Regina King in Alberta Ferretti

We begin with Regina King looking like a complete goddess at the Globes. A very good place to start.

Cardi B

Cardi is a person I have trouble with on an ... I was going to say "interpersonal level" but I don't actually know her. But you feel me. However, this is super elegant. She contains multitudes. She actually, as of this writing, appears in this slideshow three other times.

Michael Urie

The Met Gala theme was Camp, and I had totally forgotten this look until I went back through our slideshows. It's incredibly well-executed.

Gemma Chan in Ralph & Russo

I never expected to like this, and I'm not sure I would in a lot of other contexts, but she's giving this the whole effortless-chic treatment and it works. It's a super example of how the right pairing can elevate an outfit.

Kiki Layne in Versace

She got some bad breaks during awards season, fashion-wise, so I was thrilled to see her at the Oscars in something worthy of her. It still has creativity and drama but it actually fits and makes sense.

Keke Palmer in J. Mendel

This whole photo is a PARTY.

Emily Blunt in Michael Kors

This was a fun spin on his usual slinky shifts.

Cynthia Erivo in Marc Jacobs

Fabulous. 

Shangela in Christian Siriano

This is a TOTAL DREAM.

Gemma Chan in Jason Wu

This has such romance to it.

Chrishell Stause

She nearly won best dressed at the Emmys with this, and deservedly. (She and Justin Hartley are splitting up and it seems contentious and I hope she's having a giant martini right now. Let's fix her up with Chris Evans.)

Lady Gaga in Brandon Maxwell

Her Met Gala outfit -- she was a host -- started out like this, with dudes holding umbrellas, and ended with underpants; there was a whole performance in between.

Helen Mirren

I had forgotten about this dress. But the melange of colors, the cut and fit, the necklace, the lip, the eye, the hair, THE HELEN.... it's all just really divine.

Jennifer Nettles in Siriano

Christian made Jennifer Nettles an outfit she could use to protest something going on in Nashville that I actually didn't know anything about -- the Equal Play problem -- so, it brought politics to the red carpet in a really smart way that also gave this national attention.

LOOK at the back. It's just stunningly done.

Laverne Cox in Cristina Ottaviano

This is marvelous.

Fiona Xie in Schiaparelli

We had a lot of playful color and materials on the red carpet this year. I love this.

Danai Gurira in Rodarte

Scorching.

Bebe Rexha in Monsoori

She struggled to find anyone who'd design for her, and in the end Monsoori stepped up with the best thing she's ever worn.

Cardi B in Thom Browne

Yes, okay, the front has sequined nipples, but I cannot fault that train for anything. It's photographically stunning, and at an event that's all about art pieces, well, that seems right. 

Ruth Wilson in Brandon Maxwell

I am not usually into drop-waisted stuff, but damn, this whole dress is sensational on her. I wish Gaga had worn this on her Oscars run instead of pretty much anything else she wore.

Leomie Anderson in Iris Van Herpen

Stunning.

Emmy Rossum

And then Emmy swings in to remind us that simple can be perfect.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

I just wanted a bit more lip tint with this, but how GOOD is this?

Camila Mendes in Lela Rose

I was very happy to see a Riverdale youth nail the Vanity Fair party so hard.

Gwen Christie in Gucci

She is a walking piece of religious art here.

Bryce Dallas Howard

She talks openly about how often she has to buy off the rack for events. She did herself proud here. (Her accept is very spotty in Rocketman but the movie overall is WAY better than Bohemian Rhapsody and Taron Egerton is better in the first five minutes -- his swagger crumbles, all in one shot -- than Rami was in the entirety of that other heavily fictionalized tire fire. See it!)

Laverne Cox

This was wasted on the Empire State Building. No offense to the Empire State Building.

Zendaya in Armani

She's making that VERY close-cut dress work. 

Tiffany Haddish

She donned this for a Wearable Art Gala, and I love that she looks like a glamorous plush demon.

Billy Porter in Siriano

This was the year that men seemed to want in on the skirtacular fun, and no one did it better or bolder than Billy.

Betty Gilpin in Jason Wu

This is a personal best. Spoiler: Her OTHER personal best is at the end of this.

Cate Blanchett in Christopher Kane

This shouldn't work, but it REALLY does.

Elle Fanning in Dior

She was instrumental in pulling this together with her stylist, and she had fun with it on the red carpet. It's instantly memorable.

Justina Machado

One other Best of 2019 was Pop saving One Day at a Time. Justina has always been underrated to me, and a goddess in this.

Kelly Marie Tran in Jason Wu

Now having seen Rise of Skywalker, I'm THRILLED Kelly Marie Tran slayed ths premiere so hard. She deserves a lot more than losing lines to -- among other people -- Dominic Monaghan, the story of whose involvement is not the adorable anecdote they think it is. (Seriously, this whole thing has made me think less of JJ Abrams.)(Also the explanation of Rose's story quoted in that linked article is bullshit to me. That logic doesn't track at all.)

Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Gucci

Stunning.

Winnie Harlow in Michael Kors

Winnie often lands on our worst lists, and in Fug Madness, so I wanted to laud her for this deliciously vampy purple outfit.

Janelle Monae in Siriano

So good. Christian has done some superb work this year.

Stephanie Beatriz in Tadashi Shoji

She's developed stealthy good taste. This isn't as formal as many of the gowns in this post, but I think it's unusual and gorgeous nonetheless.

Renee Elise Goldsberry in Carolina Herrera

Swoon.

Kendall Jenner in Versace

Love the KardJenns or hate them, it's impossible to argue the beauty of this ensemble. It's the best modeling Kendall has done.

Cara Delevingne in Dior

That this whimsy was from DIOR is one of the great surprises of 2019, to me.

Keiynan Lonsdale in Manish Arora

I thought that how personal this was to his own life journey made it special.

Leomie Anderson

Why does this bag of rainbow fringe work? I don't know, but it DOES.

Maya Jama

My caption on tihs was basically, "I do not know who she is, but I love her dress," and I stand by it. This is just SO pretty.

Halsey

Elegant, from our former champion of boob belts!

Bianca Lawson

Bianca wore this to her stepmom Tina Knowles's Wearable Art gala (the same one at which Bey dressed up as a lion), and it was beautiful then, and apparently she agreed because she wore a near-identical dress in blue...

in Alice + Olivia

... and it was ALSO great. I don't have a dress credit on the first but it sure SEEMS like the former would also be Alice + Olivia? Anyway, both of them were lovely and I couldn't decide.

Michelle Williams in Louis Vuitton

A small gold necklace would have been super, but that dress itself remains one of Michelle Williams's best.

Cardi B in Richard Quinn

This is objectively not good, but also, IT WAS A HOOT and so it lands here for the hoot factor alone.

Samira Wiley

This fits so perfectly, and what a color.

Helen Mirren in Badgley Mischka

If only Catherine The Great had been as, well, great, as she is.

Kiki Layne in Gucci

This was at the annual LACMA art gala cosponsored by Gucci, and it's dramatically perfect for that.

Cynthia Erivo in Mary Katrantzou

Fit to perfection and well-styled.

Jasmine Tookes in Zuhair Murad

I am pleased that I guessed correctly on this dress credit.

Angelina Jolie in Ralph & Russo

Y'all went crazy for this queenly gown at Maleficent 2. 

Michelle Yeoh in Elie Saab

She is incredible. So regal.

Michelle Yeoh in Elie Saab

She and Elie Saab have really been great partners.

Halsey

She sang "Time After Time" for the Dead Person Montage, and did a great job, and wore an appropriately major gown. I was happy for her on all counts.

Angela Aguilar

Angela is a singer whom I'd not heard of before the Grammys, but look how divine this dress is. I LOVE when we see people without the reach of the megastars doing such a damn fine job on the red carpet, because IT CAN BE DONE.

Selma Blair in Ralph & Russo

DRAMATIQUE.

Olivia Munn

I would like to change up the hair and MAYBE wish the arms were a little higher (or that it was just strapless?), but all the polka dots are fun and refreshing -- and her lipstick is PERFECT. I remembered this, and with my brain, that's not nothing.

Elle Fanning in Gucci

Rarely do I like a gown in that color and fabric, but this was a home run.

Yalitza Aparicio

She had to weather a lot of harsh spotlights for Roma, and did it with such grace. She wore a lot of cute stuff but to me this was her elegant best, and it was some of Prada's nicest work too.

Kim in Mugler

She worked with Mugler on an idea that would make her look as if she were rising up out of water, and for the camp theme it was extremely effective. The problem is really that we already had Kamp Kard Fatigue by the time she did this, but even so it was well done.

Cate Blanchett

Meanwhile Cate is over here selling that mega disco sleeve. I also just realized Cate is in here earlier for this look's polar-opposite -- all dark, including hair, and then a few MASSIVE sparkles, whereas this is all golden and a ton of LITTLE sparkles. 

Glenn Close

GLENN. I still feel for her. I also can't remember who beat her, so that's not great? OH! Olivia Colman. Who is great but was not the lead actress in that movie (and will also probably win a Globe for The Crown despite not being the lead actress in that EITHER and having crapola material that I get madder and madder about with time and distance, which is the opposite of how it should be).

Ruth Negga

Hot damn she makes this cool.

Thandie Newton

Oh, look, it's perfect human Thandie Newton.

Betty Gilpin

I told you! This is her OTHER personal best. This year we might work on lip tint.

Helen Mirren

Helen gets in a third time for pulling off pink hair with aplomb. I wish it had been purple so I could have said "a-plum." HAR.

Priyanka Chopra

Gorgeous.

Danielle Brooks in Siriano

She had Christian go all-out for her when she needed to attend the OITNB premiere while pregnant. I love how much fun they both had with this.

Cardi B in Mugler

I debated whether to put this here, but it was really visually arresting. She wore this Mugler after Kim wore the infamous black one, and far from feeling like a copycat, she actually came across like the one who chose better.

J Lo

She could have landed in here for a lot of things, but I mean... I can't fight this.

Celine

We are everyting we are because she loved us.

Gwen Christie in Iris Van Herpen

ALL HAIL.

The Best Gowns (and Such) of 2019

We have sparkle, size, shape, SKIRTITUDE... it's all here.