Blake and Barbie 'met' boring again

Let me try to avoid landmines and mess in this post, LOL. The fact that I’m pairing Blake Lively and Margot Robbie, though, probably isn’t helping. But I have editorial and narrative justification for it, so can we ignore the internet conspiracy theories and just focus on the context without looking for subtext?

The context, by the way, is enough gossip to keep us busy. I’m talking, of course, about the timing and the lawsuit, because righhhhht before the Met Gala carpet opened, and I literally mean right before, news broke that Blake and Justin Baldoni had settled the lawsuit that has dominated the celebrity ecosystem for a year and a half.

The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed. A joint statement was released and like everything related to this case and these two people, everyone has their own take on whether or not this was a loss for him or a win for her or vice versa, there will never be a consensus. If there is a loser here, though, maybe it’s the content creators on YouTube and TikTok, particularly the pro-Baldoni ones, who have built their follower bases on this scandal and were probably the only ones looking forward to the trial starting in two weeks.

For the rest of us though, where we might agree is on strategy and rollout. When the settlement news first broke, I initially thought that Blake was taking advantage of the Met Gala timing, burying it when gossip attention would be focused on fashion, because the decision to settle wasn’t entirely ideal. But then…

She showed up at the Met Gala. And not last minute. It couldn’t have been last minute since she was wearing archival Versace from 2006 with the addition of a ball gown skirt. This would have taken advance planning and lead time and… obviously… an invitation. By now we all know that Anna Wintour approves every guest at the Met Gala. So she had the co-sign from one of the pillars of the fashion community, plus Donatella, and when you take all that into consideration, breaking the news about the settlement on Met Gala Monday wasn’t an intentional bury after all, you might even say that the Met Gala is where Blake was attempting a reset. The case is closed, and she’s now embarking on a comeback…

That feels, at least from a style perspective, like nothing has changed. And by nothing I mean that pre-2024, one of my annual irritations about the Met Gala were the people who insisted that Blake Lively was one of the looks to anticipate, like she’s among the Rihannas and the Zendayas of the world, how dare you.

But also, I guess, thank you? I’m now almost nostalgic for this, for dunking on Blake’s style, a newfound appreciation for it after the ugliness of the Baldoni f-ckery for a year and a half. Gossips, we’re back! Back to complaining about Blake’s bad taste. Because this is not it! And it’s such a relief to be in this familiar place again!

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Basic. Boring. The same silhouette we’ve always seen from her. That hair is … SO mid, as the kids say. It’s a ball and she went as Barbie, next.

Then there is actually Barbie aka Margot Robbie. Equally as basic and boring– and also like Blake a return to style blandness but unlike Blake, I’m not comforted by it. We thought we were past the days of Margot + Chanel being a buzzkill, especially with Matthieu Blazy in control. We’ve actually seen Margot in several good Chanel looks over the last few months. What in the bridesmaid of bridezilla and motherzilla or sorority formal is this? Like, even the hair is dullsville?!

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And now here we are, it didn’t take much. Renewed bitching about Margot + Chanel… is it possible that when she’s not promoting a movie her red carpet instincts are as overrated as Blake’s?