The Year in Red Carpet

The President and Mrs. Obama (in a glittering one-shouldered Jason Wu gown) danced to Beyoncé as she sang Etta James’s classic on Inauguration Night 2009.

Timothy A. Clary, AFP / Getty Images

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Jennifer Lopez stunned in a gold Marchesa gown and Lorraine Schwartz jewels at the 66th Annual Golden Globes on January 11, 2009.

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

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The comeback kid of 2009, Mickey Rourke, wore disheveled black tie at the Golden Globes and Academy Awards.

Jason Merritt / Getty Images; Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

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The Princess of Pop met Queen Elizabeth in a red latex Elizabethan-inspired dress at the Royal Variety Performance on December 7, 2009 in Blackpool, England.

Leon Neal, WPA Pool / Getty Images

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Mad Men’s January Jones in Versace at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards on September 20, 2009.

Mathew Imaging, WireImage / Getty Images

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A very pregnant M.I.A. with fiancé Ben Brewer at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards on February 8, 2009.

Larry Busacca / Getty Images

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Minutes before he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs, Kanye West took a cocktail break on the red carpet while his girlfriend, Amber Rose, posed for photographers in a snakeskin one-piece.

Stephen Lovekin, FilmMagic / Getty Images

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In the biggest red carpet coup of the year, Stella McCartney outfitted three of the best-dressed ladies -- Kate Hudson, Liv Tyler, and Kate Bosworth -- at the Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2009.

Larry Busacca / Getty Images

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Rihanna in Dolce and Gabbana at the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2009.

Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images

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Madonna in the year’s most controversial red carpet fashion statement—Louis Vuitton’s bunny-ears -- at the Costume Institute Gala.

Larry Busacca / Getty Images

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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton looked glamorous at the NATO summit on April 3, 2009 in Baden Baden, Germany.

Sean Gallup / Getty Images

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Daphne Guinness channeled extraterrestrial glamour in Alexander McQueen at François Nars’s 15th Anniversary Party on November 12, 2009 in New York City.

Mike Coppola / Getty Images

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Gabourey Sidibe at the 2009 New York Film Festival's screening of Precious on October 3, 2009 in New York City.

Amy Sussman / Getty Images

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Showing the young girls how it’s done: Meryl Streep in a custom made Alberta Ferretti alongside Sophia Loren in Giorgio Armani at the 81st Annual Academy Awards on February 22, 2009.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

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Penelope Cruz in vintage Balmain Haute Couture and Marion Cotillard in Christian Dior Haute Couture at the 81st Annual Academy Awards on February 22, 2009.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

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Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson on the press tour for “New Moon” on November 12, 2009 in Madrid.

Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images

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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, in Elie Saab, looked sharp and sleek at the 81st Annual Academy Awards on February 22, 2009.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

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Beyoncé in Balmain at the New York premiere of her hit film, Obsessed, on April 23, 2009.

Bryan Bedder / Getty Images

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Carla Bruni-Sarkozy wore lilac Dior to the NATO summit in Strasbourg on April 4, 2009.

Sean Gallup / Getty Images

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Lourdes Leon and her mother, both in Dolce and Gabbana, at the New York premiere of Nine on December 15, 2009.

Peter Kramer / AP Photo

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Not since Carolyn Basette Kennedy wore Yohji Yamamoto to the White House in the 90s has avant garde fashion made such a splash in DC. White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers on November 24, 2009.

AP Photo

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No red carpet moment made quite as many headlines this year as Michaele (in a red sari) and Tarek Salahi’s uninvited stroll into the first State Dinner on November 24, 2009.

Gerald Herbert / AP Photo

The Year in Red Carpet

The President and First Lady sparkled at the Inauguration, Brad and Angelina went sleek at the Oscars, and Jennifer Lopez glammed up the Globes. VIEW OUR GALLERY of the best looks of 2009.