a flower. I could not have predicted that Ariana Grande would propel me down a memory lane that involved old toiletries. She IS full of surprises.

[Photos: Getty]