1990: Julia Roberts

Julia won for Steel Magnolias (fun fact: four out of five nominees in this category played characters with three names, AND she beat her Pretty Woman co-star Laura San Giacomo). You look at this photo and think, "Oh, yeah, that's why she became JULIA!!!" She just has It, whatever It is. She is the picture of It.

1990

Unfortunately, the outfit looks like she borrowed her dad's favorite suit for the school play.

1990: Demi and Bruce

Enter the Willises! Demi looks really fantastic, and you can see why people ALSO thought she had an infinite future ahead of her (honestly, Julia had a fallow period, too, but she got the ultimate comeback vehicle in My Best Friend's Wedding and Demi never really had one of those come her way). Bruce looks like Bruce. I prefer him in the post-head-shave era. I just think it works with his squinty persona.

Nicollette Sheridan and Harry Hamlin

Nicollette Sheridan may ALSO have been obsessed with Demi Moore, as this happened a year after Demi wore the bike shorts to the Oscars. Dear everyone: Say no to bike shorts UNLESS YOU ARE ON A BIKE.

Cybill Shepherd

This is quite racy for the time, I think? Although it IS more lined than anything would be today; I think it's pretty well opaque until MAYBE down at her calves?

Cybill

Still, I like this much, much better, and enjoy the saucy way she's playing with the tassel, as if to say, "TRY MY BELL PULL."

1990: Kirstie Alley and Parker Stevenson

Remember when Kirstie won an Emmy (it was in 1991) and she thanked Parker as "the man who's been giving me the big one for the last eight years"? That might be my favorite awards speech of all time, just because who among us expected her to thank her husband for the use of his wang? He looks pretty cute here. She looks like she's dressed for the circus, by which I mean, one that she is running.

1990: Emma Samms

This is appropriately soapy. I approve.

1990: Denzel and Pauletta

I just thought you'd like a visit from Young Denzel.

1990: Sally Field

You know, I really like this on Sally, but would have hung onto it for a luncheon.

1990: Audrey Hepburn

Audrey won this year for her role as Maude "The Potato Masher" Martini in National Lampoon's High School Cafeteria. ... Okay, fine, no, she won the lifetime achievement award.

1991: The Golden Girls

ALL HAIL.

1991: Jon Bon Jovi

You are DAMN RIGHT he won an award for "Blaze of Glory." Interestingly, he beat two Madonna performances from Dick Tracy -- one of those was with Mandy Patinkin?!? Do I need to revisit that movie? -- and the others were a Harry Connick Jr. joint from Godfather III (wha?) and then Meryl Streep and Blue Rodeo for something she did in Postcards From The Edge (I haven't seen that, but for SURE did not know she sang with a Canadian country rock band???).

1991: Anjelica Huston

Anjelica (The Grifters) lost to Kathy Bates in Misery, and lost the battle with herself against thick shiny hose.

Nicollette Sheridan, Harry Hamlin

Wait, so she copied Demi's bike shorts a year later, and then another year after Demi wore white, Nicollette wears white?!? IS SHE A MEGAFAN??? Okay the dresses are totally different and this isn't even really white, and those shoes are WTF, but I enjoy imagining that Nicollette Sheridan had a Demi Moore fashion wall against which she plotted her own trajectory.

1991: Kiefer and JULIA!!!

Look at these two. Julia is about to win for Pretty Woman here, and Kiefer is about to lose her three days before their wedding (and to his friend Jason Patric).

1991: Harry Connick, Jr, and Jill Goodacre

Harry, as we've already learned, lost on this eve. But he gained... money, at least.... later in 1991, when he and his girlfriend Jill appeared together in "Simply Mad About the Mouse: A Musical Celebration of Imagination." Sadly, Jill's sleeves -- unlike gum -- are not perfection.

1991: Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi won for Ghost. I wonder how long, in total, she kept her shoes on her feet that night.

1991: Madonna

"You guuuuuuuuys, I forgot to finish my hair."

1992: Geena Davis

This is just a catsuit with an infinite dress wrapped around it, right?

1992: Shannen Doherty

FINALLY, Brenda Walsh is in the building. Where is HER lifetime achievement award? We STILL talk about her.

1992: Jennie Garth and Dan Clark

Jennie here is with the boyfriend who'd eventually become her husband in 1994 (they split up in 1996). I am not sure how this fits in with the rumors that everyone on that set was making out with each other ALL THE TIME, but whatever. 

1992: Jason Priestley and Christine Elise

Of course Emily Valentine wore a beret to the Globes! OF COURSE. There is no other way this could have gone.

1992: Tom and Nicole

But hey, at least Emily was in good company. Do you think they met eyes in the bathroom line and nodded, in deep communion?

1992: Cybill

So, this photo was flipped to be a mirror image and I have NO IDEA WHY. In reality the tiger is on her right arm. I don't know who made this, but it does remind me of all the more current Gucci animal stuff.

1992: Neil Patrick Harris, Alyssa Milano

Neil here was about to wrap up as Doogie Howser, and honestly... am I alone in wishing someone would rerun that show? Obviously him tapping away into a word processor does not stand the test of time, but that's just a show I would be REALLY curious to revisit. Anyway, I THINK she was dating Scott Wolf at this time, so I'm guessing they were just here as friends.

1992: Jennifer Jason Leigh

Oooh, a tux! Or at least half of one. It looks good on her.

1992: Carol Burnett and daughter Erin

I respect the amount of sequins on display in this photo.

1992: Vincent Spano and Laura Dern

Well. These two are not on each other's Wikipedia pages, which CLEARLY means their relationship never happened. This photo is noteworthy mostly because I approve of Laura's lipstick game, but also because this dressed turned up exactly one year later...

1993: Helen Hunt

... on the back of one Helen Hunt. I'm going to give the win to Laura for the black gloves.

1993: Jean Claude Van Damme

If you have thought, "There are not enough mullets in my life right now," then this is my gift to ye.

1993: Diahann Carroll

I think Diahann wore the white suit better, though. Sorry, JCVD.

1994: Jason Preistley and Christine Elise

Emily Valentine is BACK and this time she brought Jessica's least favorite of her haircuts. (I think. I don't want to misrepresent Jessica's feelings about Emily Valentine's life in head-suitery.) Also, look at the way Jason Priestley is wielding that cigarette. He wants you to know he's no Brandon Walsh by night.

1994: Juliette Lewis

NEVER FORGET that Juliette Lewis once wore a jeweled headdress. She was presenting, too, I think. It's... wow.

1994: Helen Hunt

That is a lot more sheer than I typically expect from Helen.

1994: Daniel Day Lewis

I do not even know what's going on here. He looks like he's wearing professor robes at a fancy university.

1994: Courtney Thorne-Smith

And THAT is a bathrobe and not a coat. Oh, for the days when Melrose Place actors got invited to things.

1994: Janet Jackson and Rene Elizondo

Matching suits! How very, as Veronica Sawyer would say.

1994: Michelle Pfeiffer

This seems perilous.

1994: Holly Hunter

She won for The Piano. She was a NOMINEE and wore this.

1994: Janine Turner and John Corbett

I do not know what either of these people is doing.

Diane Keaton and her mother

But I do know that Diane Keaton is wearing the EXACT OPPOSITE of whatever Janine Turner is doing.

1995: Joey Lawrence

I have to: WHOA.

1995: Liz Hurley and Hugh Grant

Tame times for these two.

1995: Sharon Stone

That's a hell of a slit, but she looks dishy.

1995: Kirsten Dunst

LOOK AT THIS BABY CHILD.

1995: Claire Danes

And this one!

1995: Julianna Margulies

And Carol Hathaway in her infancy! I guarantee you she wants a mulligan on this whole thing.

1995: Alfre Woodard

I feel like... this needed to lose the weird crotch pattern.

1995: Gillian Anderson

Oh, Scully. This is... ornate.

1995: Christopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis

JLC looks dishy as HELL.

1995 Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon

And, these two. I am not invested in celebrity couples in any real way, truly, but the one exception to that statement might be Kyra and Kevin. If they ever get divorced, I would need a minute.

Warning: This Post Contains Formal Bike Shorts

We also have a repeat dress, a mullet, a headpiece, TWO berets, and many legends.