emmy awards

Just about everyone swooned for Sofia Vergara of ABC's "Modern Family" when she walked the Emmy Awards red carpet on Sunday. Vergara looked like an award herself in a pale yellow Carolina Herrera strapless gown embellished with gold and silver sequin detail. She teamed up with hair care brand Suave Professionals to let America choose her red carpet hairstyle for the evening and her classic glamour girl curls were chosen by votes and styled by Suave Professionals Celebrity Stylist Jenny Cho.

Sofia's entire award show style (sans jewels of course) – the dress and the Suave Professionals products used to create the winning look are up for bid through Clothes Off Our Backs, the charity that auctions off celebrity items for good causes. Proceeds from the auction benefit Clothes Off Our Back's charities including Feeding America, Malaria No More, Hope North, AbilityFirst, Villa Esperanza and Alex's Lemonade Stand. The auction ends September, 13, 2010 and bidding starts at $1,000.

With a weekend of starry fetes second only to those of Oscar week in Los Angeles, the parties of the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards lost little ground this season against news of a still flagging U.S. economy.

For Luxist, ice began clinking in the cocktail glasses of Emmy-bound celebs at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, August 27, at the Judith Leiber store on North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Maria Bello and Patricia Arquette were co-hosting a "Don't Forget Haiti" benefit. Yes, Hollywood has a heart. And scores of Emmy hopefuls zipped by on their way to full-fledged Emmy events.

Bello wore a top by Michael Kors and a Leiber "Don't Forget Haiti" pendant as she greeted guests at the door. How did Arquette and Bello team up for the Emmy weekend benefit? "I saw her a couple of weeks after the earthquake in Haiti," Bello told Luxist.

Arquette then mentioned that she is currently "working on a project to help refurbish shipping containers as homes in Haiti." She was wearing a vintage Chanel suit. "Anything past last year is vintage," she quipped. "So I'm vintage."

Guests included Rosario Dawson, Malin Akerman, Katharine McPhee, and Autumn Reeser, of "Entourage," who told Luxist that she would be hosting a baby shower during the Emmy Awards. "I didn't realize it was Emmy weekend," she admitted.

Reeser's "Entourage" co-star Emmanuelle Chriqui mentioned that, over the weekend, she would be supporting her real-life manager Emily Gerson Saines (also present), "nominated because she produced the HBO film 'Temple Grandin.'" Saines and her project would win big on Sunday.

Entertainment Weekly also hosted a pre-Emmy party for "Women in Film" on Friday at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood. The pool area of the hotel was converted into an impromptu red carpet. Fueled by mini burgers and new flavors of Vitaminwater, lemonade, and pomegranate, the party raged on in a trellised back courtyard of the restaurant until 1:00 a.m. Elisabeth Moss from "Mad Men," above, innocently butchered the name of the late French designer she was wearing, Herve Leger (pronounced Er-vay Lay-jay) as if he had been an all American: "Harvey Legger."

"This is my third Emmy Awards," admitted the young actress. "But it's always scary."

On a sunny Southern California Sunday the stars were out in full force for the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live. The backdrop for NBC said "more colorful" and that's exactly what we got, color and lots of it. Sunny oranges and yellows, dramatic deep purples, sequins and more brought a lots of drama to the proceedings. Some of our favorite looks after the jump.

On October 7th, Doyle New York will offer at auction the Estate of Beverly Sills.

One of the world's greatest coloratura sopranos, Beverly Sills' diverse collection comprises over 460 lots of fine art, furniture, decorations, jewelry, handbags, photographs, costume designs and opera memorabilia from her home overlooking New York's Central Park.

A variety of costume designs and memorabilia will be offered, including a design by Nikolai Alexandrovich Benois for Sills as Pamira in Rossini's "L'assedio de Corinto". The pastel on paper piece has an estimate of $1,500 to $2,500. Another drawing up for auction is by Jose Varona of a costume design for Sills as Cleopatra in Handel's "Giulio Cesare". The pencil, colored pencil, watercolor, ink wash and gouache on paper drawing has an estimate of $600 to $800.

Several Emmy Awards won by Sills will also be up for auction, including the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Emmy won by Sills for Outstanding Classical Music Program for 1974-1975. The lot also includes a New York Area Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Program in 1976-1977 and three Emmy Honorary or Nomination plaques presented to Sills. Sold as a single lot, it has an estimate of $1,000 to $1,500.

Art lots include a pencil on paper drawing by Fernando Botero, a Colombian artist, which has an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. There's also an oil on panel painting by Beryl Cook, a British artist, with an estimate of $12,000 to $18,000.

Handbag collectors will be impressed by the large selection of Judith Leiber evening bags, including clutches, shoulder bags and minaudieres.

The public is invited to the exhibition on view from Friday, October 2 through Tuesday, October 6. Doyle New York is located at 175 East 87th Street in Manhattan.

Born in Brooklyn, Beverly Sills was catapulted into international stardom singing Cleopatra in New York City Opera's landmark 1966 production of Handel's Julius Caesar. Acknowledged as "America's Queen of Opera," she appeared on the cover of Newsweek in 1969 and Time in 1971, and traveled to the world's leading opera houses as an ambassador for American talent. In 1975, she made a triumphal Metropolitan Opera debut as Pamira in Rossini's The Siege of Corinth, receiving an 18-minute ovation. Retiring from singing, she became Director of the New York City Opera (1979-1989), then Chairman of Lincoln Center (1994-2002), and finally Chairman of the Metropolitan Opera (2002-2005).

And the Emmy Award goes to ... Camacho Cigars!

Camacho has announced that it will be the official cigar for the HBO Luxury Lounge® at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. The lounge will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, From September 18 – 20, 2009. At the event, Camacho cigars will feature its top-end 10th Anniversary Robusto cigar, contributing to an already elegant affair.

"Camacho Cigars is proud to be a part of the HBO Luxury Lounge," said Dylan Austin, marketing director of Camacho Cigars. "We are excited to be aligning Camacho Cigars with HBO, the premiere name in cable television, to honor The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards."

[Photo via Camacho Cigars]

Idex has a great rundown of all the Emmy jewels loaned out to celebs to jazz up the red carpet. Top of the heap was Geena Davis who wore $20 million worth of jewels including a $13.5 million showstopping diamond and red gold lariat necklace from Chris Aire that featured 72 diamonds. Other diamond hounds included Tyra Banks in Chopard, Allison Janney in Neil Lane and Debra Messing in Cartier. past events have featured a wide variety of colored diamonds and other jewels but this season the look was mainly diamonds and yellow gold, all the better to offset the very feminine frocks work this year.

Clothes Off Our Backs often auctions off the clothing, shoes and accessories that celebrities wear to special events like the Emmy Awards and the Oscars. This year, they've taken the own-what-a-celeb-has-touched auction one step further. Instead of owning something just one celebrity touched, you can sit on the very velvety tuffet where many celeb hindquarters have rested. They are auctioning off the pouf that was the centerpiece in the 2006 Architectural Digest Greenroom at the Emmy Awards. The pouf is covered in coral velvet with silver-leafed moldings and a silver-gilt wood finial and proceeds benefit the emergency relief efforts in Darfur, Children's Defense Fund and Cure Autism Now. No bids last time I checked...

Celebrity jeweler Neil Lane has created a special Hershey's Kisses design made of diamonds to celebrate the upcoming 100 year anniversary of the chocolate candy. Lane's seven carat pin is set with 755 diamonds and is worth more than $25,000. The design will be on the red carpet at the Emmy awards next weekend and will be auctioned off starting on the following Monday by "Clothes Off Our Back" with 100 percent of the proceeds donated to children's charities.

With the Emmy Awards approaching in just a few weeks, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) took the time to remind celebrities that their swag bags are considered taxable income and need to be reported as such when tax season rolls around. This is no small thing, either. The value of this year's Emmy gifts is estimated to be between $27,000 and $33,000. The ATAS even sent out letters to the presenters asking for compliance with the various tax codes with a waiver to sign, proving that they read it.

One of the reasons that the ATAS is being rather strict is that the IRS reportedly stands to collect over $1million from Oscar bags alone, which were worth over $100,000 each last year, and the ATAS doesn't want to be held responsible for any tax problems stemming from the Emmy Awards.

For a full list of the goodies that the Emmy presenters will be getting, click past the jump.