Someone get Kaitlan Collins a corsage. The CNN anchor showed up to the 2025 White House Correspondents’ Dinner looking more ready for a high school homecoming than Washington’s biggest night. Then again, maybe her barely-there look was right on theme for this year’s stripped down affair? After all, there was no president and no comedian headliner, so maybe she was just looking to match the energy. If that was her goal, her simple, strapless, black satin cocktail dress certainly achieved it. It’s not that we don’t love her in black — she turned plenty of heads in that skin-baring, busty black number. But this time around? We were just left shrugging. Maybe she was expecting to slow dance to Taylor Swift under a balloon arch with her boyfriend, Will Douglas?
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Adding to that, the dress — which hit just below the knee — was a missed opportunity for Collins to show off her killer legs, and compared to the flirty gold Larroudé mules she rocked last year, the clear, sparkly mules she slipped into this time were barely worth a second glance. Tasteful, sure — but completely forgettable. At least her makeup was flawless, which almost made us forgive the rest of the look. Either way, it’s clear she’s better at holding a mic than trying to drop one with her fashion choices.
Don’t count Kaitlan Collins out just yet
While her 2025 White House Correspondents’ Dinner look may have earned a collective shrug, Kaitlan Collins isn’t always a fashion flop — she’s taken risks before, and a few have actually paid off. As disgraced former Congressman George Santos said on X, “[Collins] is a pretty girl and has an amazing [canvas] to work with.” And work with it she has. If you need proof, we’ve got the receipts.
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Last year, the host of “The Source” appeared on “The Late Show” to chat with Stephen Colbert about a smorgasbord of topics, but let’s be real — all eyes were on that sultry black-belted mini-dress and those gold Larroudé mules (which, for the record, appear to be the same ones she wore to the 2024 White House Correspondents’ Dinner). The dress showed off her toned arms and legs and was a far cry from her usual buttoned-up, on-air wardrobe. The look drew major praise, too, with one commenter gushing under a picture from the interview, “Looovveeee your dress and shoes!!” Among the flood of heart and hand-clap emojis, another fan lauded the look: “Dress stunning but shoes are absolutely spectacular!”
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So, while her 2025 White House Correspondents’ Dinner look might’ve been better suited for a homecoming dance floor, we’ll give the CNN star a pass this time. After all, compared to the disaster zone that was the 2024 worst-dressed list — featuring Sen. John Fetterman and CNN’s own Kate Bolduan, who’s still trying to recover from that trainwreck — Collins is practically a style icon.
