SASHES AND TIARAS.....MISS USA 2011 Preliminaries Evening Gowns: Not So Good

Oh Ladies Ladies Ladies...The Multi-Slits, The Feathers, The Cheap Polyester! Will They Ever Learn?? As you may have read in my previous post, the Miss USA 2011 Pageant is taking place in Las Vegas and late last week was the very important Preliminary Competition--where a "separate panel of judges" decide on who will make it to the Finals during Sunday Night's Live telecast. I gave my "Nick V. Two Cents" on my Favorite Picks from the Preliminary Evening Gown Competition. Some ladies decided to change the gowns they wore on their "Official Gown Portraits" and some, decided to stay the same--some for the better and some, not-so-much. Here are my Picks for the "No-So-Likey" bunch: With Strap... Without... Miss Delaware USA: Katie Hanson Miss Delaware USA made my previous list of "Not So Likey" from the "Official Evening Gown Portraits" as you can see above (bottom photo), it was a Hodge-podge of a Dress: It was strapless and didn't fit her well (her "sistahs" were too big for that type of dress), the feathers, the shirring, the cheap poly satin...Well, for the Preliminaries, she ADDED Straps!!! (Points for that!) so at least the gown stayed up and there would be no chance for any "spillage" and it did look better on stage. But it's still the same dress! Not So Likey. Miss Pennsylvania USA: The GORGEOUS Amber-Joi Watkins looks very "Dancing With The Stars" in this mint-green satin-and-sequins floor-sweeping of a gown. At first glance, I was like "well, it's OK..." but then... GURL!! TWO SLITS?? It's a "Car Wash Gown"! Not only does she look like a contestant on "Dancing With The Stars" but that dress can also WASH my brand new car as well!! And not to mention the fact that she HAD to take the look even further by wearing not ONE but TWO matching crystal bracelets--on each wrist, plus a big ol' ring, plus those earrings!!! And big stacked nude PUMPS just really didn't go with this kind of a dress. Chalk it up to bad, ill-advised styling. Miss Tennessee USA: Ashley Elizabeth Durham is sooooo pretty--or shall I say "puurrteee" (in my best Southern accent). Here are the positives: I actually like the jeweled-and-all over sequin fabric. I just think she A) Didn't need the slit and B) She DEFINITELY should have not had the lining stop 1/2 inch below her crotch! The gown should have been covered with no slit and fully lined. And that's that! Then it would have been an actually nice Red Carpet-style gown. But this dress as it is--well, all I can focus on is THAT crotch area. Miss Wyoming USA: No. No. And No. Kaytlin Davis Miss Wyoming USA wore this lavender sequin and-satin gown to the Preliminary Competition. I like the color (get the positive out of the way!) but...the style is literally straight out of a "Beauty Pageant 101 Catalog" from 1987. Seriously, when is the last time you saw a top actress or celeb on the Red Carpet of an award show, movie premiere, gala, in THIS kind of a dress? Let me answer you: NEVER! Then why would you wear this to the Miss USA 2011 Evening Gown Competition? This is a dress that a "Housewife of New Jersey" finds at her local Consignment Store for a steal of $50 for her cousin's wedding. Most Disappointing Award Goes To... Miss California USA Alyssa Campanella is one of the best, if not THE BEST models in the group and she can carry off almost anything she wears. This dress is just so predictable. A red head in a green dress...everything about it is so "Pageant Betty". And part of me thinks that it didn't need the sequined section IN ADDITION to the strong architectural solid fabrication. I would have just let the gown be all the same ONE fabric with maybe "hints" of sequins. With such a strong contestant like Alyssa, I wish they would have given her something a bit more daring and edgy. Go to famed Venezuelan Pageant Designer Gionni Straccia; he would know what to put her in!! I'm On The Fence About... Miss Alabama USA Madeline Mitchell: The overall look is very impacting, the pose is FAB, the hair is good, the gown is also good. It's just I wish the style was more, well, up to date with 2011. It's like I've seen this gown back in 1992. The off-the-shoulder, the key-hole "sweetheart" neckline, the slit... She looks very Michelle McLean Miss Universe 1992 (above pics). That's Nineteen Ninety Two!!!! Miss Florida USA: Lissette Garcia is WORKING IT overtime...with this gown. This is why I am "on the fence". I'm loving the mirrored jeweled detail at the torso section of the gown but then it goes into "I'm a Basketball Wife-former-Stripper" mode from then on. If only, (here we go again) maybe the slit wasn't so high--or if it wasn't even there! Although Lissette is of Cuban descent (she represented Cuba in "Reina Hispanoamerica 2007"), she still does give me "Miss Dominican Republic"-fierceness and I give her points for that! Miss South Carolina: Finally, my last "On The Fence" is the lovely Courtney Hope Turner. Lipstick red, princess-seamed fitted satin gown...and THOSE Volants--or Ruffles for the Gringos...It's very Oscar de la Renta, very Cha-Cha. And I like those two things. But is this the right gown for her? I think it might be the cheap satin fabrication that bothers me. I don't know, I'm asking my readers here? What do you think? I do LOVE those earrings though! I think my mommy had earrings like that and I even think they were actual Rubies--must ask her where those are...