This is How We Roll at a Polo Match - Upper East Side Edition

I have to confess that the closest I've ever been to a polo match is living vicariously through Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. So, my frame of reference for what one should wear to an end-of-the-summer charity polo match is roughly limited to this:

Preppy dress. Large hat. Pearls. Gloves.

Got it.

Only... My favorite Upper-East-Siders have pretty much shattered that image for me.

Not that I'm surprised or anything. I mean, Julia didn't exactly have a stylist to prepare her, did she? And even though she's lookin' pretty WASP-appropriate here, the Gossip Girl gang has shown me the light in this week's season premiere.

For example... You might think that an evening gown is not suitable attire for a daytime event such a this, but you would be very wrong.

The lovely Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Lively) clearly shows us that she can totally show up in this stunning peach-colored, pleated, and flowing Grecian Marchesa dress and not feel the least bit out of place.

I can't lie... I adore this dress. I don't think the pictures do it justice at all. I believe it's from Marchesa's Spring '09 line, at least according to what I've read, but I can't find any photos of it on the website. Definitely check out the Marchesa site though - the Spring '09 line is beautiful and one of my favorites from this designer.

Ahhhh... Here we go! Ever the proper WASP, Ms. Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) brings back the hat! Not to mention a gorgeous Walter double-layered silk chiffon dress. Love it!

From the flutter sleeves to the ruffled scoop neckline, this dress had me at it's Tiffany-Box-Blue (which is really more of an aqua/sea-foam type shade, no?) color.

I'm happy to say that we have a new addition to the crew this season. Joanna Garcia (RIP Privileged!) plays Bree Buckley and I'm already a fan.

This floral maxi dress (couldn't find the designer anywhere!) was surprisingly pretty on screen; and though I apologize for the odd closeup on her chest, I wanted to show the detail on the top part of her dress.

It was very pretty and very flattering (at least for girls lucky enough not to need any support up there) and I give it a thumbs up.

Oh, the boys... How I love the boys on this show. They really don't ever need to speak. Just stand there and look pretty. If it's absolutely necessary to speak though, I really wish they would let Ed Westwick use his natural British accent even though his character, Chuck Bass, is a native New Yorker. I have a serious thing for accents.

I'm loving the casual suits. Ed's fellow cast members, Sebastian Stan (who is actually Leighton Meester's real-life boyfriend) and Chace Crawford are just as dashing, if less fashionably flamboyant, than Ed and I think it's a hit.

Now for the bad news... Taylor Momsen is still pissing off somebody in the wardrobe department, only now she's bringing fellow cast member Jessica Szohr (Ed Westwick's real-life girlfriend) down with her.

Little Jenny Humphrey needs to wear some more appropriate clothes and much less makeup. She also needs to get rid of those ratty bleached-blonde extensions. Any more episodes like this and she's likely to get kicked out of the upper East side and end up on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Tacky, Jenny. Just stop being so freakin' tacky.

As for Vanessa Abrahms (Szohr)... Ugh. More ratty extensions. And the girl clearly has very curly hair. Can't they do a little bit better job of smoothing it out? It just looks frizzy and stiff and ugh. Bad. Really, really bad.

This dress did nothing for her figure (when you're that tiny, shouldn't everything look good?) and the pattern was just... Bleh. I'm just not a fan.

So there you have it. Season 3 of Gossip Girl is underway and I'm pretty excited to see what's in store for the gang.

Want to hear more about the (mostly) fabulous style on the show? Gossip Girl Insider has a few videos from costume designer Eric Damon. He talks all about the style for the upcoming season for Serena, Blair, and Jenny. Enjoy!

[photo credits: cwtv.com, gossipgirlinsider.com, gossipgirlonline.net, seenon.com, pret-a-party.blogspot.com]