Hailee Steinfeld in Marc Jacobs

Posted on Jul 17, 2012 in Fashion

We think this look is mostly cute, but you really have to be a teenager to pull it off. On any adult woman, this look would read frumpy.

Hailee Steinfeld attends the premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” in New York Premiere in head-to-toe Marc Jacobs.

Marc Jacobs Resort 2013 Collection

But when you’re fresh as a daisy, you can get away with awkward hem lengths, insanely chunky shoes, and a schoolmarm hairdo. It’s not fair, darlings, but we never promised you a rose garden. “Spinster chic” only works on ladies young enough to ask, “What’s a spinster?”

[Photo Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images, vogue.com]

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Sobaika

SEQUINS! The fabric is sequined. I approve.
- TheOriginalLulu
  
  Absolutely. Sequins make everything better. They’re the chocolate of the trims and notions universe.
- http://gabyrippling.tumblr.com/ Gabriella M
  
  I thought it looked too stiff and shiny to just be plain fabric. The sequins do make it more fun.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Lucía-Gavello/1253586868 Lucía Gavello
  
  I would look like a donkey’s ass on that thing, yet she looks adorable. You’re absolutely right about the sequins.
alyce1213

Are those sequins? In that case, it makes the dress is a little more wacky, eccentric and unique than frumpy.
It’s really not a dress for anyone, but I like it on her.
The shoes not so much.
kimmeister

The back of the dress is black?!? I guess they wanted to avoid having the sequins catch on chairs, but still, yick.

And those shoes are beyond hideous.
- ballerinawithagun
  
  Good eye! I zoomed by so quickly I had to go back & look. Turquoise would have been so cute.
http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

I think this might be one of Miss Hailee’s rare “OUTs.” This just doesn’t do it for me, even for a teen-appropriate look.
http://twitter.com/ILikeShiny Cindi Williams

I like this on her, but Marc Jacobs is really hitting us over the head with his paper doll inspiration, isn’t he? The black back really shoves my nose in it.
Clueless_Jock

I think Hailee Steinfeld should start dressing like Selena Gomez.
Ceur

I don’t think it’s unfair. If someone were to take my childhood away from me I would at least expect the privilege to wear anything I wanted in the meantime.
formerlyAnon

I like the fabric. A lot.

I am not sure this really works on her, just that she’s young and cute enough that she doesn’t need it to work to be adorable. Either longer or shorter and with less clunky shoes – or a lighter color shoes, or something.
VioletFem

What a difference a change in the hemline makes. When I first saw this dress I thought it looked really frumpy and it probably would on most women (heck most actresses) but it works on Hailey. Plus I love her shoes.
TheOriginalLulu

I love you guys. My mom’s favorite thing to say anytime I complained about life was always, “I never promised you a rose garden, honey”.

Agreed on the dress. Hailee looks adorable and I think the dress needed the funky shoes to keep it young and cute.
sagecreek

She looks great. I haven’t seen her make a misstep yet.
http://phantomminuet.blogspot.com/ MinAgain

She looks adorable, but I don’t really like the black clutch. Still, she’s a definite IN.
MilaXX

It does kinda work on her, but I really hate those shoes
pattyw

Nope, sorry, still frumpy. Needs to lose 6 inches in the hem and the top is just plain boxy.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jessica-TallGirl-Freeman/1043623567 Jessica TallGirl Freeman

Sorry, this is totally the only thing a grandma can pull off. Which is what I said when I first saw this collection. Grandma Chic.
LinXGUA

HAHAHA YES.
More celebrities are falling for this colection. EXCELLENT.
antheapena

it’s a facade dress with a black backdrop! Love the shoes but even on the models, not with the dress. Sequins are a plus and she looks happy.
- ballerinawithagun
  
  Facade!!!
ballerinawithagun

Yes, “spinster chic” only works on the young. It becomes Grey Gardens after that.
http://twitter.com/A_SmallFry AC

She is adorbs!
ianrewel

It looks like something Katniss Everdeen would wear if she could choose her own clothes
- Eclectic Mayhem
  
  Every time I look at Ms Steinfeld I think she must’ve either not wanted to play Katniss or she totally flubbed the audition. Not that I’m complaining about the casting of Jennifer Lawrence or anything.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Erin-Hines/620149309 Erin Hines

yuck. a sequined neck bow? It looks like a carseat cover from the 70′s. Bought after a coke binge.
poggi

Cute as a bunny–on her.
Larkin21

I’d like this so much more either without the bow or with a different hairstyle. One or else the other.
plinkiedoodle

So true. She looks darling!
Little_Olive

Cute, I guess.

But did they forget to do her hair?
sk8tfan

I wore those shoes in college in the 70′s and thought I was all that! Apparently designers agreed with me. Hideous dress on anyone else but she’s WERQ’ing it. And she’s so obviously pleased with herself that her good mood and playfulness are contagious.
SapphoPoet

The sequins make it fun. Can’t stand the shoes.
piecesofconfetti

I love it! I actually like the length she chose. Like you said, almost no one else can get away with it, but here, it works.
Le_Sigh

She’s adorable. I’m glad she’s realized playing with the fun stuff that she can still get away with as a tweenager.
mellorcr

Frumpy??? That’s being too kind. On an adult it comes off as “inappropriately colorful sister-wife”!
http://twitter.com/Hussified Coleen

I need this to be knee-length so badly that I can’t look at it anymore.
Call me Bee

“Spinster chic” is so utterly appropriate for this look. Dowdy fabric (like old calico I’ve purged from my quilting stash…) at an awful length with the ugliest shoes I’ve seen in a while. And it works on her. She looks downright cute! Grrrrr…
- Pennymac
  
  Incredible that it’s sequined, yet dowdy calico. That must take talent! But on her, I kinda love it.
sockandaphone

Also in love with her pedicure. Cute as a button!
PinkLemon

my husband calls Anthropologie ‘spinster poet clothes’……altho i love a good anthro piece, i think he’s onto something there.
Nariya

The impeccable tailoring definitely helps too.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1401197785 Jennifer Peters-Ahnberg

Okay, I retract the sister-wife comment. I didn’t read the other comments and didn’t look closely enough to see the sequins. I am a bad kitten.

The sequins do elevate it into the cutely eccentric, but I stand by my initial reaction to the shoes. They are hiddy and must go.
Warmheartedgirl Seattle

I’m glad they shortened the dress – doesn’t look quite so “marm-y”. Hate those clunky shoes. But isn’t she pretty? Hair is fine, and makeup is quite lovely.
kikisayshi

I think she looks super cute, but the hem is bothering me despite the fact that she is a tweenie bopper and not subject to ladystar rules. I think it should’ve stayed long or made into a mini.
https://twitter.com/Gayer_Than_Thou Gayer Than Thou

Are good-looking people not going into modeling anymore? What gives?
phrenk

She is so cute. I hate those shoes.
http://twitter.com/ndpndntfilm Susan Velazquez

If she had a belt, or something that defined her waist better, this look would have been 10x better
Vlasta Bubinka

Hailee is totally adorable, but on models… totally a “come play with us”- The Shining kind of moment…
- Billie_Dawn
  
  The only thing I could think of was Children of the Corn, but you’re right. They are straight out of The Shining. Terrifying.
crash1212

“Spinster Chic” – BWAAhahahahaha! Those models look like they had a sister-wives-scarlett-o’hara-with-the-drapes moment.
AudreysMom

any once again, Miss Hailee offers lessons to her teenage peers about dressing fun and fashionable and not like a whore or a hooker.
guest2visits

The dress is fine on her, but the shoes are awful; they just look like furniture.
Molly OBM

WANT!
enchanted216

I love everything about it:)
Scarlet39

She looks adorable.
nannypoo

I don’t like the shoes and the dress is too long. She looks adorable anyway. Love the hair.
SewingSiren

I naturally love this dress on her. I am in complete agreement with you that this dress is only appropriate for teenagers. I would nevertheless wear it myself in the more spinsterish runway length, even though I am neither a spinster or a teenager. Not chic either but most certainly am eccentric and matronly. Very very matronly.
Judy_J

Very cute.
http://profile.yahoo.com/Y3OY6COEVBS2STNCUNIRZ3COUE Claudia

How scary “Shining Twins” do the models look?! Yikes!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Christopher-Lally/1813707728 Christopher Lally

Well…the first thing I noticed is that the Dark Knight has a black clutch for a penis and that Hailee is holding it wearing a very cute dress and a lovely smile.
MarissaLG

Totally agree- I think she looks great.
HobbitGirl

Hate the shoes, but I LOVELOVELOVE that she’s not in yet another gyno-mini cocktail napkin like so many other stars her age.
Kristy Evans

I think Michelle Williams could pull it off. Because it’s twee as fuck. As you say.
DominoEstella

LOVE IT!
LeBarron

Yep. Still love her.
http://heartprintandstyle.blogspot.com Vivi N

Despite it being bedazzled in sequins, it still looks frumpy.
quiltrx

This is totally a nighttime dress–we can’t see the sparkles enough!

I was about to say I love the print, then I did a little gay-gasp when I realized it was all sequins. Clever design.
TieDye64

She really does look adorable, due to her being a fresh faced embryo. You’re so right, on those of us more “seasoned” this would look completely frumpy school marm.
Athenrein

I’m 27 and I could probably pull it off (though it’s SO not my style), but people routinely think I’m 16-19, so the point holds. I HATE the bow. I am vaguely uncomfortable knowing that the bra I’m wearing has a bow on it, what to speak of a giant one right under my face.

But she’s cute and like she’s having fun with her clothes, which is exactly what she should be doing.
HK4Seven

Sister-wife dress up clothes.

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Hailee Steinfeld in Marc Jacobs

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