Rita Ora vs. Gwen Stefani – Who carried off McQ Alexander McQueen better?

Last week Rita Ora donned a stunning, black tulle tutu dress with colourful floral appliqués from the McQ McQueen Autumn/Winter 2012 collection, and we instantly fell in love with it – again!

Because only a few weeks back, Gwen Stefani was styled in a similar tulle floral appliqué skirt from said collection for the October cover of ELLE UK. With both ladies being equally edgy in their own way when it comes to fashion, it goes without saying that this popular McQ McQueen look was styled very differently on them.

Leading the way was No Doubt’s leading lady, who was styled by ELLE’s senior fashion editor, Natalie Wansbrough-Jones. Gwen wore the tulle floral appliqué skirt with an Autumn/Winter 2012 Peter Pilotto top, for a graphic cross between digi-print and 3D embellishment that only someone with the style prowess of Gwen could carry off.

Rita wore the McQ McQueen black tulle tutu dress to the 2012 MOBO Awards, where the 21-year-old ‘Shine Ya Light’ singer picked up the gong for ‘Best Newcomer’. Completing her look was that preened-to-perfection blonde wig, her signature strong lip and gold bracelets, and strappy gold DSquared2 sandals.

But who really pulled off this runway-perfect design? McQueen’s pieces never fail to leave us awestruck when they appear on the catwalk, but did the stylish ladies in question do the designs justice? We’re going with Gwen and her directional take on this one.

Don’t get us wrong, Rita looked amazing, too, but when compared to the Jurassic Park-esque, Dilophosaurus frill-effect the dress carried on the runway (totally magic, we tell you), Rita’s flattened tulle neckline just didn’t cut it. It looked like a lazy effort to prevent Rita’s face from being hidden all evening, and for us, ruined the look.

Gwen, on the other hand, well, can we ever fault her? Her look was refreshing, and boy do we love it when fashion takes an unexpected turn!