1996: Natasha Henstridge

"Hello and thank you for flying MTV Airways. Please fasten your seatbelts, because the turbulence is gonna start quickly and never let up."

1996: Anthony Kiedis

Is he... bleeding?!? Or has recently bled? He was grinning in a lot of the pictures; this one just showed his face the most. His band didn't perform, so... perhaps there were some murder mosquitos out there.

1996: Samantha Mathis and Claire Danes

These two must have gone shoe-shopping together. Claire's outfit is intense. Samantha's clearly went on to inspire that one IKEA duvet cover that appeared in every MTV reality show of a certain era, and also in my own bedroom.

1996: Alicia Silverstone

This is deeply amusing to me. I have always been utter crap at doing my own face and hair, so I never went in for the elaborate coiffures of any era, but I do recall a LOT of hair being piled onto a lot of heads on 90210 so this may have been about right for 1996?  She does look a bit too much like her kids are about to barge in and demand some Sunny D.

1997: Renee Zellweger

Apparently we should have been shrieking "JUST LINE IT!" forever.

1997: Ashley Judd

She looks like she walked off the set of a love scene on Days of our Lives.

1997: Neve Campbell

I first wrote, by accident, "Oh, Never."  That also works.

1997: Hanson

I'll say it again: MMM Bop is a legitimately good song. In college I once bet my boyfriend that if I put it on, everyone would get up and dance, because no one can resist it. I WON THAT BET.

1997: Mark Wahlberg

He loks like any number of people who are not Mark Walhberg -- like, Matt Damon, slightly, or specifically, Guy Pearce. I did not realize Marky Mark attempted a 1960s Nasa Scientist aesthetic.

1997: Gwen Stefani

I'm just POSITIVE someone on 90210 wore this.

1998: Lenny Kravitz

Lace pants! Last time we saw him it was leather separates, so he must have decided to experiment with better ventilation.

1998: Natalie Imbruglia

This is the exact opposite of so many outfits in this piece.

1999: Salma Hayek

There was DEFINITELY an era where crop-tops looked gnawed.

1999: Heather Graham

This feels like she was trying to dress for a music video, but even by 1999, MTV had largely given up on those, right? Or were they still hanging on by a thread

1999: Will Smith

Yes, he ABSOLUTELY was promoting Wild Wild West at this moment.

1999: Katie Holmes

How... what... I assume the laundry machine in her building ate her quarters and everything else already had soap all over it?

1999: Keri Russell

The outfit, whatever; I keep being scared she's going to turn an ankle in those big wooden shoes.

1999: Rebecca Gayheart

I have a lot of questions, but I keep coming back to: That purse makes no sense. This was 1999. Your pager and your Palm Pilot did NOT fit in there.

1999: CZJ

Very pretty lingerie.

1999: Rhea Durham and Stephen Dorff

That's not EVEN lingerie. It's underwear and a disco bib.

1999: Jennifer Love Hewitt and Carson Daly

I remember them dating, but his Wikipedia page makes no mention of it; I Googled and apparently he claims he found out about it from listening to Howard Stern and watching E! News. I don't know her side of that but you know ONE of them has to be working on some kind of memoir. Everyone else is.

2000: Carson Daly and Tara Reid

Carson rebounded with Tara, who really... made a window here. Don't sleep on those tiny slits at her shoulders, either. This shirt is really challenging itself.

2000: Lucy Liu

Pausing for a fun pattern.

2000: Selma Blair and SMG

They won Best Kiss, for Cruel Intentions. SMG's napkin shirt is better, but it warms my heart seeing them then and knowing they're still so close.

2000: Janet Jackson

I just want to go back in time and be like, "JUST DON'T DO ANYTHING WITH TIMBERLAKE, EVER."

2000: Halle Berry

This looks like one of those bathing-suit outfits Victoria's Secret used to tell that isn't really supposed to get wet.

2000: Beyonce

She looks cute in this, but who suggested the crotch glitter? Maybe she was BeDazzling her phone and they all stuck to her lap.

2000: Cameron Diaz

Cameron and I are making the exact same expression right now, but mine is aimed at her pants.

2000: Katie Holmes and Chris Klein

For as much fun as I'm poking at all these photos, by the way, I do also enjoy how much they all feel like everyone just... went to the mall themselves and bought something to wear.

2000: Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari

Well, Jason went to his dad's closet, but you feel me

2000: Ananda Lewis

I was with her right until the split pants. If she wore that jacket with black leather pants, I think it'd be awesome. 

2001: Patrick Fugit

I do appreciate a loud tie.

2001: Shannon Elizabeth

I assume she said, "GET ME THE PANTS VERSION OF RHEA DURHAM'S OUTFIT."

Destiny's Child

That is SO MUCH shiny lace.

Christina Aguilera

This was the Moulin Rouge/Dee Snyder phase of Xtina's styling.

Pink

And this is Pink, and her dog Fucker. I know. I mean, who among us WOULDN'T undo some decisions we made in 2001?

2001: Teri Polo

... that IS a frog, right, and not just an octopus gone wrong? Or a... very green dancing strawberry with eyes? Regardless, I hope she still has him. He seems friendly, if a little dazed.

Cameron Diaz

Not her best moment. She looks a bit like she was out all night learning to be a vampire.

Alyson Hannigan

Midriff, midriff, everywhere!

Zhang Ziyi

That skirt is amazing. The handkerchief top detracts from it a little, but apparently that was a budding style of the moment, because...

Rhea Durham

... Rhea pulled out a long version that looks like she chopped up an old bodysuit to make it work. 

Lil' Kim

AND SCENE.

Some Sincerely Wild Shit Was Worn In This Batch of MTV Movie Awards Pics

From 1996-2001.