The Good:
Hey, no one said Selena Gomez didn't look cute, just that there were a weird number of pics of her. Is she still poised to be "the new Miley" or has Disney chilled out?
The grown woman in me thinks Leonor Varela's Grecian gown is kind of cheesy. The five-year-old in me thinks she looks like a beautiful princess.
Call me crazy, I think Dania Ramirez's over-the-top avian-Vegas confection works! Yes, the belt is problematic, but it seems to scream... Holly Golightly goes to a Dali exhibition.


The Bad:
Daniella Polanco could have searched far and wide and not found anything more unflattering than this lace tablecloth meets Molly Ringwald's prom 'dress' from Pretty in Pink.

Yolanda Perez looks like she's coated in molten bronze. And yes, it looks painful.
Eva La Rue is being slowly consumed by a giant ruffle. I think this could actually be darling without the hint of fussiness the jabot imparts.
The former lounge singer in me also likes Kate del Castillo's sequined second skin, but sanity prevails.
If one were to stack a number of muffin tin liners, the effect would be almost as unfortunate as Yvette Yates's skirt. Bold? Perhaps. But half of the virtue of courage is the possibility of failure, no?

Images via Getty, Wenn, AP

A three-month-old Amur tiger cub lounges in a chair at the Pittsburgh Zoo on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008. Born on Mother's Day, May 11, 2008, Amur tigers, more commonly know as Siberian tigers, are a critically endangered species due to habitat destruction and illegal fur trade.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

[Pittsburgh Zoo, August 5. Image via AP.]

Very edifying, but the truth is, the LPGA' profile has been rising in recent years, with the advent of stars like Michelle Wie and clothes that, while perhaps not up to Dieter's glamor standard, are considerably more stylish than they were just a few years ago.

But whatever my reservations, the golfers seem psyched. "It was nice to feel glamorous," says Kim Hall, one of the seven. "I'd rather be known for my golf, but it's a bonus when you're considered attractive. It's flattering. It's kind of nice to be one of the 'cute' ones." Says four-time major winner Meg Mallon: "Sounds like a lot of fun to me. I'm for anything that extends the boundaries of our sport, creates additional interest and makes new fans. Once we get people interested in our sport, we keep them. I don't know why anybody would have a problem with that."

Okay, I don't have a problem with that. And I'm glad the models are having fun with it. And for the record, anything that puts healthy role models out there is not all bad. But the thing is this: Venus and Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova are famous athletes who happen to have fun with fashion. These golfers are largely unknown to the public and would be models first. Besides which, they have been selected purely on the basis of looks, not ranking (although they're obviously all accomplished.)

Maybe none of this would bother me if "Dieter Esch" wasn't like a parody of a fashion douchebag throughout the entire article. Of the search for the girls? "I wanted them to look attractive, I wanted them to look sexy." Later: "What I hope for the Wilhelmina 7, I hope that they get exposure beyond golf. It's about style and fashion too. I want people to come out to the golf course and say, 'What are they wearing this weekend?' Well, Dieter, thanks to you they're wearing bikinis. Which I'm sure a lot of people are happy to look at — but I'm guessing they're not golf enthusiasts.
Modeling agency trying to add glamour to LPGA Tour[Los Angeles Times]
Lady Golfers Fashion Forward[Blackbook]

• Wacko Jacko is teaming up with Ed Hardy designer Christian Audigier to launch a new line this fall. The apparently delusional Frenchman says, “It’s the merging of the King of Pop with the king of fashion. Something explosive is going to happen.” Kitson, for some reason, has committed to carrying the line exclusively. Like all Michael Jackson news, this is somehow deeply depressing. [People]
• Um, Michael's sister Janet is also doing a line, apparently. Starting with lingerie. Insert "wardrobe malfunction" joke here. Oh, wait, Perez Hilton already did. [Perez Hilton]
• A spotlight fell on the head of a male model walking in Tom Ford's Milan show. Insert...no, don't. [Fashionista]
• Nelson Mandela has personally banned serenity-challenged Naomi Campbell from the stage of his 90th birthday concert! Campbell was wearing a "46664" baseball cap at the time of her arrest (Mandela's prison number during his 27-year stint behind bars and the emblem of his current anti-AIDS initiative), which Mandela found "disappointing" given that he personally counseled her following her last brush with the law/cellphone/maid. [Daily Mail]

• Perhaps Naomi will take comfort from this news: "...lawmakers are proposing to give supermodels their own category of work visa. This is especially bold because while easing the way for several hundred models to work during New York's Fashion Week, they must resolutely ignore the pleas of high-tech businesses seeking more visas for well-educated workers." [LA Times]
• "Consumer confidence hits 16-year low." [WWD]
• Dragon fruit is the latest snake oil. [New York Magazine]
• File under 'curiously appropriate meeting of psuedo-hipster mediocrities': Agyness Deyn is dating one of the Strokes. [Perez Hilton]
• Just when you thought they couldn't get any uglier: Crocs 2.0 [Blackbook]
• MAC, Emanuel Ungaro team up for new makeup line. [Gisele Bundchen about eating disorders is like talking with a pro athlete about steroids." [Newser]
• Expectant mother Angelina Jolie apparently has no need for the teeny-tiny black leather getup she wears in her new flick, Wanted. She's auctioning it at CharityFolks.com, where it's expected to fetch about three grand. Proceeds benefit a charity of Morgan Freeman's that helps communities prepare for natural disasters. [E!]
• Tom Ford flouts recession, beating sales budget by 100%. [IHT]
• "King of Bling" "Jacob the Jeweler" goes to jail for money-laundering. [WWD]
• Chinese sportswear's Olympic ambitions flouted. [Wall Street Journal]
• Fashionistas really, really need to stop talking politics. [Guardian]
• Parisian "concept store" Colette opens pop-up store in New York! [Fashionista]
• Brit It-girl and Gwen Stefani sorta-stepdaughter Daisy Lowe on her style: "Like a fairy pixie doll, but with a little bit of a vintage twist. Like a dirty fairy. I like to mix it up—old vintage fabric dresses with exotic Tibetan jewelry, flowers, headbands, that sort of thing." [Refinery29]
• After rough patch, Thierry Mugler on the upswing. [WWD]