Proof Emmy Is Red Carpet Royalty

Emmy Rossum is kind of amazing: She starred in The Phantom of the Opera when she was just 17 years old, she's a critically-acclaimed, Golden Globe-nominated actress (though where are her Emmy noms? She's fantastic on Shameless), she sings for hot dogs on Conan, and she manages to turn out stunner after stunner on the red carpet. She definitely deserves her upcoming stint as the finale judge on Project Runway — unlike some people, I'm sure she actually has a good two cents to contribute.

Can the lady do no wrong? Not really (though she did mention in an interview once that someone watching one of her topless scenes on Shameless told her that she needed to work on her pecs, which excuse me: rude, on multiple levels). Anyway, in light of her birthday and all, I thought it would be fun to celebrate with a good ol' top 10 list — and as she's been killing it on the red carpet pretty much every opportunity she gets, it was actually pretty difficult to whittle down the list. There were some missteps, but in general? Fantastic — especially this year and last year's respective Met Gala ball gowns.

10. In J. Mendel

I never thought I'd like crimped hair (and I'm still not entirely sure I do), but there's no denying she looks like the epitome of cool here.

9. In Donna Karan

Well, that's certainly a showstopper.

8. In Oscar de la Renta

I'm a sucker for pretty beading and good tailoring, and all those colors look amazing on her.

7. In Donna Karan Atelier

Not quite "punk" per se (that was the theme of the Met Gala last year), but cool nonetheless.

6. In Oscar de la Renta (again)

The lipstick! The shoes! I'm glad that Emmy seems to have some sort of standing relationship with Oscar de la Renta, because they're kind of a match made in heaven.

5. In Naeem Khan

Girl sure knows her way around a floral print.

4. In Ralph Lauren

One of the best deployments of metallics, ever — it looks like mercury at room temperature!

3. In Monique Lhuillier

Now, that's a statement dress (not to mention the statement earrings)!

2. In Carolina Herrera

Rossum here (with a healthy assist from Lucy Liu) has made me into a total Carolina Herrera convert.

1. In Carolina Herrera (again)

She sure took the Charles James theme to the next level at this year's Met Gala — it was my favorite look of the night.

Images: Getty Images (11)