It’s no secret that Jennifer Garner’s casual, non-red-carpet style leaves something to be desired. It’s not simply that she seems to prefer sweats or jeans – there are some really cute things happening with sweatpants and jeans. No, Garner’s problem might be that she puts really ugly, unflattering stuff together when she’s left to her own devices. She dresses like a mom, sure, and I’m sure she had oatmeal in her hair and a juice stain on her pants, and that makes her very happy because being a mom is the most important thing to her. I’m not questioning her mothering abilities. I’m questioning her ability to find a pair of boot-cut jeans in a dark wash with no holes that actually fit her without her ass crack hanging out at the park for the paparazzi to photograph. I’m questioning her ability to select a blouse that doesn’t make her look pregnant. I questioning her ability to find a cute pair of shoes, in general.
So imagine my thoughts on this casual look for Jennifer’s outing to a Santa Monica medical building. I mean… this is a 1950s housedress. I wasn’t alive then, but I recognize the look from photos, and from Betty Draper on Mad Men, Season 1. This is an old-fashion housedress that stay-at-home moms (they were just called “married women” back then) would wear during the day. Women would wear these… adult smocks as they did their housework, smoked their cigarettes and gossiped with neighbor ladies about communists (that‘s what they did!). I think my mom had a similar housedress at some point, but she came of age stylistically in the 1970s, so she traded in her housedresses for a series of muumuus. Why do I get the feeling that “muumuus” are next for Garner? Pretty soon she’s going to be reclining in the BarcaLounger, wearing a muumuu, some socks with plastic treads, her hair in curlers, complaining about Reagan… yeah. Jennifer Garner is my mother. Or perhaps my grandmother.
Photos courtesy of Fame.
I have little kids-I get wanting to be comfortable and cute at the same time. But this is HIDEOUS. It’s not just that it’s so dated without being whimsical-it’s so totally unflattering on her body. And it’s not like the woman doesn’t shop-she’s always getting papped with shopping bags-where are those cute clothes???
All hail….June Cleaver is back!
*clutches pearls*
Is her waist really that thick? She has to be pregnant. Otherwise, why on earth would anyone wear this out in public? Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, please put some effort in, honey!
June Cleaver had much more style. This is an April Cornell bargain bin item. She simply has no clue how to dress.
Looks like she’s wearing my grandmother’s wallpaper.
Wow! Who cares! What, everyone in Hollywood needs to be on display like a mannequin? As if everyone should walk outside to make sure they look/dress/have their hairstyle pleasing to other people? I mean, why try to impress people with looks? I think we all learned this young in life.
I like the dress, Nothing wrong with it and it suits her.
edith bunker…is that you?
i think it’s fine. i would never wear it, but hey for running errands who cares?
i love that dress! but it does need to be a little tighter on her. if she matches it with cute shoes, and does something with her hair and puts on red lipstick it would be a really cute outfit! ^_^
@magansrest, I totally and completely agree. Why should she try and impress anyone? The dress isn’t to my taste, but it doesn’t have to be, as I’m not the one wearing it. If she likes it, then fine!
I actually think it’s a pretty dress. I do think she should stop leaving her house with wet hair but that’s not the dress’s fault!
I love cute clothe and am a mom of two…I always try to dress cute. If I had her money – seriously thats whats so depressing…she can wear anything…cute figure, unliminted income and she chooses this? I just don’t like her.
Pregnant. The dress is fine, except that it doesn’t fit her.
The dress creeps me out. It looks like something a Flannery O’Connor character would wear. Jennifer looks like she should be stroking a dozen cats and mumbling to herself.
I like the dress, but then I just love 50’s style house dresses. My problem is with her hair. I guess it really doesn’t matter that I don’t like her sloppy hair though. I’m sure it’s not a serious concern for her.
Y’all are missing the point! She’s leaving a medical building! You know what that means!! SHE MUST BE PREGNANT!!!!!
That’s an ugly dress, but I like the fact that she just looks like an ordinary person in her daily life.
Agree – i don’t think its the dress. It could be really cute.
Its her style that is a bland as her personality.
Ooooh Jennifer! I love you and your questionable fashion choices because I dress like you most of the time and can’t be bothered. But this dress! Maybe in a solid color but that pattern is tablecloth hideous!
Though I have to say 1950s dress silhouettes are definitely IN now. But not necessarily in that design!
The rest of the photos from this outing showed her spending time with Seraphina.
She is a busy mom doing everday things. She has raised happy polite kids depsite being hounded by the paps. How she dresses is just not important to her.
wow that is a ill-fitting dress. With all their money you would think they could invest in some tailoring.
I don’t like the dress, but I do like that she doesn’t feel the need to glam up just to go out running errands, even if she is photographed.
What the hell kind of goddamned outfit is that? No self-respecting 1950’s housewife would be caught dead in that thing either!
i don’t like her style some times, what i do like about her is… she seems to be normal, not all flashy all the time. she really do not care to act superficial, maybe that’s why Ben likes her, contrary to his past love life, no?
I remember those shoes from the ’80’s people. She looks like they are coming right off her feet…..just like they did mine.
What in the hell kind of GD outfit is that!–Michael K.
(LOL!)
It’s like her hair and sunglasses are now and then there’s that dress. Like two eras in one but not in a good way.
I could see a young stylish actress, like Rachel Bilson, throwing on this vintage dress in some whimsical way but it’s too young on Jennifer and the rest of her look is soo serious!
She put this dress on with a straight face…no irony and no whimsy. And like others have said it is ill fitting.
You are right to the people that say she doesn’t have to look great all the time or please people but you should look remotely presentable…just in case you run into a co-worker, friend or another mom.
She should have picked out a different, more flattering dress or gone safe and picked out a boot cut pair of jeans as Kaiser recommends in a dark wash and a simple blouse. That wouldn’t involve too much thinking and it’s comfortable.
Or goodness sakes some of those dressy sweats that are out there.
I think these shows that she does think about clothes or tries but with no sense of humor and she tries too hard or the other end of the spectrum and she is just clueless.
Oh, and it’s too long on her!
Bless her heart. When your husband is suspected of stepping out you are suppose to step your game up not revert to grandma style choices. She needs a stylist, she also need to learn the lyrics to beyonce’s irreplaceable.
There must be something wrong with me. I really like the dress and shoes.
I like the dress!
Jennifer knows how to play this game and well. She can deny this pap stuff all she wants, she has them on speed dial. Does she think that dressing down will de-value her shots, no they are still money and people still talk about her so well done Jen, well done. I also will throw that husband of hers in the mix as well, its not like his name is on the tongue of people anymore.
Relax, people. She’s probably cool and comfortable on a hot summer day. I bet half of you are in old yoga pants and a stretched out cami while you read this site.
I find this much nicer than some Kardashian (or how ever you spell that) shoving their tits in my face, smirking about flashing her nip to the entire world on tv. So it is rather sack-like. At least she is keeping it classy.
The dress is just bad and it NOT superficial to have clothes that fit you and your body and not have your ass crack show for the world to see. The clothes and handbags she wears if you note are very expense and she manages to make thousand dollar outfits and handbags look cheap; Jen world be better off spending saving that money and buying her clothes a K mart. I don’t think anyone saying that she should dress like Gwen Stefani but she can buy the same clothes that she wears now just ones that fit and flatter her body type and she would look 10 times better and still doing the same things she does now with her kids, I mean who wants to go around looking pregnant when you’re not because your clothes make you look twice as big.
For those saying she might be pregnant she NOT last week or two weeks ago when she was in NY she wore more fitted clothes and you could see that there was NO baby bump its just her ill-fitting outfit that make her look that way.
More like 1930s Grapes of Wrath…or Leslie Van Houten…I can’t decide. If she smiles and has all her teeth, Van Houten, hands-down.
Maybe she likes it, maybe we should each dress as individuals, not sheep.
I personally don’t care. She seems like a good person and a good mother, and those should be the things that matter…she should not be judged based on the things she wears. Whatever.
I happen to think she’s unreasonably insecure about her body, hence the baggy dowdy clothing choices.
Those are actually in, at least according to my knitting magazines- the models wear the dresses with cardigans, etc, over them (Spring issues). Note, knitting magazines are my source. I have a ton of yarn and am strapped for cash, so I am not exactly fashion forward. I shop at Goodwill so I can pay off the Financial Aid trolls.
Despite criticism above, if Jen handed me that dress in a size 10, I’d say-thanks (and knit a cardigan to wear ovr it).
Btw, I’m 47, my kids are 9 and 11. I’m not knitting grandma stuff anytime soon…
@ Kaiser – Consider yourself lucky. My mom wore velvet paisley bell bottoms and made us matching corderoy jumpers! Horrors!
“Brin” run back to FJ your “clutching pearls” line is more worn out than zhuzhu’s diapers!
While I would not wear this dress, it’s refreshing that she does not care how she looks. At least she goes to the playground with her kids wearing jeans and running shoes instead of 6 inch platforms like Victoria Beckham.
@ magansrest- no one said she had to dress like she was working the red carpet however, its common courtesy to present yourself well when you leave the house instead of going out in public looking like an unwashed slob.
I know Jennifer Garner is all “I’m a real mother, i don’t have time to dress cute” but that is bull. My parents both worked full time and there were no nannies or housekeepers (unlike the garner/Affleck household). My parents always looked well presented and put together and would never ever leave the house looking like a slob the way JG does. My mother kept a full time job, a house and raised two children, always had time to shower, wash and do her hair and always looked great- what is JG’s excuse?
“I happen to think she’s unreasonably insecure about her body, hence the baggy dowdy clothing choices.”
MorticiansDoItDeader, I think you are soo right! That’s why something is always off about her clothes…even when she has a quality piece of clothing or accesory.
It’s funny, to the person who is “defending” Jennifer and saying she doesn’t need to see anymore Kardashian style clothing out there. Well, neither do a lot of other people but she is friends with Reese Witherspoon who is a mom and working actress too and she looks damn good most days (I’d say 8.5 times out of ten and even better since her divorce and stepping up on the exercise and a new marriage).
Jennifer isn’t expected to dress like Kim Kardashian and no one wants her to but she could take some advice from Reese who looks appropriate and trendy even!
She looks like the tile around a mantel or the backsplash in the kitchen of a Dutch home. What’s it called?? Delft??? It’s too much on one piece of clothing. Maybe a white skirt or dress with that as the trim?
Awww, leave her alone! She is a good mom, has happy kids, pays her bills, doesn’t drive drunk, isn’t on crack. No harm no foul! So you don’t like the dress? Don’t wear it. Whatcha got on right now by the way? 😉
@Lia, I think I’d hide behind frocks most days too if I were constantly mistaken for pregnant. If she wears something fitted people say they see a baby bump. If she wears something baggy she must be hiding a burgeoning baby bump. The poor woman can’t win.
If she isn’t pregnant, then she sure must enjoy making people speculate that she is.
i can tell you guys that that “slightly retro/straight-waisted baby doll dress” look is actually in a lot of shop windows and worn on the street here in paris right now.
also, i think peoples’ brains have been melted by always having the exact curve of kim kardashian’s ass shoved in their faces at all times.
if the waist was pulled in and she wore some cute heels, that look would be good. on her, it just looks sloppy. that’s the thing about her…she always looks so sloppy and often unwashed. i have friends and family who are hands on parents with a lot less income than JG, but they still manage to look put together and clean.
Like the dress. Hate the stringy hair.
Holy Fug Batman.
God she is just sooo plain. Right down to those godawful shoes.
It looks like she made it herself, at one of those joanne’s sewing classes.
(joanne’s fabrics, do they have those everywhere?)
Oh my. I don’t think her hair is wet.
I made that dress in home ec with a very dull pair of scissors…hmmmmm
As much as I do not personally like her, I really don’t have a strong opinion on what she wears. It is her choice and she definitely feels comfortable in her own skin. Would I go out in a dress like that? Sure not because I am very much into fashion and like seeing myself neat and attractive at all times. But I can see a few friends of mine in her who really do not spend too much of their time thinking of what they are going to wear when they go out for any kind of occasion. So, I really do not have a firm opinion into this. I will never go out without a pedicure though 🙂
That print looks EXACTLY like the plastic tile backsplash on the wall behind my bathroom sink when I was a kid growing up in the ’70s. Too funny!
I admit I do have a soft spot for shirtdresses, though I prefer them with 3/4 length sleeves, a better waistline and preferably done in a solid color, or at least a non-backsplash-identical print. I’d love to see the casual, classic shirtdress make a comeback, but not in an ugly version like this one!
Between Flannery O’Connor and Leslie Van Houten, I am so happy I opened this thread. MWAH to all of you!
Show me a real mother (who takes the kids to school; prepares snacks & meals; works when she’s able; takes the kids to games, meets, recitals, etc…) who manages to be perfectly accessorized, polished, and dressed to the nines at all times, and I’ll show you Posh, Fishsticks, J-Ho, and any other number of H-Wood tools.
The only time she looks good is when someone else is dressing her. The rest of the time she wears the ugliest, frumpiest clothes.
I really like her. She’s not in love with herself, seems like a celebrity who is more authentic and very likable. It’s too bad they can’t go out in just anything because of being papped and then dissed, but that’s what happens. The dress is blah and I’m not liking it much either, and her entire look seems a bit plain Jane. Her hair could use something. What happened to her usual longer look? When I’ve seen her in jeans, she usually has a plain t-shirt and jeans look, nothing put together. Then I’ve seen her dressed for the red carpet and she can look fabulous!! She’s very naturally pretty, something many women don’t have. When she gets the makeup on and styles the hair, wow, completely different person comes out!
What the hell is she wearing!??! That is just fugly. Get it together Jenn. *snaps fingers*
@theoriginalbellaluna What about Nicole Richie? She’s pretty stylish and seems very hands on. And I have to disagree. Even as a mother of two, I still find the time to dress well or at least well put together. And I am very hands on mom.
@ Layzo – As am I. But I don’t DELIBERATELY accessorise and TRY to look like I’m dressed to the nines. I colour co-ordinate, wear comfy stuff, stuff I don’t mind having ruined by my toddler. (My rule is this: If I totally love it, I buy 2 – 1 to wear around little love, and 1 to wear when I go out.)
And Nicole Richie is not on the same level as the women I used as examples. Nor is she on the same level as JG. It’s her JOB to look pretty, as she really serves no other purpose. (Outside of being a mother.)
This dress upsets me. I still think she’s beautiful though.
You had better watch out,Jen. Keep dressing like a frump and Ben’s wandering eye is going to come back.
Is house frau chic back? In a different material and color this dress might work, but that blue kitchen tile print just looks dowdy. And don’t even get me started on her blah sandals.
Here’s the male equivalent of not trying hard enough: Michael Sheen & Rachel McAdams
http://jezebel.com/5816560/rachel-mcadams–michael-sheen-canoodle-on-public-transit
@theoriginalbellaluna point taken. But I never thought JG was a great actress to begin with. I don’t remember her in any great role except maybe “Alias” and I never got into that either.
I sort of see her as a celeb mom and wife to a semi A-list actor/director-not really an accomplished actress in her own right.
I actually don’t mind JG’s hoodies and jeans. I mean they work for her but this is just a fashion train wreck.
I hope she SEES these pictures!
She did wear a cardigan but it was also not complimentary:
http://www.popsugar.com/Jennifer-Garner-Carrying-Seraphina-Affleck-Santa-Monica-18043737
http://www.popsugar.com/Jennifer-Garner-Carrying-Seraphina-Affleck-Santa-Monica-18043737?page=0,0,0#5
And she was getting her nails done with Seraphina…the waistline and shape of the dress was not flattering to her body type.
Hello my loved one! I wish to say that this post is awesome, nice written and come with almost all significant infos. I would like to see more posts like this .