Grammy Fashions Found Wanting

Hal Rubenstein of InStyle Magazine Didn't Like Much Of What He Saw

(CBS)  At every awards show, people are almost as interested in what the stars look like on the red carpet as they are in what goes on up on stage.

The Grammys are no different but, to hear InStyle magazine Fashion Director Hal Rubenstein tell it, the outfits Sunday night missed quite a few beats, for the most part.

On The Early Show Monday, Rubenstein explained to co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez that the "Grammys are always kinda stuck between giving in to being an awards show like the Oscars or Golden Globes, whatever, or, because it's music, they want to be rebellious. So, there's always this tug-of-war, I think, when you look at the red carpet. Some people give in to the glamour, and some people go other places."

Most, he seemed to feel, headed to those other places.

Rubenstein said the big fashion winner of the night, both on the red carpet and on stage, was Jennifer Hudson who, he said, on a very emotional evening for her, looked "so put together." Hudson, he said, was absolutely glamorous in her dress, "RM by Roland Mouret." She had a totally polished look.

Others whose outfits got the thumbs-up from Rubenstein included Queen Latifah ("polished") and actress Kate Beckinsale (glamorous in a Reem Acra).

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In-depth look at music's big night

The nightin photos

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Then, there were Rubenstein thinks went -- astray.

Among them:

Lee Ann Rimes "in her little Alberta Ferretti party dress" paired with Sheryl Crow in evening gown by Malicevski, a very little known designer from Australia.

Miley Cyrus, says Rubenstein, looked her age while singing but the gown she chose for her arrival looked like something "she stole out of her mother's closet."

Katy Perry's outfit on stage was "a costume," Rubenstein observed, and her outfit on the carpet was "overdone and silly by a designer I never heard of named Basil Soda."

Others whose outfits got poor reviews included Paula Abdul and Natalie Cole.

Why the dearth of appealing get-ups?

Perhaps, Rubenstein said, it has something to do with Fashion Week starting in a week in New York and designers simply not having rnough time to devote to the Grammys!