Sartorially speaking, the Grammys fell flat this year. Musical artists—typically more irreverent than their actor-celebrity counterparts—played it safe, and delivered no iconic or even delightfully tacky looks for the red carpet history books. Still, there were some surprises, and few things we really liked. Here are tonight’s best.
Katy Perry’s style high note
Katy Perry is always in danger of letting kitsch get the best of her, but this time she found perfect harmony in an ethereal little Valentino number fresh off the house’s haute couture runway. The dress was embroidered with every note the singer’s missed in the past, and to that we say, “Bravo!”
Rita Ora’s bling rings
Rita Ora—great patron of the nail arts—flipped a finger (several, in fact) to minimalism when she flashed a fabulous set of rings on both hands, finally justifying the mani-cam’s existence.
Sara Bareilles’ Katniss braid
The singer’s Blumarine dress was a nice choice, but Bareilles got bonus points for naming Katniss Everdeen of “The Hunger Games” as her hair muse. Us, too, Sara—us, too.
Best-dressed couple: Macklemore & Rylan Lewis
Two of the night’s biggest winners also took the style prize, as no couple looked more suave—or better coordinated—than Macklemore in his blue velvet suit and Ryan Lewis in houndstooth. First runners up: Daft Punk. Ladies, seems like it’s time to step it up.
Ozzy Osbourne’s ombré à la Jared Leto
The Black Sabbath star took styling tips from fellow-rocker/vampire Jared Leto and went with long, healthy highlights.
But for every thumb up, there was another thumb down. Here are the things that made us frown.
Pharrell’s Dudley Do-wrong
Smokey the Bear, spokesperson for Arby’s—the jokes are boundless. The bulbous topper even has a Twitter account, of course. O Canada, please keep your hats.
The insane clown posse
It’s funny, but scary as hell.
While Madonna’s grill/melting face was even scarier
Paris On (thin) Ice
The internet may be too old for a Tonya Harding joke, so we’ll just say she pulled a Johnny Weir and wore something what should probably be confined to a figure skating rink.
Bonnie McKee’s hair looked like Kool-Aid
And sure, it always does. But as a striking contrast to her midnight-blue gown, the effect was particularly harsh.