Just because the MTV Video Music Awards were back at Lincoln Center this year doesn’t mean that the nominees and guests dressed as if they were going to the opera or anything.
Quite the contrary.
Moby looked like he came from the gym. Will Smith might have been out cutting trees in his insulated, underwear top and bleach-stained jeans.
Kid Rock resembled a gas-pump attendant. He was accessorized with an old Bob Seger T-shirt and his ubiquitous hat. His girlfriend, Pamela Anderson, wore a skimpy, crocheted crop top that Kid Rock claimed to have knit for her himself.
At least Kid Rock got one thing right.
If you weren’t wearing a hat, you simply weren’t all that.
Alicia Keys accepted her award wearing a chic, black, shrunken fedora. Janet Jackson (who wore black lace and patent leather very, very well) had on a pink leather newsboy hat, while Christina Aguilera wore a denim version.
Beyonce Knowles, of Destiny’s Child, wore a very slick denim fedora on stage. It looked fine – but that look had nothing on the one her group wore down the red carpet.
Looking like modern-day Supremes, the Destiny trio wore bright-orange, coordinated outfits with American Indian turquoise and silver jewelry courtesy of Beyonce’s mom, designer/stylist Tina Knowles. Smashing.
Gwen Stefani, who that evening topped an MTV.com poll for personal style, looked quite fetching in a red-and-white sequined halter top, cropped tuxedo pants and bright-red stiletto boots.
Mary J. Blige deserved a 21-gun salute for choosing her military-look Dolce & Gabbana suit with big “diamond” buckles.
And J.Lo looked beautiful. (Her ex, Puffy, who came dressed in a Giants jersey and a pair of those flashy, blue nylon pants, must have been biting his wrist.)
She performed in a white jersey, asymmetrical skirt and tight, belly-baring (well, of course!) top. But the ensemble she wore while seated in the audience was the most lovely.