Last night at the 65th annual Emmy Awards, there were plenty of nice, safe, beautiful gowns… But the red carpet also saw a few ugly dresses and ill-conceived ensembles. Let’s just jump right in, shall we?
First we’ll deal with the guys.
Neil Patrick Harris wasn’t on the red carpet but he was a well-dressed host.
Classic black: Modern Family‘s Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family‘s Rico Rodgriguez, Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Andre Braugher.
Dapper and dandy: Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston; Michael Douglas, Will Arnett.
Zachary Quinto: dark and sleek. Tony Hale: Old skool cool. Al Pacino does his best Al Pacino.
Lux tuxes: Shemar Moore, Alec Baldwin (with daughter Ireland), Downton Abbey‘s Hugh Bonneville (with wife Lulu Williams).
Tracy Morgan, Dylan McDermott, Breaking Bad‘s Dean Norris.
Straight ties: Game Of Thrones’ Kit Harington, Bobby Canavale, Mad Men‘s Kevin Rahm.
Handsome as all get out: Rupert Friend, Mad Men‘s James Wolk, Mahershala Ali from House of Cards.
And now the ladies. There were plenty of light, pastel and pale colors last night. Edgy-crisp white on House of Cards star Kate Mara.
More creamy white gowns: Orange Is The New Black‘s Taylor Schilling, House Of Cards actress Sandrine Holt, Good Wife‘s Julianna Margulies.
Just a hint of color! Unbelievable. Spectacular. Perfect: Scandal‘s Kerry Washington.
Pale, jewel-encrusted gowns: Jewel, Claire Danes.
An interesting twist, beige with graphic lines: House of Cards‘ Kristen Connolly, the incomparable Ellen Burstyn.
Just a little busy: Girls’ Zosia Mamet, Betsy Brandt from Breaking Bad, Leslie Mann.
Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men looks gorgeous in ebony and ivory. Seems like Ireland Baldwin‘s gown should be either darker or lighter, for her skin tone? Brooke Burke‘s lines highlight her curves.
Brides everywhere are pinning Malin Akerman‘s stunning off-white Marchesa gown.
More delicately pale hues: soft but structured pink on How I Met Your Mother‘s Cobie Smulders; ice blue KaufmanFranco gown on Top Chef‘s Padma Lakshmi.
For some reason there weren’t any photos of Game of Thrones‘ actress Emilia Clarke on the red carpet, but this very very very pale blue dress is beautiful.
Shimmering in neutrals: Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Roma Downey, Julianne Hough.
Pretty in silvery gray and silvery blue: Emily Deschanel, Zooey Deschanel.
Emily’s nails.
Zooey’s nails.
Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn looks incredibly glamorous in a shell-pink Romona Keveza gown toppped with black lace.
Rose Byrne looks amazing as she embraces clean-lined minimalism: a cool and modern Calvin Klein dress with simple jewelry.
More pretty in pink: Modern Family‘s Ariel Winter, True Blood‘s Carrie Preston.
And still more pink! Mad Men‘s January Jones looks good in Givenchy, but slightly boring. The Zac Posen dress on Modern Family‘s Julie Bowen has a lot of drama, but is she pulling it off or is the dress wearing her?
Lacy and lovely: Alfre Woodard, Laura Dern.
Mad Men‘s Kiernan Shipka rocked the Most Fun look of the night in a dress by Delpozo.
Now onto some bright colors!
Danielle Brooks, aka Taystee from Orange Is The New Black, is vavavoom in a red-orange gown that looks splendid against her skin.
A sunny yellow Monique Lhuillier dress screams Hollywood Bombshell, but it’s just too overpowering for Anna Faris.
Uh… Girls star Lena Dunham in Prada. Sigh. Floral can be fabulous, but this thing veers into Mexican tablecloth territory.
Much better: Aubrey Anderson-Emmons in lilac; Carrie Ann Inaba in royal blue, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt in HOT HOT HOT.
Strapless times two: Sky blue and bejweeled for Giuliana Rancic; almost-but-not-quite Tiffany Blue for Jessica Paré.
Some more sapphire sirens: Edie Falco, Allison Williams…
… And winning this group, Tina Fey, in Narciso Rodriguez. Awesome.
Vivid and vivacious: Allison Janney (in Lorena Sarbu), Sarah Paulson (in Carolina Herrera).
Love love love Kelly Osbourne in scarlet Jenny Packham. Radiant.
Another ravishing red: Sofia Vergara in Vera Wang. She is always schooling fools! This is how Hollywood glamour is done.
Linda Cardinelli‘s Donna Karan Atelier is vaguely vaginal and very sumptuous. Even better? Carla Guigino in a jaw-droppingly dazzling Edition by Georges Chakra gown.
Divine in wine: Big Bang Theory‘s Kaley Cuoco in Vera Wang, Heidi Klum in Versace, Downton Abbey‘s Michelle Dockery in Prada.
Morena Baccarin is glorious in flowing crimson. Alyson Hannigan‘s fetching in amethyst.
Also nicely done: Carrie Underwood, Christine Baranski.
Moving on to some deeper, darker colors…
Not sure this is the best shape and cut for Mindy Kaling. Melissa Rauch is doing ok.
Maria Menounos looks fine in the usual body-skimming thing. Modern Family‘s Sarah Hyland goes vampy with a dark lip and dark lace.
Emerald city: Mayim Bialik, Anna Chlumsky.
Intense jewel tones on Jane Krakowski and Connie Britton.
Navel-grazing navy manages to be elegant on Katie Aselton of The League.
In the “nope” category: This sheer Alessandra Rich gown (with white shoes!) on Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey. In the “meh” column: the busy gold and black thing on Constance Zimmer. Safely classy: Veep‘s Sufe Bradshaw.
And now for something completely different: While most of the ladies are in sugary sweet pastels and the usual strapless gowns, Morgan Saylor is sharp in a crisp black and white dress from Honor.
Simple, chic, flattering: Merritt Wever aka best acceptance speech-giver. The earrings are epic.
Rather ugly long black dresses with long sleeves: Aubrey Plaza, Amanda Peet.
Declaratively hideous: Are there pieces missing from Cat Deeley‘s Armani dress? This looks like MTV Awards instead of Emmys.
Elegant and classic without being boring: Vera Farmiga (in Theyskens Theory), Jessica Lange (in Escada).
Stepping things up a notch: Amy Poehler — with embroidered dragons! — in Basler; Christina Hendricks in Christian Siriano. YES YES YES to both. Marvelous.
Foxy! Sarah Silverman told Ryan Searest about this dress: “I bought it online for $60.” Also in all-black, Jane Lynch looks sharp as a knife.
Last, but not least: Robin Wright, irresistible in slinky, inky black. It’s Ralph Lauren, and it’s phenomenal.
Images via Getty.