Carrie Underwood co-hosted the CMAs with Brad Paisley for the whopping eighth year in a row last night. Their opening bit was cute and topical as we’ve come to expect from them. My favorite part was when they sang about an unnamed couple who had broken up and whom everyone was thinking about and then panned to the audience to show Miss Piggy and Kermit. Then they showed Blake Shelton and sang a little song about how lonely people could find romance online. (Although it’s not like Blake is lacking company, see Kaiser’s coverage of his now confirmed romance with Gwen Stefani.) They also made references to the Ashley Madison hack, to “Bruce” Jenner now being a “babe” and to Josh Duggar. As TooFab notes, the camera didn’t show Miranda Lambert at all. She was possibly backstage preparing for her performance.

In terms of the winners, a lot of people were surprised at how many awards a relatively unknown new star, Chris Stapleton, took home. Stapleton has no top 40 country hits and yet he won for male vocalist, new artist and album of the year, for Traveller. Stapleton also performed a duet with Justin Timberlake which was widely lauded. (More on the performances here.) Here’s a list of the nominees and winners last night. The rest of this post will focus on the fashion.

Carrie Underwood walked the red carpet in a peach Gauri and Nainika gown with a peplum and full train. She had so many costume changes that it seems to hardly matter what she wore for the carpet, but I like this look. She’s toning down the pageant fashion and is trying to look more polished and this also extends to her styling. This is pretty.

Jennifer Nettles was in pink Georges Hobeika with a mesh cutout along the bodice and leaf sequin details. This was probably my favorite dress from the photos. It’s flattering, elegant and memorable.

Jewel wore silver sequin Lorena Sarbu with scoop details along the arms and neckline. This looks kind of cheap to me. She could do better.

Kellie Pickler was in a deep purple Rubin Singer strapless v-neck gown with a full skirt. The thing that gets me is her styling. Look at her eyelashes. I can get better falsies from the dollar store.

Miranda Lambert was in this black Versace gown with subtle lines. This is a hot dress but I would have liked to see her in something more showy. Her pink tipped hair was new.

Like Carrie, Erika Christensen was also in Gauri and Nainika but where Carrie’s dress succeeded, this one fails. The huge asymmetric ruffle makes her look lopsided and as Red Carpet Fashion Awards points out, the styling throws it off. Incidentally, Christensen was raised in Scientology and she’s defended the cult to the press.

Finally Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum was in a bold black, white and red floral print Dolce & Gabbana dress. I think I would like this better without the ruffle at the bottom.

Oh and here are some of Carrie’s costume changes for the show! The watercolor dress is also Gauri and Nainika and the fuchsia mini is Rani Zakhem.