Typically, Katy Perry has this way of irking us with her overly contrived, cutesy, quirky outfits. But this bubblegum pink gown by Basil Soda isn’t totally annoying us, even with the wedding cake flower held on by a sparkly spider at her waist. She looks unique, which always works for the Grammys. Now if only we could get her to tone down the clown makeup.
M.I.A. showed up to the Grammys on her literal due date (yep, she's pregnant under all that fabric), which is admirable all on its own. And she wasn't even in sweatpants and flip-flops! Nope, she went for Gola by Christian Lacroix sneakers and this completely crazy-town confection because no one else on the carpet has the swagger to even attempt something like this.
Naturally, Paris Hilton wears a bathing suit...or is it a nighty? Or maybe a shirt? Whatever classification this piece of fabric falls under, it definitely looks like the Lisa Frank factory exploded all over her (well, the top half of her anyway). All she needs to complete this look is a unicorn, which she must have somewhere in her menagerie.
It’s weird seeing so much dress on Miley Cyrus, who opts for this long black custom gown by Max Azria. In fact, it might be a little too much dress for itty-bitty Hannah Montana—it’s all we can do to keep ourselves from ripping that oversize flower off her shoulder. But good job avoiding scandal tonight, Miles.
Leona Lewis wins the drab award of the evening. From her skin and hair to this Randi Rahm halter dress, it's all so nude. With the way her pink manicure and turquoise ring stand out, you can tell how desperately she needs to get some color up in here. Also, this reeks of Beyoncé and Shakira in a been there, done that kind of way. Not good.
Taylor Swift is 19 years old, has a slew of cute, innocent songs and some adorable curly hair, so we don’t understand why she would chose such an ordinary Kaufman Franco jersey dress. She’s basically the homecoming queen of this event; she ought to try to have some fun while she can.
It’s great that Jordin Sparks wanted to champion local Arizona designer Debra Davenport, but sometimes you just gotta say no to certain experiments. Like when the designer thinks a little curlicue over one boob would be so fab—balanced by one long earring on the other side. That’s when a no-nonsense stylist needs to step in and put a stop to things.
Estelle has obviously been staying up too late watching too many Jetsons reruns. Or maybe she has the same technology Judy Jetson installed in her house that picks out her outfits and styles her hair all in a few seconds. But she must still be getting used to it and unfortunately doesn't realize there's a redo option.
Paula Abdul's extraordinary talent to turn every red carpet occasion into an epic disaster is amazing. The shoulder of her canary-colored Basil Soda gown looks like it's slowly being overtaken by a robot. And while the whole femme-bot thing is cool right now, it just looks lame when paired with a stiff beauty pageant updo and slight incoherence.
Carrie Underwood is so traditionally all-American in this slinky, gold Zuhair Murad number—blond hair, tanned skin, fit yoga arms. (Honestly, she looks ready to shoot a Self magazine cover at any moment.) In the sea of crazy and underwhelming this carpet turned out to be, it's nice that Carrie was there to bring it in full glamour mode.
See more stand-out styles from the red carpet in our 2009 Grammys: Arrivals gallery!