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After last year's somber ceremony, stars recharge the Emmys with low necklines, high heels and first wins

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Jennifer Aniston thought it was her lucky night: In its ninth season, Friends finally snagged a best comedy award, and she her first best actress statue. But backstage at the 54th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium on Sept. 22, Sharon Osbourne was the one counting her blessings when she found herself face-to-face with Aniston’s husband, Brad Pitt. “He came over to say hello, and I said, ‘Can I kiss you?'” recalls a still giddy Osbourne. “Jennifer didn’t mind. She knows he loves her more than anything. She just said, ‘Go ahead.'”

Mrs. Pitt was not the only one throwing caution to the wind. A year after guests were asked to tone down their outfits in light of the Sept. 11 attacks, stars dressed to dazzle, flashing plunging necklines, diamonds or—in the case of Sex and the City‘s Kristin Davis—both. As she notes of the vintage Fred Leighton diamond brooch pinned to her low-cut custom-designed Badgley Mischka gown: “If I take it off I don’t know if my dress will hold together.”

Other must-have accessories: a Band-Aid for West Wing‘s first-time winner John Spencer. “I squeezed my Emmy so hard backstage,” he says, “I cut my hand.” And what did a slimmed-down Oprah Winfrey see story, page 91) need to finish her look? A tissue. “Most people never hear this kind of thing said about them until they are lying in a casket,” says the teary-eyed recipient of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. “What a great honor, being alive—and fitting into this dress.”

Not to mention getting out of it. After the long night of partying, says Sex and the City‘s Cynthia Nixon, it’s “nice to go home and get in a bath.”

At the West Wing bash at Mastro’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills, three-time Emmy winner Allison Janney coolly sipped a victory martini. “It’s become a tradition,” she says. Outside 20th Century Fox’s party at Mortons, meanwhile, a considerably less collected Michael Chiklis, The Shield‘s best dramatic actor, sat in his limo for 10 minutes watching the West Coast broadcast of the show: “I wanted to make sure it was really me that won.” It was—though by the time the partying started, guests were less interested in trophies than food. “It takes forever to get a meal on Emmy night,” grumbled West Wing‘s Janel Moloney. But Matthew Perry didn’t need the lobster salad served at the Governors Ball at the Shrine to fuel his fire. Accompanied by his mom and primed for a big night, he vowed, “We’ll go to the parties, act like idiots and get up in the morning.”

The Best Dressed…

Alias’s Jennifer Garner felt she was playing dress-up in a Ralph Lauren gown and Neil Lane diamonds.

“It’s so comfortable I almost can’t believe it,” says Will & Grace costar Debra Messing of her black jersey lace-up Michael Kors dress.

West Wing‘s Allison Janney liked the punch her red Eric Gaskins gown packed: “I feel sexy in a long dress and heels.”

… Belles of the Ball

“I went through 15 dresses, and this one was just right,” Kim Cattrall says of her tan-friendly Hervé Legér.

Courteney Cox Arquette played up the flapper look of her Christian Dior outfit with a vintage bag and 50-plus carats of Neil Lane diamonds.

Badgley Mischka designed Kristin Davis’s silk gown to complement her 1860s Fred Leighton diamond brooch.

After the ceremony…

Backstage at the Emmys, Sharon Osbourne deemed Jennifer Aniston (with fellow Friend Courteney Cox Arquette) “lovely” and Brad Pitt, who recently trimmed the shaggy beard he had grown for a film role, “so gorgeous.” As she succinctly put it, “What a night!”

“I am just chillin’ and having a good time,” said Oprah Winfrey (greeting newly minted talk show host Dr. Phil at the Entertainment Tonight party at the Mondrian hotel).

… the fun begins

“I’m not finding it too hard to [get around] yet,” says a Chaiken-clad Cynthia Nixon (at the Shrine), due in December.

“I don’t know anyone here,” said Kelly Osbourne (at the Mondrian with Christian Slater), who dressed down to party. “I don’t watch TV.”

CSI‘s Marg Helgenberger (at the Shrine with husband Alan Rosenberg) picked her beaded Monique Lhuillier gown to feel “sassy.”

West Wing family: Mary-Louise Parker (right), producer Thomas Schlamme’s wife, Christine Lahti (left), and costar Richard Schiff’s wife, Sheila Kelley, talked at the Shrine.

A Gathering of Friends
Eschewing other bashes, the cast (except Matthew Perry) headed to L.A.’s Italian restaurant Zucca. Some 300 behind-the-sceners noshed on octopus-potato salad and salt-crusted sea bass and sipped specially concocted Friends margaritas and cosmos. Courteney Cox Arquette‘s husband, David Arquette, danced up a storm in the garden area. Brad Pitt got into the festive mood by wrapping his wife’s chiffon scarf around his neck, where it remained when the couple left shortly after midnight.

Hanging Loose

When it comes to red-carpet coiffures, “the straight look,” says L.A. hairstylist Myles Haddad, who worked with Linney, “is getting kind of tired.” What’s in? The just-out-of-bed look, with tousled waves that spark up the do instead of weighing it down. “It’s more natural,” he adds.

They’ve Got Gam

As Emmy nominees Patricia Heaton (in Thierry Mugler) and Amy Brenneman (in Jayne Mabbott for Enigma Arcana) prove, stepping out in a thigh-high slit can reveal the many colors of a gown—and of a personality. “I wear a sweater set every week on the show,” said Heaton. “This is my only chance to do something different.”

And Now for Something Different…

In her toga-like Randolph Duke gown and tendrils, Joan Allen seemed to be going for a Greek goddess look. Opting for not-so-basic black were CSI‘s Jorja Fox (in Gai Mattiolo) and Paula Abdul (in Nicole Bakti), whose cutouts came in handy: “It has a little bit of air conditioning.”

  • Easy Does It
  • Who needs a fancy getup? While other stars worried about getting their hems caught under their—and other people’s—heels, Heather Locklear turned heads in a black beaded cocktail dress by Roberto Cavalli, who also designed her husband Richie Sambora’s suit. The long and short of why she chose it: “It’s simple.”
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