Just in case you thought Lupita Nyong’o couldn’t look or be any more perfect, here she is looking flawless in a crisp white Calvin Klein gown at last night’s Critics Choice Awards. CK REALNESS. Lupita finally won an award too, which I hope will be the beginning of a trend that extends to the Oscars. Lupita won Best Supporting Actress, beating out Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey – and the cameras went to them too as Lupita walked on stage, and I was pleased to see that both Oprah and Julia looked pleased with Lupita’s win. I think it’s a case of “Well, if I have to lose, it should be to the beautiful African actress who killed it in her first major movie role.” And let me just tell you, as beautiful as Lupita looks in these photos, the dress was so much better in motion. Lupita has a great figure and it’s no wonder why designers are clamoring to dress her this year.
By the way, I included a link to the Lupita-Vanity Fair controversy yesterday, but it’s worth noting again, regardless of how many people are “over” talking about institutional editorial racism: Vanity Fair noticeably and dramatically lightened Lupita’s skin in her “Vanities” photoshoot with the mag. It is NOT a lighting issue. It’s a lightening issue.
And here’s another young talent, Adèle Exarchopoulos. Adele is the 20-year-old star of Blue is the Warmest Color, the French film about young (lesbian) love. Adele received the “Best Young Actor” award for her breakout performance, and the film received the award for Best Foreign Film. Adele wore Louis Vuitton – I’m really not feeling it, are you? I suspect that the gown was supposed to be worn with either nothing underneath or fully lined. I’m not sure what the black bike shorts are about. I loved Adele’s speech too – her English is very good, and she made a joke about not being able to drink or party in America because she’s only 20. Adorable.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Wow. Breathtaking in that bright white!
That Adele chick looks like a cyclist hit a bird while going 50 on her way to a funeral, though. Not cute.
“That Adele chick looks like a cyclist hit a bird while going 50 on her way to a funeral, though. Not cute.”
Hahahahahaha. Thanks for giving me my first chuckle of the day.
ha ha, thanks for the morning chuckle.
Ha! Funny!
Bwahahahaha! Love it.
I can’t stop laughing. And crying. Just imagining that cyclist.
Yeah, I’m one of those people who cry when laughing.
That was really funny.
I was trying to think what Adele’s outfit looked like, and you nailed it perfectly.
Hilarious description!
Love Calvin Klein. That dress is stunning on her… she looks beautiful
And her arms are AMAZING! Just beautiful.
Lupita is just Gorgeous!!! with a Capital G.
I am not even sure why I am bothering to reply, since all I’m going to do is pile it on. How many synonyms are there for beautiful, stunning and amazing? I want that dress and I want to be her.
I want to be her. She looks so beautiful. Side note: look at her crazy long fake eyelashes in the profile pic!
Edit: yeah, blower’s daughter! Great minds… 😄
The false eyelashes are the one wrong note in an otherwise terrific style shot. She needs to tone them town a bit. The geometric haircut is perfection and the shape automatically draws the viewer’s eyes to her eyes, which are her best feature. And OMG those shoulders, those arms, and that luminous ebony skin… I wanna be her, dammit!! Life just ain’t fair.
She looks amazing.
Her arms look fantastic! Note to self: work arms out more.
You just want to keep looking at Lupita because she is simply flawless.
Lupita for Oscar! Fabulous dress and I loved her speech .
I think the foundation makeup has been laid on a little too thick but yes she is a elegant dream in that Calvin Klein gown and I’m loving the update of her short do.
She has such a great body, and I’m glad she won. Her speech was very sweet.
She is knocking it out of the park on the red carpet. I love her hair. I hope she keeps this look for a long time.
I know, Like : what newcomer has come so hard off the gate killing the fashion game like that!!?
You either got it or you ain’t. She got it.
She is so stunning. I’m actually stunned O.O
Right?!
I can’t get enough of her.
I spent some time watching some of her interviews yesterday – I love the way she speaks, there’s just something about her that’s so flippin captivating.
@Dani2
Yes! Did you see her on Kimmel? She’s irresistible.
@BNS Yes, goodness, so charming and just so ugh. Be my best friend or marry me, Lupita!
She’s perfection.
Perfection! What a great dress for her.
That other girl’s dress is a nightmare though, but it’s always nice to see talented newcomers recognized.
I still don’t know about the VF photo. I still think it’s a lighting issue rather than someone photoshopping her, as the whole photo seems extremely bright. But maybe blasting her with all that light for the photo is a method of lightening itself? I don’t know, any pro photographers here to chime in?
Luipita’s “color” is white – she looks so great in it.
Adèle Exarchopoulos dress is an abomination – are those her Spanx I see?
Actually, Lupita’s color is any color. Her luminous dark skin contrasts beautifully with almost any shade you can think of, with the possible exception of yucky colors like muddy taupes and maroons. And she carries herself so well she could make a Pillsbury flour sack with three X’s on it look like that highest of haute couture.
Lupita looks gorgeous, her skin is amazing, flawless. As for the VF, I dunno. While I think VF would be stupid for lightening her considering her skin is amazing, I guess it’s possible but you would hope a bigger magazine would know better.
I’m a VF subscriber and I got this very issue last night and to be honest I didn’t notice any lightening effect, at least not immediately. It was only when I compared how she looks in that image to how she looks on red carpets and etc that I thought “huh…they made her lighter.”
Mind you, it’s not as bad as some of the ads I’ve seen with Beyoncé but yeah, I think they did it deliberately and not via bad lighting.
The major magazines are the worst in terms of lightening people’s skin, and or producing racist photo spreads, here I’m thinking of Vogue, Elle, it seems to be mostly the European ones that are guilty of this, in North America, it’s the skin lightening and the lack of using models of color…and making dark skinned black women with short hair look like freaks in the layouts that they have them in.
I see some actual lightening too – I don’t think lighting in a photo shoot would make her look like she does in VF.
I don’t know why they would do that though – her skin tone is beautiful. In the red carpet photo she looks like a goddess.
a study of postures.
i know that Lupita is more mature, and 10 years older than Adèle–and that it seems as though slumping and frowning is a Thing amongst the younger set: see Lorde, Kristen S, etc–but my word! the difference! especially placed next to each other.
also, the need-a-pee cross-legged pose needs to go.
Gorgeous dress, gorgeous lady. She’s got great posture too.
I’m going to disagree on the lightening of her skin, I personally think it’s a brightly lit studio. I’ve seen it happen many times.
She’s so stunning. I know she’s repping Miu Miu this year, but I’d love for her to work with Calvin Klein and rep him in some capacity. Lovely speech, too.
Yes! Love her in those clean lines – stunning!
As for the VF pics: My youngest daughter has the same skin tone as Lupita and even in our home, without lighting, some photos show her true skin color, some darker, and yes, some much lighter.
The entire photos are very blown out, so I’m not sure I feel like there was an Editor in the room calling for her skin to be lightened. And I’m pretty sensitive to this sort of thing, usually. It just feels different than, say, Beyonce, who is consistently portrayed many shades lighter than her actual skin color. Lupita is usually shown just as she is. It has been incredibly encouraging to have someone of Lupita’s skin color to be held up as a style and beauty icon. Especially for young dark-skinned girls, who are frequently put down even within the AA community for being “too dark”. I’ll take as many pics of Lupita as I can get!
Lupita looks stunning as always but what made me gasp was that she was holding an award in her hand!!!
Unpopular opinion, but I actually love Adele Exarchopoulous’ dress/overall look.
Cute girl. If Lena Dunham and Ashley Williams had a baby together, this would be her.
Too reminiscent of this, for me: http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2004/04/specials/oscars04/scarystyles/dMoore.jpg
I just do not understand why they lightened her skin (or why they lighten anyone’s skin, for that matter). It’s not the 1960s; while minorities aren’t well represented, it’s not like it’s some new surprise and we need to “soften the blow” by erasing skin color or whatever attributes says this actress. Of course they try to erase every woman’s body such that you can’t tell one woman from another, so I shouldn’t be surprised they erase skin color, too.
But seriously – let every woman’s beauty shine through (especially Ms. Nyong’o’s!).
BITWC sucked. Hard. All I remember about it are close ups of Adele’s slack-jawed snotty face. Also, please breath with your nose, girl!
I disagree, I thought the film was fantastic
God Lupita is stunning!! So beautiful!
This is how you do a Red Carpet.. she owned it.
Oh, wow, Lupita is just stunningly gorgeous. That dress is beautiful on her.
Good grief… LOL! Lupita fan, but the VF pics it’s just the flash light in them studios, but people will see whatever they want to see, i.e. racism *everywhere*… it doesn’t take an Einstein mind to check her red carpets appearances where on *many* camera angles, her skin has all kind of tones, from dark to lighter because of the flash. Even at the Critics Choices on some angles the flash enlightens her skin tone… now let alone in a studio with the flash lights all over the place, it’s quite obvious her skin tone would be lighter with all the lights and whatever theme they did, it’s not like she went Beyoncé light skin… and even more on the Dazed and Confused cover, they gave her an even darker skin tone à la Alek Wek, though Lupita skin tone is different… Ah well!
Yeah, I don’t see the fuss either. These photos are highly stylised, as all glossy mag photos are. NOBODY looks the same in magazine photos as they do in real life – even if real life is a red carpet. Remember the recent Cate Blanchett photos, where her lovely alabaster skin was turned orange? That’s the way these photos are – they’re more like pictures of the subject than photographs. I don’t think we need to read too much into them.
Watch the documentary Dark Girl and then get back to me on that.
Lupita is just STUNNING.
Lovely.
She is a beautiful woman and she looks great here. I just wish she would tone down the frosted eye shadows. Might look nice in person and/or on camera, but still photos of her look so harsh. Too bright and frosted.
What I love so much about Lupita is that she has a genuine smile. No smirking, no smizing, no eye effing the camera, no duck lips…..just a beautiful real smile.
The only quibble is her stylists should just leave her alone, she is naturally beautiful, just use make up to enhance her beauty not cover it up like they do so many american celebrities.
She really does have a genuine smile, doesn’t she?
Her face is so beautiful that it is unfair. And I think she is an actual “style” person. She wears things that look great on her body and hasn’t really had any misses. Looks like she actually “gets” fashion.
Yes! Lupi (I can call her that because in my head we’re besties) has a gorgeous smile. I can just imagine God stepping back after he made her and saying “can I cook or can’t I?”.
Yes her dress style is great, I mean the make-up and hair people who should just keep it all simple.
I am loving the geometric definition she has given to her hairline!
I could stare at Lupita all damn day. Her skin. Its just glowing.
She looks beautiful as always and I loved her acceptance speech….although I thought Steve McQueen looked a little cold and arrogant when she complimented him.
Gawd, she’s slaying left & right. My edges have been snatched!
Great for both of them! Lupita looked flawless. And yeah, I’m not loving Adèle’s dress either. She did look slightly uncomfortable in the red carpet, but it must be because she’s not that used to all of that yet, so it’s okay. She’s very beautiful, though.
OMG those arms on Lupita… She and Michelle Obama and Angela Bassett have the most gorgeous arms I have ever seen on any woman..
Many have said it before, those pictures are breathtaking, i love the toned arms and beautiful glowing skin
ITA with a previous poster.
“or just the actress who killed it in her first major movie role” is EXACTLY how this article should have been written. This tentative one step forward calling attention to the pervasive literal white washing of celebrity POC is basically countered with ‘the [insert ethnicity or race here] actress’ two steps back editorializing. Lupita is stunning and I want to see her real skin tone in all of it’s velvety dark chocolate beauty.
From Beyonce’s Loreal’s digital manipulation, Queen Latifah, Gabourey Sidibe recognizable on the cover of Elle Magazine, click here http://www.beautyredefined.net/beauty-whitewashed-how-white-ideals-exclude-women-of-color/ to see the undisputed ugliness of major magazines and media institutional racism. It’s right there people and no one can deny it.
Thank you. I don’t know why people are so deep in denial over this. “Bad lighting” my butt. They did exactly the same thing in a shoot with Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn.
Oh my goodness, Lupita looks divine. Wow. Just perfection.
Adele’s dress is super fug man.
Lupita’s choice was very interesting and I think really worked for her.
Can we please discuss Lupita and Jared? People (including me) are already shipping them 😉 they could just have become friends during the awards circuit,but he always looks enamored in the ever present pictures of them
Yayayayayayayayaaaayyyyy Lupita! Amaze. Now let’s give her an Oscar!
What’s interesting is that Lupita recently covered a magazine called Dazed and she was noticeably darker in it. The reverse of VF.
Lupita is jaw-droppingly beautiful, but whoever applied her foundation here must seriously hate her. She’s got the most glorious skin, why do they have to cover it up?
Adèle is really gorgeous too. Hate the dress, though.
I’m happy she won an award and I hope she wins an Oscar. She looks gorgeous, no wonder designers want to dress her. So far her style choices have been perfect.
I can’t even pay attention to the French actress because Lupita is just stunning… I keep scrolling back up to look at her! I’m in awe of her glowing skin, toned arms and fabulous dress.
Perfection. Lupita, meet Oscar.
Stunning is the perfect word for how amazing she looks!
this girl has a kind of natural an d genuine elegance
Lupita looks like a gorgeous princess out of a scifi film, love it. And I’m so glad she won! I hope like hell that she ends up winning the Oscar (over JLaw..).
Stunning. Lupita is so beautiful. That gown is divine. So simple but so elegant.
She has my dream body. I would kill to look like her.
Are those bike shorts or spanx?
I’m not feeling the dress, the top looks too sports-bra-y to me. Neck up and waist down look fine, and her arms look good, but I don’t like the top.
I don’t care for the fake eyelashes or the accessories, but she looks gorgeous. Great arms, too.
This woman knows how to dress. She always looks impeccable. Great to see someone finally raise the bar in Hollywood. Red carpet fashion was getting so trite and dull lately that even entertainment blogs couldn’t feign excitement.
Lupita: hell, yes
Adele: hell, no
‘Adele, this is Fabio. Just know that I love you and my seagull is here to help.’
Here is the Rodarte dress from his Spring 2013 collection that Nyong’o wore at the Toronto Film Festival. Who wore it better? Three guesses and the first two don’t count.
http://www.redcarpet-fashionawards.com/2013/10/11/lupita-nyongo-rodarte-12-years-slave-new-orleans-film-festival-screening/
Only positive comments. If only all threads are like this !.
Beautiful, smart, natural and talented- hope this is a trend. As for Adele, let’s hope that dress does NOT become a trend. She looks like a porno/gothic Big Bird.
Lupita is everything good. I am lovin all the luv she’s receiving for her talent and style. I hope she either stays fairly private after she wins her Oscar (fingers crossed) & focus on her future work or if she remains in the spotlight she becomes even more impressive by being REAL and humble (kinda like JLaw) and not let narcissism diminish her star. I worry about this whenever anyone I like becomes more and more celebrity.