Penelope Cruz in red Armani Privé: gorgeous or meh?

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I’m kind of speechless. When I first saw this dazzling red Armani Privé gown on Penelope Cruz (here at the Pirates of Caribbean 4 premiere in Munich on Monday), I literally just stared at the dress for ten full minutes. It took me an hour before I could actually summon the will to write about it. This dress is… gorgeous. Amazing. Lovely. Stunning. Why in hell didn’t Penelope wear this gown to the Cannes Film Festival premiere?!?!? Instead she was stuck in that God-awful Marchesa nonsense.

This is what more of the fashion girls should be doing. This is one of the closest things I’ve ever seen to “The Perfect Dress”. No dress is ever “perfect” of course. Even though the red is gorgeous and Penelope looks like a million bucks, the fit in the bust is doing something kind of strange. I think Penelope could have used an extra inch of fabric in there, maybe (her boobs look slightly squished). But my point remains: more fashion girls should try this kind of look. Clean, elegant simplicity. Pop in a jewel tone. Don’t show everything – it’s more provocative if you’re mostly covered up. Choose a flattering neckline. Know what kind of cut will give the illusion of an hourglass and a defined waist. And when wearing something this stunning, don’t over-accessorize. Keep it simple. (That being said, I would have liked to see some bigger earrings on Penelope!)

Imagine this – Angelina Jolie in this dress. Right? She never would, though. It’s not a sack. It’s not black or beige. It would fit her figure beautifully. She would never.

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UPDATE: More photos:

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Photos courtesy of WENN.

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43 Responses to “Penelope Cruz in red Armani Privé: gorgeous or meh?”

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  1. seVen says:

    I love the dress… not so much the color though, ive never been a “red” person… but its lovely none the less.

  2. Blue says:

    I love the dress, but the boob area is not flattering, her nips are prominent and pointing in different directions. Agree about bigger earrings and maybe some hair around her face, she doesn’t so slicked back very well

  3. brin says:

    She doesn’t look good here, especially after seeing those stunning pictures of her yesterday.

  4. Hautie says:

    If only had the bust line been better cut… but she is probably still nursing. But I love this shade of red and I like red dresses on brunette girls.

  5. Bubbling says:

    Dress is great, reminds me of her when she wasn’t still that of a big deal in America, but rocked EU nonetheless. The only problem I have with the dress is boob area

  6. Dudette says:

    Great dress, she should have accesorized with a different colour though.

  7. Reality says:

    I really don’t like it at all. Something about the vast amount of (leather? Satin?) material, the super-tight fit and the matching shoes doesn’t work for me.

    Reminds me of Britney’s jumpsuit in her ‘Oops! I did it again’ video.

  8. baby says:

    idk..i like the idea of the dress and feel like penelope should be able to pull it off really well but the fit is terrible!!! its too tight and bunching up..if it fit her better she would look amazing

  9. Vickyb says:

    I kind of think this is what a girl superhero would wear to a formal event. Like Wonderwoman walks the red carpet. I have no idea why!! I think it’s the sleeves.

    I love the colour, but I still think Penelope hasn’t really hit anything totally on the mark in Cannes – it gets 10/10 just for NOT being that Marchesa gown though!

  10. Vickyb says:

    Oh, and definitely different shoes!!

  11. Addie says:

    I agree Kaiser.
    Angie in this dress with red lipstick added in there..Pure perfection.

    I would love jewlery in this color, this is infact ruby red.

  12. Erandyn says:

    Very Buzz Lightyear.

  13. tanguerita says:

    gosh, what a terrible fit.

  14. tanguerita says:

    By the way, I think it’s the same dress that Celine Dion wore at the Oscars this year (different color though) – and she did it much better than Cruz.

  15. couldnthelpit says:

    @kaiser- You should do a What Not to Wear (to red carpet events), give some tips to the ladies!

  16. ladybert62 says:

    That dress is magnificent – unfortunately, Ms. Cruz does not look well in those photos – her face looks rough and her hair looks awful. And I agree with what kaiser said about dressing – the allure is in what is NOT shown.

  17. S says:

    FANTASTIC dress. The hair is a little bland in comparison, but meh. She’s such a fox. One of the rare cases where the dress looks a billion and one times better on the celebrity than it did on the catwalk/model.

    I agree, too, that Ange would rock this. I will never understand why she so often dresses (especially recently, at least when she was younger she had a bit of raunch to her get-ups) in things that are mostly quite unflattering to her figure.

  18. k says:

    Love the architectural style. Perhaps too shiny.

  19. lucy2 says:

    Love the dress. Simple yet sort of edgy.

  20. guesty says:

    Gorgeous.

  21. Maritza says:

    I bet she could hardly walk in that thing. That dress looks uncomfortable to me, I don’t like it at all.

  22. junipergreen says:

    I HATE that dress. It’s so unflattering. Looks stiff and doesn’t fit right (especially in the bust area).

  23. SarahS says:

    Like the idea of the dress. Hate the fabric and fit. You can see her corset underneath.

  24. Solveig says:

    The dress is beautiful and I’m wondering what frabic it’s made of. On the other hand Penelope should’ve had her hair loose and put some red lipstick, and her boobs are too big now for a dress like that.
    Anyway, gorgeous.

  25. Fran says:

    LOVE the dress (cut and colour) and how it looks on her. HATE her face, I just cannot stand her and especially here she looks 60!

  26. Jilliterate says:

    Ugh, this dress looks awful to me. I’m sure part of it is the fact that it really doesn’t seem to fit her properly, but honestly, I don’t think I’d ever be able to get past the long, super-tight sleeves, the mega-80s shoulders, and the fact that it looks like it’s made of pleather. I’m sure it isn’t, but cut shorter and this would look like hooker clothes. Tacksville.

  27. Jilliterate says:

    And bigtime disagree with all the people saying she needs a red lip. Definitely not. She did the right thing here by keeping her makeup subdued and letting the dress be the star of the show. With a colour this bold, she’d have to match it absolutely perfectly, or it would just look odd. Matching your lips to your outfit is something that screams amateur to me.

  28. Wendy City says:

    She needs better undergarments. I don’t know if she is wearing a bra, but she needs shap and lift. A spanx would have made her posture better. I agree a little more material would have been perfect. She needs a big ring on her forefinger. She looks tired.

  29. Spaniard says:

    Don’t like the dress, especially in the shoulder area, also doesn’t seem to fit her well. On the other hand I’m really surprised that everybody was commenting how photoshopped was Britney Spears in the HB cover and nobody says a word after seeing these pics about how photoshopped was this woman in the Vogue photoshoot

  30. sapphire says:

    love the dress-color, fabric and shape. The problem in the boob area is a lack of a good structured bra. Penelope got the make-up exactly right.

  31. sandy says:

    love this dress, she looks good in it, she’s a beautiful lady.

  32. mln76 says:

    I do like the dress but the fit on the boobs is distracting.(I am sure she’s still breastfeeding and it’s probably hard to get a proper fitting.

  33. coco says:

    I love the coulor, but the fabric is not very flattering….

  34. Scarlet Vixen says:

    I really want to love this dress, but I HATE it. It’s so Star Fleet Academy prom dress to me. The weird cut and puffiness of the shoulders, the bad fit in the bust and torso, the shininess, and the odd look of the material. I love long-sleeved dresses (in theory, anyway), so I’m disappointed in this one. Uck.

  35. Kelly says:

    Not a fan – the woman or the dress. How come noone calls her a homewrecker? The director of Vanilla Sky pontificated about how beautiful it was to watch her and Tom Cruise fall in love. He was of course married to Nicole at the time.

  36. luls says:

    OMG the FIRST thought that crossed my mind when i looked at this was “FUGLY!”

    HOW CAN U POSSIBLY be in positive awe of it? (Watever ur smoking, I want in on that shit too!)

    She looks like shes wearing a SPACE ALIEN RED SUIT, fitted with SPONGE on the inside!! Its ATROCIOUS!

    Also, this is NOT a woman who looks good with her hair up!! It brings out her wierd face shape and dumbo ears. (God forgive me)

  37. janna says:

    dress looks heavy and uncomfortable..and too tight. gives off a christmas vibe. not liking it…

  38. Pia says:

    There’s something odd about the fit. If that was fixed, it would be gorgeous.

  39. truthzbetta says:

    She’s very va-voom in a great way lately. That thing does look like a Romulan space age update on the heavy curtain dress a la Scarlett O’Hara though.

  40. skibunny says:

    She looks worn out and the dress looks like a space suit.

  41. Newbie says:

    I don’t like the top photos. Not impressed. But the official photos on the red carpet look awesome, so now I can’t make up my mind.

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