Lemondrop

Often, the Emmys are criticized for nominating the same boring people over and over again -- Jeremy Piven, say, or anyone who ever walked past the craft services table on "The Sopranos." Yet every so often new faces do appear on the red carpet, and forget about the stress of the awards -- we can only imagine the pressure those newbies feel when it comes to hitting exactly the right note with their clothes.

And while, yes, it's true that most of us will never go to the Emmys, we've all found ourselves heading to an event where we'll be in the spotlight -- from weddings to work functions to formals. Here's a look at some dos and don'ts for seizing the moment, as gleaned from last weekend's Emmy newcomers and one familiar face back from relative obscurity. Take notes. You want to be invited back too, don't you?

Do shake up people's perceptions. At her day job on "Fringe," Anna Torv doesn't get to flash much of anything except a pretty smile -- and even then, it's rare, on account of how she's very busy being dispatched into heinous parallel universes and whatnot. So Anna used the Emmys to prove she's got some serious sex appeal under those sensible shirts and jackets. She was eye-catching and sexy in a beaded column gown that reveals just enough to make us seriously envious of her curves, rather than feel assaulted by them.


Don't bore everyone to tears. Conversely, there's poor Elisabeth Moss. She was nominated, at long last, for her role as Peggy on "Mad Men": a prim girl who's been dowdy, chubby and secretly pregnant, although the actress herself is none of those things. (We assume. We did not check her uterus.) The Emmy red carpet was a prime opportunity to prove she's just acting and is, in fact, a spry young thing of 25. Instead, Moss arrived swaddled in heavy satin like the dowager empress of some remote principality that doesn't believe in cleavage. We yawned every time we saw her; the only thing as deadly as being frumpy is being dull.

Click here for more.

Don't believe any buzz is good buzz. Anastasia Griffith was excellent in a supporting role on "Damages" and she's got a part in the new show "Trauma," so her career is definitely on the upswing. Conventional wisdom dictates that she should have arrived at the Emmys looking drop-dead amazing in order to keep that momentum humming along.

Sadly, she chose to stand out in a different way. We couldn't stop staring, but only because we couldn't tell if she was baring flesh or just a support bodice under those gold banners. Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Nobody wants to make her mark as "that girl who might have been naked."

Do leave 'em wanting more. Until "Grey Gardens," for which she won an Emmy on Sunday, Jessica Lange hadn't graced TV screens -- or any screens, except for our repeated viewings of "Tootsie" at home -- since 2007, and even then it was just once. So, to keep her HBO-sponsored comeback hot, Lange needed to remind everyone that she is both a) still worth talking about, and b) an awesome actress.

Wisely, instead of working the Emmy red carpet in full Edie Beale drama laced with liquid crazy, as if to imply that she IS Big Edie, Lange went understated: a simple, flattering green frock, gentle hair and a lovely smile, the better to leave producers scratching their heads and wondering why they haven't sent her any scripts in a while. Somebody get on that, please.

Don't be too on the nose. Somehow, "90210"'s Jessica Lowndes managed to get invited to the Emmys despite the fact that the odds of her show ever scoring a nomination are only slightly more favorable than the odds of George Clooney quitting showbiz to get married and run an alpaca farm. Unfortunately, it appears that -- in what we assume was Jessica's extreme excitement to be on this red carpet -- she went a bit overboard on her big day. Look, just because you're on a hit show about teenagers doesn't mean you need to dress like you're on the way to prom. After all, regardless of the occasion, you're always better off being the best version of yourself.