The NAACP Image Awards, also known as “the Black Oscars” were held Friday evening in Pasadena. Selma won big in several categories, including Best Picture and Best Actor (for David Oyelowo’s performance). Black-ish was the big winner for TV Comedy, plus Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross (the two leads) took home acting awards. Taraji P. Henson took home two awards for being awesome and Viola Davis won for TV Drama actress and she didn’t even come to the show! You can see the full list of winners, plus a recap of some of the notable speeches here at E!. I have to say, in all my years of covering the fashion from the Image Awards, this was one of the best years ever. People really made an effort this year and it showed.

Two of the biggest names and biggest fashion standouts: Gabrielle Union and Kerry Washington! Gabby wore this pink Gauri & Nainika, which is so over-the-top that I went from hate to love pretty quickly. Pink was a really popular color for this event, so she was on-trend too. Kerry’s dress is Zuhair Murad. Not her best but not her worst either. I feel like she rarely wears red?

Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Burberry. I really do love her and I think she’s absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, and I like that she’s representing the UK with Burberry. But this was not my favorite. It looks like a quilt. Better luck next time, girl! Something nice: her face is flawless and her styling is on-point.

Taraji P. Henson in Georges Chakra. This isn’t my favorite, but I love her. She always looks like she’s having the best time in whatever she’s wearing. It’s a quality that elevates even blah styles.

Laverne Cox in Gustavo Cadile. I know what she was going for but I’m not feeling it. The skirt is too much, and it feels like a bustle is about to happen. Pretty color though.

Ava Duvernay wore a custom-designed gown by Ashi Studio. It’s a mullet dress! It’s kind of cool though – if you’re going to do a mullet dress, this is the way to do it.

Carmen Ejogo in Solace London. She played Coretta Scott King in Selma and let me tell you, her beauty took my breath away in that film. She was SO pretty. Seeing her in modern clothes bugs me a little, and maybe that’s my issue. I feel the same way about the women of Mad Men – they look so wonderful in those vintage styles, I kind of wonder why they don’t look for similar red carpet clothes.

Uzo Aduba in this Zac Posen was one of my favorites from the event. I usually think Posen is so overworked, like he just needs to calm down and EDIT. But this is beautiful and she looks like a princess.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.