Posted by Marquita Harris on 11/19/2012 at 8:52 AM daily-dust, Style

The Popdust Files: award shows, carly rae jepsen, Cary Hart, fashion, Ginnifer Goodwin, gwen stefani, Hayden Panettiere, j. cole, Jenny McCarthy, jordin sparks, justin bieber, kelly rowland, nicki minaj, pattie mallette, pink, red, red carpet, style, taylor swift, the wanted, tyga

To sum up this year’s American Music Awards: Bieber got all acoustic-y on us, Ke$ha got all 80s acid zombie and then their was this weird Whitney Houston/Chris Brown transition which was awkward. As far as AMA red carpet style goes, let 2012 be forever known as “The Year of Tame” (read: kind of boring). Where were J. Lo’s multiple ensemble changes? Why oh why didn’t Beiber show up with a scantily clad lingerie model (like we hoped he would). Perhaps chic expectations for the evening teetered somewhere between soap opera and the Grammy’s. Ahhh well. There were highs (and basement-level lows). But make no mistake we were pretty damn entertained. Peep the steeze below…

1. First and foremost there  was a lot of red. Everyone from Justin Bieber and his mom, to Tyga, The Wanted and  even Taylor swift (in a performance outfit) wore either a lot or just a touch of it. See the pantone variations below.

Justin Bieber and his mom, Pattie Mallette (aww).

 

Tyga

 

J. Cole

 

Justin Bieber

 

Taylor Swift

 

The Wanted

 

2. Prints! Enough said. Something that we wish we saw more of were prints. While graphic and Aztec prints popped up all over the place this summer and spring, it was great to see the HD glammed out versions from Gwen Stefani, Jordin Sparks and Kelly Rowland.

Gwen Stefani with band, No Doubt

 

Jordin Sparks

 

Kelly Rowland

 

3. Texture, texture and more texture. Metallics and shades of nude also debuted on the red carpet. And what connected them was texture.  Be it sequence, metallics or lace, there was no shortage of tangible materials.

Elisha Cuthbert

 

 Jenny McCarthy

 

Hayden Panettiere 

 

Taylor Swift 

 

Ginnifer Goodwin

 

 Pink with husband Carey Hart

 

 Carly Rae Jepsen

 

4. A league of her own. Last but not least we had Nicki Minaj, who for better or worse is  a visual treat at any award show. In this case, she was a definite treat wearing a dayglo, neon green gown, with a hotpink mouth. Admit it, you wish you could carry this off.