Classic Celebrity Pictures

Quick, take a look at these beautiful people and designer choices from this week's Emmy Awards. Lovely, aren't they?

Sear those images in your mind ... because you're about to see many worse examples of what happens when good people make bad fashion decisions.

Before tonight's MTV Video Music Awards, we thought it would be fun to take a look back. Over the years, this spectacle has led to numerous celebrities that looked far from REspectable ...

Yup, Paula Abdul has always looked awful at award shows. Just borrow Simon's black t-shirt next time, don't try so hard.

Hey, a pair of criminals! At least Martha Stewart looks fairly normal in this dark suit. Busta Rhymes, on the other hand? Ummm ... is that a dress?

Maybe this shouldn't be classified as a "classic" picture. After all, when it comes to Lil Kim, not much has changed.

Consider us speechless. When Prince sings at halftime of the Super Bowl, let's hope he wears a bit more.

Long before Jeremy Piven was a well-known, hilarious, Emmy-winning actor... he was still a hilarious actor. All of us at T.H. Gossip are big fans, so we thought it would be fitting for the Entourage star to join our Classic Celebrity Pictures gallery. It's a pretty exclusive club, you know. Christie Brinkley is in it!

Anyway, here's Piven, circa 1994, as Droz in the frat-boy classic PCU.

We've shown you the likes of the troubled Britney Spears and modern comedic genius Will Ferrell in this recurring feature. This time, however, we're going with a picture that is truly vintage. While the staff at T.H. Gossip finds Christie Brinkley to be as fetching as ever nowadays, it's always fun to take a look back at the prime of her career, when her Sports Illustrated swimsuit spreads were the highlight of every subscriber's winter.

Here's a cover shot from... gulp... 1980.

Nowadays, of course, Christie, 52, is involved in a nasty scandal involving her cheating husband Peter Cook, who was discovered having relations with his teenage assistant, Diana Bianchi. Christie has persevered through it all, however, and continues to be a wonderful mother to her two young children, as well as to daughter Alexa Ray Joel, 20, the progeny of her previous marriage to singer Billy Joel. We wish her the best.

Folks, we're going Old School with this classic celebrity picture. Enough of sexy singing beauties such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera - let's give the guys a chance!

As chants of Frank the Tank reign down, we're giddy (and a bit wasted) to present the following Will Ferrell image:

Her former Mickey Mouse Club buddy, Britney Spears, used to be very, very hot. As she's transformed herself into a perpetually pregant airhead with REALLY awful taste in men, however, Brit's looks have gone down the toilet faster than post-meal food from the stomach of Lindsay Lohan.

Christina Aguilera has had the opposite fate, fortunately for men across the world. As shown here in our second instance of Classic Celebrity Pictures, X-tina has changed with the times - but managed to maintain that beautiful, sexy, my-goodness-we-need-new-pants look:

Think about it. Who else would The Gossip choose when officially unveiling its new Classic Celebrity Pictures feature?

For a person who's spent a mere 24 years upon this Earth, Britney Spears has been through a lot. She's been a teen temptress, a pop princess, walking paradox, and a global sex symbol. Now she's producing fewer songs, has her own reality show (the true sign of a has-been in training), is married to the most worthless dirtbag on the planet, acts like she's straight out of the trailer park, cranks out kids like it's her job, and exhibits some seriously weak maternal instincts.

In order words, she's been around long enough -- and become a big enough train wreck -- for some older pictures of her glory days to attain classic status.

Feast your eyes upon this pic, from Esquire. Then think about what might have been, had a man named K-Fed not entered her life. Sigh. At least he can't take away our memories.