The MTV VMAs were held last night in NYC. One of the weird things about the music industry is that MTV’s importance and relevance has vastly decreased over the course of the past fifteen years, I would say. I can’t even really pinpoint it, but I would say it started happening when MTV became more of a reality-show and gameshow network and there were like no music videos on the channel, ever. As such, I wonder why they even bother with the VMAs at this point – it’s not like MTV even shows the videos they’re awarding. Anyway, you can see the list of this year’s VMA winners here – Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande were the biggest winners of the night.
Sabrina Carpenter wore Valentino on the red carpet. The dress makes her waist look especially snatched, but the mismatched boa is so dumb. I “get” Sabrina’s styling and the look she’s going for, and it’s fine. It’s nothing new.
Ariana Grande wore Fendi – this is awful??
Doja Cat in Balmain – sure, whatever.
Ciara in Schiaparelli – this is weirdly my favorite look of the event.
Lola Young in Chanel. I like Lola!
FKA twigs wore custom Matières Fécales. This is awful as well.
I did not even recognize Ashlee Simpson.
Lady Gaga wore Marc Jacobs. Well, it’s a look!
Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- ELMONT, NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 07: American singer, songwriter, and actress Ariana Grande-Butera wearing a custom Fendi dress and Swarovski jewelry arrives at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards held at UBS Arena on September 7, 2025 in Elmont, Nassau County, New York, United States.,Image: 1035274768, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Ariana Grande-Butera, Credit line: Jorge Estrellado/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- ELMONT, NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 07: American singer, songwriter, and actress Ariana Grande-Butera wearing a custom Fendi dress and Swarovski jewelry arrives at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards held at UBS Arena on September 7, 2025 in Elmont, Nassau County, New York, United States.,Image: 1035274848, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Ariana Grande-Butera, Credit line: Jorge Estrellado/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- ELMONT, NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 07: Ciara Princess Wilson wearing a Schiaparelli dress arrives at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards held at UBS Arena on September 7, 2025 in Elmont, Nassau County, New York, United States.,Image: 1035275312, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Ciara Princess Wilson, Credit line: Jorge Estrellado/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- ELMONT, NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 07: American singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer Doja Cat (Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini) wearing Balmain with Chopard jewelry arrives at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards held at UBS Arena on September 7, 2025 in Elmont, Nassau County, New York, United States.,Image: 1035275481, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Doja Cat, Credit line: Jorge Estrellado/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- ELMONT, NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 07: Evan Ross and wife Ashlee Simpson arrive at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards held at UBS Arena on September 7, 2025 in Elmont, Nassau County, New York, United States.,Image: 1035275493, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Evan Ross, Ashlee Simpson, Credit line: Jorge Estrellado/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- ELMONT, NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 07: English singer, songwriter, dancer, and record producer FKA Twigs (Tahliah Debrett Barnett) wearing custom Matieres Fecales arrives at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards held at UBS Arena on September 7, 2025 in Elmont, Nassau County, New York, United States.,Image: 1035275577, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: FKA Twigs, Credit line: Jorge Estrellado/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- ELMONT, NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 07: American singer, songwriter, and actress Sabrina Carpenter wearing Valentino arrives at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards held at UBS Arena on September 7, 2025 in Elmont, Nassau County, New York, United States.,Image: 1035277307, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Sabrina Carpenter, Credit line: Jorge Estrellado/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- Arrivals for MTV Video Music Awards 2025 held at the UBS Arena Featuring: Lola Young Where: New York, New York, United States When: 07 Sep 2025 Credit: Doug Peters/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- 2025 MTV VMA Awards Red Carpet Featuring: Sabrina Carpenter Where: New York, New York, United States When: 07 Sep 2025 Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com
The Simpson sisters were unrecognizable
..but Ashley looks more like herself than Jessica
SC looks like she bought her gown from Frederick’s of Hollywood imo
These are awful
Jessica’s bottom lip looked like it was melting off of her face. I couldn’t even tell you what her outfit was because the face was so distracting.
Awful is right, and I HATE the “dress-like-you’re-in-2004-Maxim-photoshoot” trend. SO demeaning to women/girls, and 90% of these ladies were wearing some form of lingerie as their main apparel — bras, corsets, panties, etc.
We’re increasingly blurring the line between true empowerment and a willingness to be commodified. Empowerment is about agency, self-determination, and defining your own terms of engagement. Commodification, on the other hand, is about fitting yourself into a mold designed to be bought, sold, or consumed by others.
The danger is when society labels the latter as the former — and I don’t believe for a second that these outfit choices are the result of autonomy. They wouldn’t all look the same if they were.
Did you see Tate McRae??
It’s especially depressing for those of us who saw the entire life cycle of MTV. From the 1980s when they had VJ’s and interviews with the artists, and music videos were cutting edge and incredibly important for artists to get their name out there, 120 Minutes, Yo MTV Raps, Headbangers Ball and my favorite The Week in Rock. Kurt Loder with his breaking music news. I have slightly younger friends who pine for the days of TRL and I think that was one of the nails in the coffin of that channel: 15 seconds of a video before going back to Wet Paper Towel Carson Daly being awkward with teenagers.
I think the real death spiral started with The Real Word Las Vegas when producers realized they could get way more viewers if they cast superficial hot people who potentially might do it in a hot tub. It was all downhill from there.
End Eldest Millennial Rant.
Same.
We used to have our own music channel here, but also MTV and I used to watch both.
Then they came with some series that always seemed frankly dumb.
Didn’t even know the VMAs were yesterday until I saw this and know nobody who pays any attention to it.
Agree. Miss the genuine MTV that showcased music. But all that is now on YT and it is International. There are so many more musicians and genres I have learned about since MTV went to fights and exhibitionists.
Ummmm are these our only choices?? This is some leftover early-2000s fug fashion.
I found more on page six and … wow. these were the best of the lot, there were some… um… interesting (we’ll call it that) choices.
I did enjoy when Ariana Grande presented Mariah Carey with the Video Vanguard Award though. Mariah is a legend and I thought it was a sweet moment between two artists who are often compared with one another.
Is Mariah ok? She barely moved onstage during her performance.
I think she’s OK. She’s almost 60 and she’s never been much of a “performer” IMO.
The name of the design house that did FKA twigs outfit translates from the French to “Fecal Matter”. Their latest show looks like couture for House Harkonnen. Terrifying.
Yes, that’s so funny. I wonder what custom fecal matter is like – “you should eat a steady diet of corn and black beans…”
She needs to find a new stylist and a new look. Same old facial expression with her mouth half open is gross.
A couple of weeks ago, I watched a documentary about Devo on Netfllix. I didn’t realize they went back as far as 1970. It was so interesting to see the what a sh*t show the political environment was then. Also interesting to see that Devo’s short films were among the first music videos on MTV. They had done so many that they were a big source of content when MTV started out.
That Devo documentary was so good!
I thought Doja Cat was Joan Collins.
I feel like a white or a darker red boa would’ve been better than pink, it would’ve been more of a contrast.
Don’t hate me but I like Ariana Grande’s outfit the best. The rest of them are like “Eek!”
It looked much better in motion than in pictures IMO.
I’m pretty much over the constipated, too cool for school looks they do.
It’s time to retire MTV. They are so far from what made them MTV. They have nothing to do with music anymore. I loved Unplugged. You could really tell who had the talent versus studio magic and the Unplugged versions of the songs were better.
I still live for Ah-Has unplugged version of Take on Me. It’s beautiful.
I miss the 80s MTV days when it was all MVs. When it went to reality shows, although some have been iconic, I turned to VH1. MTV is getting obsolete imo-doesn’t have the influence it used to. Although Sabrina’s performance broke the internet(I love that she surrounds herself with diverse performers and musicians) and I also liked her winning speech. She’s def not right wing.