Why Shailene Woodley's Outfit Looked So Wrong (3 big mistakes)

How is it possible that you could spend well over $100,000 on an outfit and still be labeled as the worst-dressed? Shailene Woodley's look at the Emmys got a lot of attention online, and it wasn't the good type. And the truth is, how much money you spend on an outfit doesn't really matter because if you're making the three mistakes that I will be sharing in today's video, you will probably end up with an outfit that is working against you. The intention here isn't to criticize Shailene in any way, I think she's gorgeous regardless, but as a stylist, my goal is to help people look their best. So I'm going to walk you through my thought process as I make changes to improve this outfit. And at the end, I will share with you two options and you get to choose the final winner. So let's get into it. My name is Mei and this is Elegant Speed. Mistake number one, context mismatch. The first mistake can be seen in this outfit directly. It becomes visible when you see the original look on the runway. When I looked at the runway look, the first thing that jumped out wasn't the individual pieces. It was the fluidity of the whole look. This is not a static pose. This is an outfit in motion. The model is walking, there's controlled lighting, there's probably fans blowing wind to add more to that dynamic effect. Meanwhile, this is a static pose with no cloak to hide the silhouette from the sides. So whatever wasn't noticeable here became noticeable here. Celebrities sometimes love a look on the runway and expect it to translate the same way on the red carpet. But that's not always the case. And the same thing happens when you see an outfit that you like on Pinterest or Instagram and you try it on and it doesn't look the same on you. Well, of course, different person, different backdrop, different environment. All of it changes how an outfit reads, not just the individual pieces themselves. Context matters. Which leads us to mistake number two, being worn by the outfit instead of wearing one. This is such a common mistake for a lot of people, celebrities included, and this is something you see when a color washes somebody out or a silhouette that swallows them or a piece that adds volume and weight in the wrong places. If you can see the color before you see your face, that color is wearing you. If you can see the piece before you see your face, that piece is wearing you. And we see this very clearly with Shailene's look here because every piece is kind of working against this principle. First things first, I'm going to remove the opera gloves and the necklace because they're not adding anything here. Actually, they're making the outfit worse. So let's just remove them. Now, when you look at the outfit, the first thing that you see is not her face. It's the periwinkle blue top. Shailene is likely an autumn, which means she is muted and warm. This color top is bright and cool. So it's the complete opposite of what looks good on her, which is why it overpowers her the way it does. So let's change the top color. I picked ink blue from the autumn color palette. And the difference is immediate. Your eye immediately goes back to her face. And I actually love this color combination. It feels luxurious and even a bit royal. Now let's talk proportions. Shailene likely has a rectangle body shape. And for this body shape, what works best is pieces that add structure and volume in certain areas and pieces that create waist definition. Which is why she looks amazing in these outfits because they work with her body shape, not against it. However, the pieces that she's wearing here do none of that. They're both straight cut, which makes the body appear boxier. The low waist is also throwing the proportions off. And the loose fit in both the top and bottom made sense on the runway because the outfit was meant to be fluid. But on the red carpet, it doesn't really land the same way. It doesn't look refined in my opinion. And it's also not helping with her body shape. So let's work on the top a little bit. I'm going to keep the deep plunging neckline because I want to stay as close to the original outfit as possible. But if we go with a structured piece, similar to the examples that I showed, and we go with a top that is more structured and kind of flares at the bottom, kind of peplum style, we get a result like this. And if we slim down the pants and make them floor length, we get this. And by the way, I'm using AI to visualize these changes. So there might be some discrepancies with the proportions or even the color. So please take this with a grain of salt. This is meant to be an imaginative edit, not an actual representation of how the outfit would look. The peplum top here fixed the problem and created another one. It fixed the boxiness, it gave the body more structure, it created waist definition, it made it look less boxy. So that's good. I like that. However, that created a new problem, which leads us to mistake number three, too many heroes. If all pieces are statement pieces, and all pieces are trying to get attention, nothing really gets attention. The peplum top is a statement piece on its own. It is structured and has a dramatic flare. But we already have an undeniable statement piece in this outfit, which is the heavy clutter pants. So combine them with a peplum top and a deep v-neck that is pointing downwards, and you get a bottom-heavy, unbalanced outfit. And that's the other thing that I didn't like in the original look. The bright blue top, despite it being overpowering on her skin tone, it was also competing with the pants underneath. Because you have a bright color on top, and you have heavy clutter pants that you can feel they're heavy without even wearing them. These two pieces were competing for attention. So where does your eye go? So let's lose the flared portion, keep the structured top, but tuck it in and make the pants mid-rise. And since we cannot create a waist definition through a flared lower waist at the bottom, let's go to the top. And I mean all the way to the top. Here's a quick visual illusion hack. If you want something to appear smaller, make what's around it bigger. The same way you cannot physically make your waist smaller, you can make your back muscles and your glutes bigger at the gym, which will make your waist appear smaller, even though it's the same size. So it's the exact same thing with clothes. So if we go with angled cap sleeves at the top, that will widen the shoulder area. And when the shoulder area appears wider, the waist appears smaller. So if we compare these two versions side to side, the waist appears smaller in the second one. Another option, we can go for long sleeves, which can be seen as a nod to the opera gloves in the original outfit. For some reason, this feels more formal, more red carpet appropriate, in my opinion. Now let's do some final touches. The outfit usually tells you what it needs. A deep plunging neckline tells you it needs a long necklace to fill up that space. That's why the round necklace in the original outfit didn't really make sense. A structured shoulder tells you it cannot have hair covering it. It cannot be down, so the hair needs to be lifted up. The necklace cannot be small or dainty or delicate. This is a bold, powerful outfit, both in style and in structure. So we need something that matches that vibe. A long serpentine necklace works because it echoes the gold from the pants, so it ties the top and bottom together, and it helps balance the visual weight. And since she was wearing a low ponytail in the original look, I would still honor that, but instead of a low ponytail, let's take a sky high instead. I would also go with red lips, which suit her autumn coloring far better than nude. And just like that, now she is wearing the outfit, not being worn by it. One statement piece, a luxurious color combination, balanced proportions, and final touches that feel appropriate for the red carpet. Let me know below which version is your favorite and whether you want to see more of these types of videos. I don't make them often, but they're a lot of fun to make, so if you find them helpful, please do let me know. I will see you in the next one, and until then, stay elegant.