I hope you all weren’t hoping that I’d do some Monday morning fashion quarterbacking and list my Best and Worst Dressed at last night’s Emmy Awards.

To be honest, I think creating a Worst Dressed list is just cruel.

No woman spends hours getting ready for one of the most exciting evenings of her life with the intention of seeing herself on a Worst Dressed list the next day (or within minutes in this Age of Twittering).

I’m sure every woman, those who hit the bulls-eye with their style and those who perhaps missed the mark a bit, stepped into their limos believing they looked gorgeous. And I’m sure every one of them felt glamorous as they were being blinded by flashes on the Red Carpet.

Considering that many of these stars probably didn’t select their dresses from among all those available in the Fashion Universe but instead made their selections from a very small edited number of choices delivered by their stylists, perhaps we should all back off from our criticism a bit.

I’m especially saddened to see all the controversy surrounding some of the youngest stars.

For instance, Ariel Winter, the 13-year-old middle daughter on Modern Family, is under attack for a classic lace evening gown that makes her look “too sexy” and that suggests she’s trying to channel Sofia Vergara and Christina Hendricks. Pleeeease!

If any of you have a 13-year-old girl in the house you know there’s no way you could force her to go out in public wearing something she doesn’t want to wear. Even if you disagree with their choices, these young gals are gonna want to wear something they love and that makes them feel beautiful and confident.

And I don’t know about you, but Ariel certainly looks like she feels beautiful and confident to me!

So while I earn a living talking about fashion, I prefer that we talk about it in a way that isn’t mean-spirited and demeaning. We’re all just doing the best we can and with all the conflicting messages sent by the fashion industry, any of us, and that includes the icons of this industry, can make a fashion faux-pas every now and again.

And it’s not the end of the world. Ours or theirs.

So if you like Ariel’s look and you want to channel the style, just grab today’s VPOD.

This vintage 1930s lace evening gown is sized to fit a real woman, not the twigs that inhabit fashion magazines. Like many dresses of this era, there’s a touch of broken netting. But just pin a brooch near this area on the hip and voila! No one will ever notice.

It’s a simple, elegant find for a Best-Dressed Vintage Crusader!

Available at Concetta’s Closet.

(To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)