Even with the music industry losing one of the greatest voices of all time with the passing of Whitney Houston, the 54th annual Grammy Awards had to go on. The red carpet seemed smaller this year with more sophisticated dresses than in years gone by.here are our favorites:

Sparkle Plenty

Adele, in Giorgio Armani, Carrie Underwood, in Gomez-Gracia and Kelly Rowland in Alberta Ferretti all sparkled in elegantly beaded dresses that flattered their shape and showed off their sex appeal in a demure and alluring way. We love the way Carrie's dress, with the backless detail, and Kelly's dress with the draping and the lower back surprised us.

Taylor Swift, in Zuhair Murad, looked like solid gold in her gilded emrboidered gown. She said this was of of her favorite red carpet gowns to wear and next to her gown she wore to the 2010 Grammys we agree.

Sleek LBDs

Gwyneth Paltrow and Rihanna, in a dress designed together with Giorgio Armani sizzled on the red carpet in curve hugging LBDs.

Tell us: who wore your favorite look?

photos via InStyle.com

Reese Withersspoon, in Miu Miu, Sophia Bush, in a Olcay Gulsen dress and Chelsea Handler in Elizabeth James took to the red carpet for the Los Angles premiere of the new Movie This Means War in style. We love Reese's sultry dress and her tousled bed head hair.

At a photo call in Berlin this week for One for the Money, actress Katherine Heigl showed up in a bold zebra-print sheath by Michael Kors. (Side note: Michael Kors was ALL about the animal prints this season, both in his runway line and his less expensive MICHAEL Michael Kors collection.) In any case, Katherine definitely turned heads in this one-shoulder silhouette with allover graphic print.

We actually like the dress, but we're not sure we love the look. We wish she would have added a bright shoe in red, purple, pink, green ... really any color, as long as it hadn't been nude! She went for glimmering oversized earrings, so a colorful shoe wouldn't have been too much to ask for, would it?

If you want the zebra look for less, try the MICHAEL Michael Kors Zebra-Print Dress ($134 at michaelkors.com).

Sarah Michelle Gellar looks absolutely fabulous in a cocktail dress with a full skirt for her appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. This silhouette is very flattering and Sarah's fun and flirty look definitely caught our eye. 

While we may be in the dead of winter, plenty of starlets are embracing bold, bright, super colorful gowns on the red carpet as of late. And a color that's getting a lot of play right now? Bright, sunny yellow. Both Paula Patton and Vanessa Hudgens have been spotted wearing floor-length yellow gowns recently (at the Golden Globes and premiere of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, respectively).

What do you think of wearing a hue as bright as the sun in wintertime? We have to say we're all for it!