Some people do retro very, very well. Some people do touches of retro in an otherwise modern look, and that can work well too. But I’m not entirely convinced with either Kate Hudson or Jessica Alba – they made a red carpet appearance for the Tribeca Film Festival’s premiere of The Killer Inside Me. Jessica seems to be channeling 1960s hippie-meets-goddess, and it kind of falls flat. The dress is terrible, in my opinion, but I do like her hair and makeup. Kate on the other hand – her coat seems 1960s-by-way-of-Mad-Men (photo below), but the dress is just cute. Plus, for those of us who remain on Implant Watch, she’s looking a little bigger, right? Here’s more from the red carpet:

Kate, who turned 31 last week, had earlier turned heads as she arrived at the School of Visual Arts Theatre in a stylish black and white poncho, also designed by Louis Vuitton. Her hair was styled into a glamorous retro do, with strong make-up to match and a pair of patent pumps by Brian Atwood – finished off with jewels by Cartier.

Jessica, 29, also took a step back in time, seemingly influenced by the sixties with her bohemian ensemble consisting of a sheer white lightly-pleated maxi dress by Chloe matched with dark-coloured strappy heels and a cream handbag. Alba’s hair fitted in with the hippy style of her dress, and she wore several chains round her neck to complete the look.

Kate told U.S. website Entertainment Tonight that her six-year-old son Ryder gave her last-minute fashion advice for the red carpet.

She said: ‘He is very, very, very particular about the things that he likes, and he’s very vocal about when he doesn’t like something I’m wearing.’

The Killer Inside Me follows a charming, unassuming small town sheriff’s deputy (played by Casey Affleck) juggling his long-term girlfriend (Hudson) and a prostitute (Alba) he falls for while grappling with the sociopathic tendencies inside him. The controversial film takes place in West Texas during the 1950s and is based on Jim Thompson’s pulp novel.

In January, the Toronto Sun reported that many cinema-goers left the first screening at the 1,200-seat Eccles Theatre at the Sundance Film Festival after being disturbed by the gory sex scenes and the sado-masochistic violence.

But both actresses have defended the movie and praised director Michael Winterbottom for staying true to the original novel.

Hudson said: ‘This is my third movie with Casey… so I immediately felt excited about having an opportunity to do that again. And it’s such a great role for Casey, and it was an interesting role for me – just really meaty scenes, you know, different and dark.’

Alba, meanwhile, spoke of her excitement at working with the director.

She said: ‘I’ve done a lot of movies that are big and commercial and I just really wanted to work with Michael Winterbottom. This was purely a creative decision.’

And the British also defended his film, after he was criticised during a question and answer session at Sundance earlier this year.

He told reporters: ‘The violence is shocking in the book and it’s shocking in the film. It’s not a police procedural. The story is being told by someone who’s crazy. The story is the way he tells it and sees it, not the way it happened. The film has no sense of pleasure in the violence.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I’m tempted to say Kate looked better – or I would be if she wasn’t making dumb faces in every single photo. At one point on the red carpet, Kate’s dress blew up or something, and Jessica had to help Kate keep all of her lady parts hidden. However, there are no photos of the skirt blowing up that I’ve seen, so it just looks like Alba is obsessed with touching the skirt. Weird:

Kate & Jessica on April 27, 2010. Credit: WENN.