Photo: Stewart Cook/REX USA.
If you could draw up the most difficult-to-wear dress you might imagine, it'd probably be pretty similar to the Emilio Pucci gown Nicole Richie wore to last night's American Music Awards. Skintight to the bum and featuring cutouts as big as roasting pans — oh, and did we mention that it's white, the notoriously hard-to-wear color in the face of red-carpet paparazzi flashes? And, liquid-thin? And, tight over the bodice, which makes picking out a proper bra akin to conjuring magic? In the face of a thousand lace, nude, mermaid hemlines, Nicole Richie's white gown is like showing up to cotillion in a swimsuit.
But, somehow, Richie pulls it off, and she actually looks polished while doing so. Sure, the monokini-maxi thing might not be everyone's idea of elegance, but even side-cutout haters can't argue that she's pulling it off in a babe-ly fashion. With a flash of a pointed toe, oversized gold costume jewelry, and a bit of a pompadour, it's like the red-carpet version of Cleopatra-meets-Mr. T (and we mean that in the most flattering of ways).