There's something very, very wrong with Isabel Lucas. Between her model good looks, boho attitude, string of high profile relationships, and appearance in Hollywood blockbusters, she should be a fashion darling by now, but for some reason it just hasn't happened.
Lucas never looks at home on the red carpet, but her off-duty style is hardly any better. She has a distinct sense of dress, that flowing hippy look favoured by Abbey Lee Kershaw, that Sienna Miller (and her cross-Atlantic clone Kate Bosworth) occasionally dabble in, all to great success. But Lucas' take never seems to work quite as well. Her maxi skirts and crop tops look frumpy rather than elegantly effortless, her little vintage dresses are not so much youthful and tearabout as they are petulantly lethargic.
Lucas has a dizzy, dreamy air that normally captivates fashion, but all it does for her sense of style is result in a string of serious misses.
This is unfortunate as she has so much to work with. She's without a doubt one of the best looking young actresses in Hollywood today - which is saying a lot since every crop is very pretty - she should be the face of a major luxury brand by now, or at least a label in line with her eco-ethos, Edun perhaps, but instead she's… engh.
Lucas cannot be defended on the same grounds as someone like Helena Bonham Carter, Bjork, or even Bai Ling. This is not peculiar personal style run gloriously wild in a way that adds delightful spice to red carpet monotony - that kind of fashion fabulosity should be defended at all costs. While she does do the hippy thing, Lucas never really owns it properly, so the results are more boring than bizarre.
Looking at photos of Lucas, there are a few obvious failings that could easily be fixed.
Her hair
On a recent shoot and story for the Herald Sun, the reporter described how Lucas waved the hairstylist away and began to tend to her own tresses. She needs to stop doing this. Lucas has a lovely head of hair, and no idea what to do with it. The resulting effect is always an unbrushed adolescent mess. It looks disheveled, not nonchalant, and it's even worse when she ties a leather thong or band around it in a flower child style that was, by 2008, utterly ruined by the universally reviled Peaches Geldof.
Her makeup
Perhaps Lucas has the same attitude to her makeup as she does to her hair - DIY - but even if that was the case, she still lacks a sense of propriety, going all out when the barest touch is needed, and holding back at crucial moments. Once again, this isn't about a personal choice not to touch cosmetics, like Tilda Swinton does so well, Lucas wears makeup, she just doesn't match it to her outfit or occasion.
Her accessories
Lucas rarely wears much in the way of accessories, but when she does, they're curiously ill chosen. Belts sit in the wrong place, necklaces add nothing to otherwise pretty dresses, and shoes well… she can't be faulted for preferring flats, feeling good is an important part of looking it, but it'd be nice if they at least vaguely went with her frocks.
So what's the solution? Well I have a novel one. Since it's apparent Lucas doesn't have much natural style, she should do what all people who have dollars but lack sense should do, and go for full looks from one label. What label you ask? The answer is easy. Her long flowing hippy chic preferences, combined with being young, tan and blonde would work perfectly with Roberto Cavalli, while her neglectful beauty regime would make for an interestingly carefree contrast to the over-the-top-hippy-luxe of the designer's clothes. If it were ever to really work, Cavalli would have to trade skinning seals for saving whales (or Lucas would have to stop caring), but it'd be nice to see Isabel really nailing a look for once.