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Style: Best/Worst of '09

Style: Best/Worst of '09

Ruffles, tiers, cutouts, and bunny ears: It's been an exhilarating year of fashion on the red carpet and on screen. We grade the most memorable looks -- for better or worse -- we saw

By Meeta Agrawal

Updated December 29, 2009 at 10:00 PM EST

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Credit: Jemal Countess/WireImage.com

ANNE HATHAWAY
Call her the star who can do no wrong: With so many fabulous looks, we had a hard time choosing, but the feathery Oscar de la Renta Hathaway wore to the Tonys in June was a true standout.
Grade: A+

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Credit: Paul Buck/Corbis

BLAKE LIVELY
It's tough to compete with the high style of Gossip Girl, but we said Serena Vander-who? as soon as Lively strutted into the Emmys in September in this daring, red-hot Versace.
Grade: A

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Credit: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage.com

ANGELINA JOLIE
Nothing could be more glorious than seeing Angie return to her ass-kicking roots in a formfitting leather Michael Kors for an Inglourious Basterds premiere in August.
Grade: A

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Credit: Tim Whitby/Getty Images

FREIDA PINTO
Thank you, Slumdog, for giving us a new style star whose sweetly chic dresses, like this Oscar de la Renta at the February BAFTAs, kept us enchanted through awards season.
Grade: A

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Credit: Carrie Devorah/WENN.com

MICHELLE OBAMA
If the campaign was about Mrs. O's love of J.Crew, the presidency became about her right to bare arms — like in this dazzling Naeem Khan she wore to host the First Couple's state dinner in November.
A

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Credit: Carin Baer/AMC

JANUARY JONES
As Mad Men housewife Betty, Jones showed us the noir side of her impeccably tailored wardrobe with this sexy ensemble during the Drapers' rendezvous in Rome.
Grade: A+

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Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

KATE HUDSON
In a devastatingly elegant Rachel Roy gown and a Cartier collar, the Nine star gave us the best version of the year's sometimes tacky trend of cutouts at a May event for the jeweler.
Grade: A

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Credit: James Veysey/Retna Ltd.

ZOË SALDANA
She starred in two of the year's biggest action flicks, but it was her dresses, like this Roland Mouret stunner she wore to the Avatar premiere in December, that had us buzzing.
Grade: A

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Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

DREW BARRYMORE
We loved her dreamy John Galliano for Dior gown at January's Golden Globes, but could have happily done without her cumulus cloud of hair. Turns out that would be the story of Drew's year: gorgeous dress, craaaazy 'do.
Grade: B+

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Credit: Chuck Zlotnick

ZOOEY DESCHANEL
A little retro, a lot adorable, the actress' impossibly precious wardrobe as Summer Finn in (500) Days of Summer was a perfect fit for the quirky-cute tone of the movie.
Grade: B+

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Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com

JENNIFER HUDSON
For her emotionally charged performance at the Grammys in February, Hudson sparkled in a truly sophisticated black sequined number.
Grade: B+

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Credit: Getty Images

MEGAN FOX
Of all the foxy frocks the star wore during her Transformers 2 press tour last summer, this hot pink Armani Privé, set off by crimson heels, got her salty-sweet vibe just right.
Grade: B+

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Credit: Mark J. Terrill/AP Images

GWYNETH PALTROW
Gwynnie loves a good mini, and the shaded Versace she wore to the Grammys in February would've qualified — if only she'd left the support hose at home.
Grade: C-

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Credit: Jazz Archiv/Corbis

KATHERINE HEIGL
The ugly truth? Very few could make this green sequined Naeem Khan sack work — and at an August premiere, Heigl proved she wasn't one of them.
Grade: D

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Credit: Sylvain Gaboury/ PR Photos

JENNIFER LOPEZ
Long before she fell on stage at the AMAs, she fell flat at the VMAs in September with this crushed-velvet arm-warmer disaster. Louis Vuitton did you wrong, baby.
Grade: D

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Credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

RENÉE ZELLWEGER
If Bridget Jones worked in a turn-of-the-century saloon, then maybe, maybe, we could understand this outfit. But at the Globes in January? Not so much.
Grade: F

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Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC

PADMA LAKSHMI
For a reality show so good, how could the Top Chef host's wardrobe be so bad? (And don't try blaming the pregnancy, Padma. Heidi Klum ruined that excuse for you.)
Grade: D-

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Credit: Peter Kramer/AP Images

MADONNA
Where to begin with your ensemble for the Met's Costume Institute Gala in May, Madge?
1. Thigh-highs are not pants.
2. Bunny ears are only acceptable on Halloween or at the Playboy Mansion.
3. We liked your fingerless gloves the first time you wore them...in 1984.
Grade: F-

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