If I had a job in international law or diplomacy, I would have avoided the United Nations General Assembly last week like the friggin’ plague. Donald Trump was in New York for most of the week, taking meetings, giving speeches and unhinged press conferences, and alienating our allies and enemies alike. I think he left New York on Thursday, so maybe Amal Clooney thought it was safe to finally make an appearance on Friday. These are photos from her appearance outside the UN building and inside her meeting too.
Amal wore an Oscar de la Renta “cape” dress which reminds me strongly of the Givenchy which the Duchess of Sussex wore back in June, when she had a day of activities with the Queen. In the case of Meghan’s Givenchy, it was like a cone was inverted and placed over her shoulders – there were no sleeves, only the cone of awkward movement. In the case of Amal’s de la Renta, at least she got proper sleeves. I actually think this is fine, and very professional-looking. I’ve always said that she has good taste in suits. Everything else is kind of a disaster for Amal, but her suits are on-point. She coordinated the bright red with beige everything – a beige Balmain coat, a beige Michael Kors satchel, and beige heels from Jimmy Choo.
Amal gave a speech at the UN for the Press Behind Bars: Undermining Justice and Democracy conference. One of Amal’s current cases is the imprisonment of journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in Myanmar.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
I don’t see the Duchess Givenchy, which I didn’t like at all, I think this dress is far way better.
Amal has great hair!
She really does. I have baby fine hair that can’t hold a curl to save my life so I definitely have hair envy.
Me too. I’m a dishwater blonde and I’ve always envied beautiful dark hair.
Like the entire look here.
I do wish nylons/pantyhose would make a come back tho.
No love for the shoes, seem the wrong shade of beige/nude.
I think she looks fantastic. That dress is great, the color is great on her, and although we knock beige accessories on here a lot, for this outfit, they totally work.
I agree. Beige sometimes works and it works great with this orangey-red.
It’s a perfect balance. I love it.
Agreed.
Outfit is on point. But that Barbie doll/Pantene commercial hair is ridiculously out of place. She needs a professional hairstyle, not this magazine centerfold blowout.
Oh please. The hair is professional and beautiful. The weird hang up around here that all professional hair is to be pulled back is ridiculous.
I didn’t say it needs to be pulled back. But this hair is “going to the Oscars” not going to the UN.
Such a weird comment, especially coming from someone named Rapunzel, lol. Her hair is thick and gorgeous and would probably look like a magazine centerfold blowout no matter how it’s styled or who styled it. Looks professional to me! But also, I’m a professional woman who wears a fro in corporate America so take my opinion with a grain of salt 😊
BaeBae- maybe you’re right, that her hair will just always look like this. I’m just of the mindset that “omg, what amazing hair” is not a reaction a UN speaker should be going for. It just seems distracting, but maybe I’m just too easily distracted by pretty hair.
She looks great, but I’m just not a fan of the beige with the red. Her hair looks perfectly professional, and it’s the same style quite a lot of my lawyer friends and family wear theirs. It’s actually the way Amal usually wears her hair, so I don’t think she’s trying to do it here as a way to try to look like she’s going to be in a magazine centerfold
Yeah, I don’t see why she has to tone down her great hair for professional appearances.
She’s a beautiful professional woman with beautiful hair. She is who she is. Are women allowed to express themselves please!?
I think she just has amazing hair and it elevates what is pretty much an every day style. I don’t see any reason for Amal to hide her hair under the proverbial bushel in the name of “professionalism.”
@Rapunzel
Pretty people distract me, people with really bad ties distract me, people with beautiful skin distract me, people with stylish hats distract me. But that’s on me. Not on them. I think we really need to educate ourselves to be fair and not let our personal interests get in the way of what people are really about: their actions.
Agree with all of the above re: “professional hair.” I hate that women (and, for that matter, men) can’t both have a sense of style and be taken seriously professionally. I am as good of a lawyer when I’m wearing a black suit and have my hair dyed dark as I am with platinum blonde hair and a fun dress. Amal can be both a respected lawyer and a woman who likes to play with fashion (which includes good hair). They’re not mutually exclusive.
I agree. Can we make professional hair, hair that appears clean and cared for.
Regardless of length, color, texture, or choice of styling up/down?
Women wear their hair down to the UN and it’s still professional even though GASP women also wear their hair down to the Oscars and to the PTA meeting and for gardening, etc. I hate the weird hair hang up here.
IMO, her hair is professionally styled/blown out. Looks great.
It’s not as if she ran a brush thru it and went to speak at the UN.
In real life it drives me nuts that grabbing your hair up into a ponytail counts as a hairstyle for professional women. Hate it.
Of course, I also wish that people would be more attentive to the serious work vs. how you looking today attitude.
I agree. A pony tail is not a hairstyle and I don’t think they are at all appropriate at the Oscars, either. They make a beautiful dress look incomplete.
Her hair looks great but it is a little unusual for a professional engagement, i.e. court. One reason a lot of attorneys avoid wearing long hair down in court is that it is very hard to keep from touching your hair- putting it behind your ears, brushing it over you shoulder, smoothing it, etc. All the stuff you do without thinking about it. But it’s distracting and looks unprofessional in court or similar engagements. So, if you can leave your hair down and not touch it, its fine.
But her hair is fabulous and this was a speech, not court, so I don’t think it’s that weird. She looks fantastic.
Men can touch their hair all they want so why can’t women. Is it too alluring? Is it considered regressive. What?! I am curious.
Lots of men who wear bobs (don’t know the equivalent name for men hair) run their fingers through their hair. Why can’t women?!
We really love to be restrictive and punishing.
Women with long hair in court mostly wear it up because they don’t have time to get a blowout every day, especially not if you are running a trial. Trial prep and trial itself with all the working pieces takes up your life and spending an extra few hours on your hair instead of sleep or trial prep is a waste of time. Even a complex motion requires preparation. So while her hair looks great, it’s not realistic for lawyers who have to be in court daily.
The dress is fine, but it almost reads (in natural light) vermillion in color. I’d like to see her in a cooler red, rather than a warmer one- like a ruby red or burgundy.
Not liking this at all. The cut of the bottom of the dress accentuates her weird shape.
Yeah, great colour, but I don’t think it does much for her shape. I do love her camel coat though, great colour on her.
I’m not a fan of her posturing and posing (I’m still feeling fontrum from her press walk at Meghans wedding!) but this dress and outfit is on point. So true that her casual style is a hot mess but her suits are great.
@SWP I am with you a bit on the posturing. She is amazing regardless of how she looks, though, and I find her work thrilling.
I need that coat!
I often think that Amal’s professional outfits are a bit too fashion-victim for my taste, but this is excellent and on point. I do think the woman behind her is much more what real lawyers look like in my experience, down to the flat shoes.
I have no idea how lawyers dress in the USA but I’m a lawyer and in my country we tend to go for Amal’s type of profesional outfit. It is kinda frowned upon to not wear heels at formal engagements.
I’m in the UK (and if the woman is affiliated with Amal, it’s likely that she is as well) and there are certainly no requirements to wear heels here. Barristers, in particular, are often running around with trolleys of heavy documents and heels are decidedly impractical. Now I’m curious as to what US lawyers think.
I’m a lawyer. Many big law firms still require suits, so Amal’s outfit wouldn’t work, but many, many lawyers would absolutely wear Amal’s outfit and be perfectly appropriate. It may not work for court or a trial (suits are still the way to go there) but it would be perfectly acceptable at many firms. At some firms (like my husband’s old firm), it would be too dressy. I’m in government so my dress code is a bit…..different, ha.
I mostly see female lawyers in heels if they are wearing a suit.
Also, she’s not going to trial or the office. She’s giving a speech at the UN. If that were me (ha) I would definitely “bring it” a bit more with my outfit.
Thanks, @Becks1. It sounds like big firms are somewhat similar in the US and UK. Many lawyers do wear heels here, but flat shoes are equally common, even if one is wearing a suit. And that’s a good point about Amal making a speech at the UN – definitely cause for some flashiness.
She looks very pretty and professional.
Beautiful colour and style.
I glad the cape chest look is getting popular, i have many dresses and tops like this; however they’re nursing styles. But I’m going to say they’re fashionable and not frumpy now.
Amal looks great in bright red, and i love the camel coat.
Amazing and elegant. I love it. She’s got magnificent hair and it’s somehow oddly satisfying for me to watch her continue to have a great hair day-weird but true .
One of the reasons (and there are a few) she wears her hair down is because it distracts the eye from her long neck. I agree that “pulled back” is something I’d like to see her do more often when she’s working, but as a former long hair with a gypsy perm in the corporate world myself for many years, I always wore my hair down. I just felt more comfortable.
Neither she nor I have the face for pulled back hair. I envy women who can pull back, loose messy bun or severe.
She looks great there. V Angelina.
She looks fabulous. I really enjoy her work style and that she has fun with her clothing choices. I’m curious about the size of her closet and how she organizes it 🙂
I love her entire look: hair, dress, shoes, accessories. I’m just not sure the color red says “I’m professionally addressing the UN.”
She looks awesome. I LOVE the way she dresses.
So pretty, red is her color.
Very striking and beautiful hair! If you got it, flaunt it lol
I love her and she looks great.
Love the dress, hate the shoes. Her style has always been a little OTT but never inappropriate.
I like it in the great scheme of things but I’d have chosen something more sober for this. Sorry, I know people here love her, but she always seems to me to love the limelight. (I love her hair, by the way, and the camel hair coat is to die for.) I think she always wants to call attention to how slim and elegant she is. And she is! But that wasn’t the point of this. I’d have worn something else under the coat. But, hey, that’s just me.
She’s always walking and posing like she’s on a runway. That said, I love this outfit and think she looks chic.
On another note, I wonder how her speech was received?
Haha, Clooney PR just released a story about their chef to People, a PR spin story about how they don’t go out anymore because she’s such a good cook and how they’re spending more time with the twins. So now it’s we’re not thirsty and we’re great parents. I swear, George has his people checking comment sections of gossip sites so he can plan his next PR step. Can’t stand this couple!
Everyone seems to have hated the way she was preening and strutting at the royal wedding but I thought her tribute (“spinster”) speech at her thirsty husband’s award event was more obnoxious. Not so much what she said but her smug, coquettish, girly, I’m-so-fascinating manner. Her self-love is ginormous, vast, and colossal, and nothing wrong with a good dose of confidence, esp in a woman but she clearly never got the memo about toning that down in public and giving other people some ego space = good manners.