Maxine Waters, Ashton Sanders and 17 other celebs who set fire to the #MTVAward red carpet

As of late, risk aversion has become the red carpet norm. 

We saw it at the 2017 Academy Awards, where the dresses, while stunning, were exceedingly safe, save for Janelle Monae. We saw it again during the Met Gala, where stars like Kim Kardashian West and Selena Gomez kept it simple at an event known for its sartorial bombasity.

But at Sunday night's MTV Movie & TV Awards, that sentiment seemed to cloud over, with a number of notables — and a few "who?'s" — serving up some properly thought-out eye candy. There were still some bores (we're looking long and hard at you, Ms. Emma Watson) but on the whole, the red carpet was full of vibrancy, joy and plenty of metallics.

First, there was Black-ish Emmy-winner Tracee Ellis Ross, fresh off the Met Gala, in a Rosie Assoulin printed robe. Ross was joined by none other than Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)

The pair presented the Best Fight Against the System award to Taraji P. Henson — wearing sequined Emilio Pucci — for her role in Hidden Figures.

Other notables on the carpet included relative newcomer Ashton Sanders — wearing Calvin Klein, of course — who won Best Kiss with Moonlight costar Jharrel Jerome.

Of course, they weren't the only ones to win the night's red carpet. Keep scrolling for a roundup of some of the night's best dressed including Yara Shahidi, Zendaya, Zac Efron and Martha Stewart.

Yvonne Orji

Yara Shahidi

Zendaya

Jasmine Tookes

Victor Cruz

Storm Reid

Cara Delevingne

Zac Efron

Lonnie Chavis

Amandla Stenberg

Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart

Trevor Noah and Jordyn Taylor