It wasn’t just pre-Emmy nerves that had celebrities sweating it out on the Red Carpet this year. A 90-degree afternoon—which is scorching for Hollywood standards— had television’s biggest stars powdering their noses and feeling grateful for their updos, but it didn’t stop them from dishing about their fashions, jewels, shoes, hair and more.

At MODERN, we loved watching E!’s Red Carpet show, where host Giuliana Rancic’s Mani-Cam invited celebs to let their manicured nails do the walking down a miniature red carpet. Two Broke Girls' Kat Denning was the first to take Giuliana up on the offer, giving a shout out to her favorite polish, OPI’s Lincoln Park After Dark. And, although we didn’t see it often, we loved the idea of the Ford-sponsored 360-Cam which offered a glimpse of a celebrity’s style for every angle.

If fashion acts as a barometer of the economy, things must be looking up. Remember when shortly after the economy tanked, the most popular gown colors were sedate black, navy and nude? This year the Red Carpet was a vibrant rainbow—rich cobalts, fiery orangey-reds and lots of neon.  In fact, Julie Bowen, Julianne Moore and Claire Danes all selected fashions in a canary yellow so bright, it was reminiscent of a yellow highlighter. One of my personal favorite allover looks was Ginnifer Goodwin, who offset a modern, bright coral lace-over-nude Monique Lhullier gown with her beautiful mahogany pixie cut.

Although many of the hairstyles represented gorgeous nods to Old Hollywood, the real hair story was about volume. Whether it was Connie Britton’s retro pinned-back style, Sarah Hyland’s romantic, wavy updo or Lucy Liu’s side-swept pony, many opted for extra fullness. A few though, including Juliana Margulies and January Jones, kept theirs sophisticated with sleek updos.

As far as the show went, it was brisk and light. Emmy Host Jimmy Kimmel set a comedic tone for the evening, welcoming celebrities by reminding them, “You spent 10 hours getting ready, you had heatstroke on the red carpet, and you haven’t had a carbohydrate in months…” Several of those who were honored with Emmys picked up the laughter baton—Julia Louis Dreyfes accepted for Veep with Amy Poehler’s written speech before exchanging it for her own, and Steven Colbert helped Jimmy Kimmel tackle Jon Stewart in an attempt to prevent him from ccepting his 10^th Emmy for The Daily Show.

While the most sentimental moment of the evening belongs to Michael J. Fox, who received a standing ovation from the audience before he gave introduced the final nominees, the MODERN team’s favorite moment goes to Julianne Moore. In her acceptance speech for the HBO movie, Game Change, she credited her hair stylist and makeup artist who spent two hours on set everyday transforming Moore into Sarah Palin. Thanks for the shout out, Julianne!

Tomorrow night MODERN’s West Coast Editor Anne Moratto and I will mingle with many of the stylists and makeup artists who cater to Hollywood at a special Beauty Changes Lives Event and we’ll work on bringing back some behind-the-Emmys scoop!