Joan Collins Hospitalized for Wearing Tight Dress to Oscars Party

Joan Collins was hospitalized after wearing a dress that was too tight at the Vanity Fair Oscars party on February 27. Guess her gown was to die for.

The 77 year-actress said she felt faint and almost passed out because her dress was too small. She first tried resting on a sofa at the Sunset Tower Hotel. Finally, her husband, Percy Gibson, called for an ambulance. Collins says she now feels fine.

The online debate has focused on whether to blame the dress or what many believe is a corset that was pushed too far. Then again, why is anyone wearing a corset in 2011? Has this woman never heard of Spanx? Any older woman can achieve a miracle with those single-layer compression contraptions. They even advertise their slimming apparel especially for red carpet events.

After hearing about Joan Collins' story, I started wondering if even Spanx could be hazardous to your health. Rest easy. I couldn't find any documented casualties, but the company appears to be taking every precaution. Their Bra-llelujah has a front closure to eliminate "back attack" from metal clasps and hooks. Even the underwire is guaranteed "injury-free" so you'll never get poked or jabbed. Still, you may be asking for trouble if you go squeezing yourself into a Bod-A-Bing three sizes too small.

Which takes us back to Joan Collins. In an interview with Sunday Express, she complained that Hollywood puts too much emphasis on skinny women. However, she also complained about fat people, accusing them of being greedy.

She's even still complaining about dieting for a film almost 40 years ago. Collins claims she went on an 850 calorie a day diet. She thinks that meant she couldn't eat anything but two boiled eggs, a tablespoon of tuna, and lettuce and tomato. That's barely 300 calories. No wonder this woman doesn't know her own dress size.

If you're still wondering what Collins has been doing lately besides fainting, her blog has some details. She tweeted just yesterday that she laughed so hard at Kirk Douglas that her dress came undone, and she almost did a Janet Jackson. What is with her dresses? When they're not trying to kill her, they're falling off her. Still, her life has been more than Dynasty reruns and wardrobe malfunctions. The Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee opened a one-woman show, "One Night With Joan," in the fall of 2010 and got great reviews for her New York nightclub debut at Feinstein's at Loew's Regency.

Sources: Mike Parker, "Joan Collins: Skinny Stars Aren't Sexy," Daily and Sunday Express