Golden Globes 2014: the pick of the red carpet fashion - in pictures

She lost out to J-Law for the supporting actress award but Lupita Nyong'o totally and utterly stormed the red carpet in this capey Ralph Lauren number. She isn't the first to rock a cape on the red carpet (remember Gwyneth in the icy Tom Ford in 2012?) but her fashion nous is off the scale. She's made Ralph Lauren look alpha, she's been restrained with the jewels that labels no doubt threw at her and the blast of tomato soup red is fashion bullseye Photograph: Startraks Photo/REX/Startraks Photo/REX

I don't have the Farrow & Ball paint chart to hand so I'm going to say that Kerry Washington's very pale green Balenciaga dress is classic Apple White. Aside from the fact it's exciting that the bump already has its own custom-made Alexander Wang waistcoat, the look is a triumph of very simple curved lines Photograph: Startraks Photo/REX/Startraks Photo/REX

That root-lifted hair and cheeky smile tell us that Emma Thompson intended to have fun at the Globes, which we know she did. The liquid gold top of the dress is flatteringly tight and James Bond film-ish, and the hemline is cut for fun, not extreme fashion. The accessories are a bit rubbish – tinsy bag and platformed heels – so I'm pleased she later ditched them, even if it wasn't for sartorial reasons Photograph: David Fisher/DFS-David Fisher / Rex Features

We get it. Amy Adams intended to own the naval cleavage look on the red carpet. And why not? It is her American Hustle fashion trademark, after all. The problem is that instead of being ka-pow! the dress looks drippy. We may be missing the point, but the focus is on the modesty tape, which is clearly doing its thing. And if you can see the mechanics of the dress not the effect, that counts as a fail Photograph: John Shearer/John Shearer/Invision/AP

Ah, Drew Barrymore. Every thinking woman's Hollywood poster girl. The floral cascade, by Monique Lhuillier, is reminiscent of Kim Kardashian in Givenchy, only soft and feminine instead of severe and accessorised with Kanye West Photograph: Jim Smeal/BEI/REX/Jim Smeal/BEI/REX

Bit gutted about the 'officewear meets red carpet' micro trend that's happening. Julia Roberts and the white shirt is the worst offender. White shirts are meant to look effortless, which this one most definitely does not. The sleeve length lining up with the belt underlines the bad composition of this look. Plus the shirt looks like it boasts a 'non-iron' label Photograph: Jordan Strauss/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

She's the best actress winner in a fancy Christian Dior dress and everybody just loves her. So it's OK to be just a tiny bit disappointed by Jennifer Lawrence's look, yes? The monochrome trim is just a bit too “belty” and somehow feels a bit like it fits into our office-meets-red-carpet trend. She looks like a posh ornament that's been wrapped up by a removal firm
Photograph: Jordan Strauss/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Emma Watson picks up the officewear-meets-red carpet baton. She handles it far better – her navy trousers are good 'n' tight and the Dior red dress, with its pocket slits, looks properly effortless. Still, must be a bit annoying for her having to spin around all the time to change the fashion evaluation from 'dull' to 'oh yeah!'
Photograph: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Sooo wanted this to work on Sandra Bullock, but alas it does not. There's no doubting the quality of the Prabal Gurung dress – you can almost feel the weight of the silk – but it just looks a bit 'modern dance'. A high end Strictly dress before they let the sequin seamstress loose
Photograph: Alberto Rodriguez/NBC/NBC via Getty Images

Speaking of Strictly, sparkly jewel-encrusted palm trees? My my, Rashida Jones. Well. I suppose if you're gonna go ballroom, go hell for leather in Fausto Puglisi Photograph: DANNY MOLOSHOK/Reuters

Lovely to see Uma Thurman back on the red carpet, sad to see her in halterneck and fishtails – two red carpet cliches which make us sigh. The athletic mermaid (with stern hair) doesn't do her justice. It's more black cod than Splash Photograph: Stewart Cook/REX/Stewart Cook/REX

T-Swizzy has no business wearing this full on Hollywood starlet look, and she's far too young to be wearing Carolina Herrera. And yet … she looks amazing in it. In fact, on a stateswoman of an actor it might have looked hackneyed, but on Taylor Swift it looks sassy. Yep, she knows it Photograph: Stewart Cook/REX/Stewart Cook/REX

Here, the halterneck, with it's chunky gold necklace trim, is the making of this Tom Ford dress. Without it Naomi Watts would have looked too much like a weary champagne flute. Ford knew that – hence the side splits Photograph: Startraks Photo/REX/Startraks Photo/REX

Emerald, skintight, high-necked and sequinned. Not the usual hallmarks of a red carpet maternity number and this Gucci is all the better for it on Olivia Wilde. But more platform heels? Hollywood seriously needs to sort its shoes out before the Oscars Photograph: Stewart Cook/REX/Stewart Cook/REX

Nice clean lines on Margot Robbie's Gucci dress, and although the emerald crystal harness is a touch clinical it's not a bad opening report card for her red carpet season. It's a shame she made her hair be on its best behaviour though. Would have been better worn looser with that dress
Photograph: Startraks Photo/REX/Startraks Photo/REX

Everything co-ordinates wonderfully on Julianna Margulies's Andrew Gn dress. The deep V, the gold on black, the waist cinched at just the right height, the floaty skirt. What red carpet dreams are made of Photograph: PAUL BUCK/EPA

Lena Dunham loves a yellow dress. It was her colour of choice for the Grammys in 2013 and also some sort of lemonade shop opening in LA, but it works best here because the shape flatters and the colour is softened from her usual acid-tinge of choice. The girlish cut of the dress, by Zac Posen, is offset by the slightly punk bust line and the tattoo. Bravo Photograph: Alberto Rodriguez/NBC/NBC via Getty Images

Love the skippy length and the way that Zooey Deschanel wears this double-sparkle Oscar de la Renta number as though she's wearing jeans and a T-shirt. The cropped top bit is a modern silhouette and references fashion in the way that most red carpet dresses don't. The encrusted shoes add a bit of punch, the dainty bracelet does not. But it's a small quibble Photograph: John Shearer/John Shearer/Invision/AP

Like Lupita Nyong'o, Julie Delpy has gone for a bit of match-matchy with the red carpet and doesn't she do it well? It's the accented bust line and metallic belt that give this Romona Keveza dress edge, something which Delpy has always had in bucketloads Photograph: Jim Smeal/BEI/REX/Jim Smeal/BEI/REX