Critics' Choice Awards Bring Out the Major Gowns

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So far this awards season, we've seen a lot of good cocktail dresses. The only actress to wear a gown so far has been Angelina Jolie, in an Elie Saab taupe silk chiffon knife pleat halter gown, at the Palm Springs Film Festival Gala. But the Critics Choice Awards brought out major mega designer gowns on the likes of Michelle Williams, Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain and Elle Fanning.

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Williams' slinky black and white gown was by Chanel, with a little bit of the tailoring of a tuxedo, in a very sexy feminine shape. Theron wore a long dramatic tiered knit gown by Azzedine Alaia, though neither Chanel nor Alaia are the kind of labels you expect to see at the Critics Awards on VH1!

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Jessica Chastain, no fashion slouch, wore a candy pink halter by Balenciaga that she admitted to The Hollywood Reporter: "I hadn't seen. I was supposed to wear something else and it wasn't finished. This arrived today, fit perfectly and all it needed was a hem. So ten minutes before I got in the car to come here, my dress was being hemmed! But I feel very lucky at how it turned out in the end!"

Elle Fanning wore one of the evening's most flamboyant dresses: a yellow floral ruffled Rodarte spring 2012 gown. It actually worked on a tall teenager -- we wonder who else could pull off pieces from this collection.

Tilda Swinton, always dramatic, wore a stunning YSL black and white avant garde tuxedo that was almost more glamorous than the gowns.

Kirsten Dunst in Dior and Evan Rachel Wood in Valentino also proved that the Critics Choice Awards are now worthy of major designer names.

Leave it to George Clooney to sum it up about the fashion content of the evening: "I played basketball, then threw on a tuxedo. But Stacey (Keibler, in Armani) spent six hours getting dressed! That's the deal for women at these things. I wouldn't want to be a female coming to one of these things!"