How To Dress Like a Starlet
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

In “Secrets of Celebrity Style: A Crash Course in Dressing Like the Stars” (Wenner Books, 224 pages, $19.95), the editors of Us Weekly have compiled a thorough look at today’s most photographed celebrities, in all their splendor and misfortune. The book offers countless pictures of the glitterati to illustrate four chapters: the timeless art of Hollywood style; using celebs as inspiration for your own look; celebrity-style dressing for all occasions; and how to think like a celebrity stylist.
Organized this way, the book runs into some trouble. Comparing modern celebrities with bygone Hollywood starlets is a futile task: Today’s stars almost always come up short. Perhaps cameras from the early and mid-20th century had a more forgiving eye, but all the exercise and money in the world doesn’t seem to work in the favor of Hollywood’s current leading ladies.
The trouble is, the stars of the moment don’t have much style at all. Sure, they can look fantastic (or they wouldn’t be collecting their salaries), but fashion today is a mix of current and past trends, so it is hard to claim a signature style the way that a Monroe or Hepburn – Audrey or Katharine – could. Celebrities have hired professionals who navigate the best and worst of trends for them (to varying degrees of success). Styles worn by Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe have been recycled and adapted, but inevitably, they just don’t look as good as they once did.
It also doesn’t help that the editors of this volume seem to deliberately handicap today’s starlets. In one attempt to prove Monroe’s enduring influence, they present her in the iconic white halter dress with a companion shot of her style “heir,” Jessica Alba, wearing a similar white dress over a pair of jeans. It is really unfair to Ms. Alba, who is otherwise very attractive. Did I mention she was wearing a dress over jeans?
That said, gawking at celebrities (dressed in their best and worst) has its guilty-pleasure merits, and the editors of Us have provided plenty of delicious material. Along with some of the great moments in recent celebrity fashion, they have included the utter failures, like the awful web dress worn by the usually well-kempt Selma Blair and a number of disastrous combinations on the otherwise lovely Alicia Keys. Yes, we can learn from their missteps.
In their advice for the rest of us, the editors give standard nuggets -“Hip yet elegant is always a good mix” – besides the celebrity based do’s and don’ts. They also use the celebrities as mannequins to demonstrate what fashions best flatter different body types and offer style tips for achieving certain looks.
Their suggestions are mostly on point, but at times the advice could be more discerning. Sheer black bustiers should rarely be worn, let alone encouraged. And when offering advice like “Mad hats: Most women fear them. You can pull them off,” the editors are not using their powers for good.
Achieving “celebrity style” will take more than a read through this, or any, book. It ultimately involves having plenty of cash to devote to a good stylist, trainer, and personal shopper. But even equipped with these necessities, there’s no guarantee you’ll succeed. After all, if celebrities have such great style, why do they make so many mistakes?