BBC Faces Of The Year 2011: Pippa Middleton, Charlene Wittstock, Duchess Of Alba, Sarah Burton Among 'Famous Faces'

As anyone who has ever glanced at HuffPost Weddings knows, we're big fans of weddings. Whether they're real, fictional, underwater, over land, or viral -- you name 'em, we've gotten way too excited about 'em.

Nevertheless, we're scratching our heads over the BBC's annual Faces of the Year 2011: The Women roundup, in part for what seems like an odd emphasis on, well, weddings. The feature, published online Tuesday, spotlights 12 famous women who "made the headlines" in 2011. Among them: Charlene Wittstock, the Duchess of Alba, and Pippa Middleton (a slightly different version of the list the BBC created for UK readers also includes Kate Middleton's wedding dress designer Sarah Burton).

Since the list went live on Tuesday, it has drawn heat from several media outlets as well as outrage from the Twitter-verse, perhaps more for its inclusion of a female panda (!) as one of its selections than for its apparent preoccupation with all things bridal (not surprisingly, the fury has exploded into the Twitter trending topic #pandagate). Still, in a year when women made incredible strides in a wide variety of fields, it seems odd that the BBC should devote so much digital ink to celebrating women whose biggest achievement was getting married--or being in the orbit of a famous bride (it's worth noting that the male equivalent of the list did not include any grooms or groomsmen). As Jezebel.com cannily observed:

...the list ... includes Charlene Wittstock, a woman famous for almost not marrying a prince, a very wealthy Spanish duchess who married a younger man, and Pippa Middleton, a woman famous for being related to a woman who married a prince.

What do you think--should the BBC have reached a little further to include different female faces in its roundup, or are these brides and their cohorts deserving of the BBC's spotlight?

Below, a closer look at Pippa Middleton, the Duchess of Alba, Charlene Wittstock, and Sarah Burton, who take center stage in this year's list:

Comments

[Ibmloa]

07:09 PM on 12/31/2011

The Duchess of Alba is going to be exhibit A in the eventual anti-plastic surgery campaign coming to a Hollywood near you. Just because one is wealthy (or hyper-wealthy in this case) doesn't mean one should start messing around with one's face. What ever happened to aging gracefully? Aging gracefully is certainly more desirable than The Duchess' path of aging in a very frightening manner. I wonder if she's rated R or simply PG-13.

[HeyYoGabbaGabba]

05:54 PM on 12/30/2011

The Duchess of Alba looks like a character in a live-action Dr. Seuss movie.

[charlie v]

04:59 AM on 12/30/2011

WTF! What happened to this gazillionaires face?

[Newmom95]

11:39 PM on 12/29/2011

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!

::: SCREAMING :::

[johnnygoodwud]

11:04 PM on 12/29/2011

ah that reminds me to see the remake of the planet of the apes.

[princenpauper]

06:54 PM on 12/29/2011

What a bunch sad and shallow sacks of s@#$. Supposed this was your mom ? How would you feel if someone who sat next to you and made a comment out loud like the one here that have been posted

[Geostem]

07:15 PM on 12/29/2011

Lighten up Prince. If she were your mother, you'd have our sad and shallow sympathies.

[Dolores de Cabeza]

06:51 PM on 12/29/2011

I detest everything about Pippa. Starting with her name and ending with her sister.

[Geostem]

06:47 PM on 12/29/2011

YOW! Whatta freaky sight. I think I just pooped myself.

[peoplepersons]

05:56 PM on 12/29/2011

The Dutches. Another reason why not to get plastic surgery. And is that an actual skin tone color becuase it looks like the chainsaw massacre is wearing a mask. Are you sure someone just didn't clone her with a lot of plastic surgery? Is that an actual real person?

[EdVanImpe]

05:36 PM on 12/29/2011

The Duchess should shave her behind and learn to walk backwards ...

[Dolores de Cabeza]

06:37 PM on 12/29/2011

LOL. Married some "thang" 20 years her junior. Even.

[Kritikos]

05:00 PM on 12/29/2011

Pippa is a QT.

[rosasturtles1]

03:07 PM on 12/29/2011

she looks like a clown without the nose..

[darbar]

03:04 PM on 12/29/2011

That Duchess is one scarey freak. She looks like she had too many bad plastic surgeries.

BTW, she's one of the richest persons in Europe, worth in the billions.

[Christopher Luther]

03:12 PM on 12/29/2011

And all she had to do was be born into it.

[Benjacomin Bozart]

04:47 PM on 12/29/2011

Like the Walton heirs and Koch brothers. Republicans love rich people who got their money the old fashion way, inheritance.

The BBC got in trouble for including a new panda but better a picture of her than the Duchess of Alba.

[bkdodge4570]

02:54 PM on 12/29/2011

I'm sorry........ bu the Duchess of Alba is truly one of the most hideous_ creatures I have EVER seen.
They had to have had a better picture.......... somewhere.......???

[Benjacomin Bozart]

04:51 PM on 12/29/2011

There were some that came out of her back 30 years ago when she was in her 50's before she became the poster child? of plastic surgery gone bad. Dolly Parton seems to be heading that way.

[STaR Scream 81]

02:20 PM on 12/29/2011

I totally recognize the Dutchess now. She's the leader ork in the second Lord of the Rings.

[wnstnrace1]

05:35 PM on 12/29/2011

Naaaahhhh....you got it all wrong. She's the Grinch's ex-wife. Look him up...the resemblance will freak you the F out!

[STaR Scream 81]

03:20 AM on 12/30/2011

Lol checked it out, youre right