Best And Worst Fashion At The Grammys

From denim to dresses, the red carpet hit some high notes Sunday night as music's hottest stars put their best fashion foot forward — or at least tried to.

Marry Alice Stephenson, contributing fashion editor for Harper's Bazaar, said Grammys fashion tends to be sexier. Women take more risks and show more skin. This year, short dresses were a huge trend, she said. Her favorite was Fergie.

"She was wearing a sterling silver Badgley Mischka," Stephenson told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "Sometimes she gets sloppy, but this was a great element. She went short but didn't look slutty."

The Pussycat Dolls, on the other hand, misses the mark, Stephenson said.

"They tried to coordinate their looks. It's hard when you are an ensemble like that to make it work. It was a bit '80s and a bit tacky," she said. "I know they tried and we love their songs so we give them credit for trying."

Some stars such as Jennifer Hudson of "Dreamgirls" chose to wear long elegant gowns.

"Jennifer Hudson shows people how you can look fabulous on the red carpet," Stephenson said. "This is a Cavali dress, she goes for it and embraces her curves. I would like to see more embellishment for the Oscars, but for the Grammys she did great."

One of the relatively older stars, Mary J. Blige, 36, used to cover herself up with big hats and glasses. Now she is showing off her body, Stephenson said. Natalie Cole, 57, wore a Zac Posen dress and looked "stunningly gorgeous," Stephenson said.

"Carry Underwood looked elegant," Stephenson said. "She was wearing a Badgley Mischka. Loved it, loved it, loved it. And Beyoncé looked great in Armani and Nelly Furtado did not look good in that dress — looked like a lawnmower ran over the bottom of the dress. Not good Nelly."

Stephenson invented a category called bad beauty, good dresses. Her first culprit was Christina Aguilera. She wore too much makeup, Stephenson said.

"Also Shakira, a one-of-a-kind dress, a beautiful dress made for Shakira, but how could (you) see it beyond all that hair? That was too much. You could barely see her pretty face, so great dresses, bad beauty," Stephenson said.