I am a dedicated awards show junkie. I will TiVo just about any gala telecast for the chance to see what the ladies are wearing, and also to tear up during even the least touching acceptance speeches. Yet in all this fascination, I can't say that I ever had any interest in what the men were wearing. Until recently, men's red carpet attire mostly consisted of inoffensive classic tuxedos--black suit, white shirt, black bow tie--which are perfectly tasteful but hardly say anything about the man himself. And occasionally there'd be a guy trying to stand out by wearing something "whimsical"--a western bolo tie, a Miami Vice-style dinner jacket with a narrow lapel and rolled-up sleeves, or a red bowtie with matching cummerbund--all, unfortunately, come to mind.

As I mentioned in my fedora blog, seeing Nick Cannon at a dressy event in May wearing a black felt fedora and long black tie with his tuxedo made me curious to check him out. I have since found lots of photos of Nick in black tie outfits that mix old-school and new-school. He's worn, for instance, a black shirt with a white tie, a white fringed scarf over a white dinner jacket, and a perfectly folded pocket square. Another red-carpet trailblazer of late has been Brad Pitt. He debuted his Great Gatsby look at Cannes in May, complete with side part and low-scooping waistcoat, which seemed new and very handsome though a tad gimmicky. He has since toned it down, to greater success, with messier hairstyles and seventies-inspired three-piece suits. As good as Brad is at many things, I have to give the credit for his dashing new red carpet look to Tom Ford, who has been dressing Pitt of late.

Adding something personal to a penguin suit isn't a novel concept--in the seventies, Groucho Marx threw in a cigar, beret, and thick-rimmed glasses with his tux and, in the sixties, Terence Stamp played with proportion by wearing a double-breasted tuxedo jacket and an outsized bowtie. Maybe it's time for formalwear to be more intrepid, and I'll be there, my TiVo control in hand, ready to replay the feats of daring.

Nick Cannon (with then-fiancée Selita Ebanks) flip-flops the traditional shirt and tie colors to make a more interesting formal look. Cannes Film Festival, May 2007. (Getty Images)

Mr. Cannon again looks modern in an Old World look at the BET awards. June 2007. (WireImage)

Pakistani President Mohammed Ayeb Khan and his wife visit with President and Mrs. John F Kennedy at Mount Vernon in 1961. (Bettmann/Corbis)

Brad Pitt channels Robert Redford in The Great Gatsby with a Tom Ford three-piece tux. He looks undeniably great, but the side part is a bit literal for me. Cannes Film Festival, May 2007. (Getty Images)

Even the smallest anomaly, like Prince Michael of Kent's yellow rose, can add interest to an otherwise basic tux. 1984. (Tim Graham/Corbis)

Pitt again, at his most recent film premiere, in a mellower, yet still highly stylized, evening look. It suits him much better. September 2007. (Getty Images)

Musician Peter Wolf (with his then-wife, Faye Dunaway) looking dressed up in a dressed-down era at the premiere of The Towering Inferno. New York City, 1974. (Getty Images)

Photographer Ryan McGinley is the epitome of cool in his crooked bowtie, casual belt, and Ray-Ban wayfarers. It's rare that new pictures look as good as old ones, but this is an instant classic. The ICP's Infinity Awards Ceremony, New York City, May 2007. (WireImage)

Groucho Marx's tux adds a bit of formality to an already signature look. 1972. (Getty Images)

Brad Pitt yet again (this time with Casey Affleck) goes retro in a white dinner jacket. I especially like the black vest peeking out from underneath. Venice Film Festival, September 2007. (WireImage)

Joaquin Phoenix's worn-in boots give a rugged look to his straightforward tux. Pictured with Eva Mendes at the Cannes Film Festival, May 2007. (Getty Images)

Jean Shrimpton accompanies Terence Stamp, who's in a double-breasted dinner jacket and larger-than-normal bowtie. 1965. (Getty Images)

Blues musician Willie "The Lion" Smith looking seriously bad-ass. 1974. (Jeff Albertson/Corbis)

Even something as simple as a white stripe on a tuxedo shirt can make a formal look less predictable. NYC, May 2007.

Don't these teenage boys look amazing? They're wearing clothes they looted from a tux shop after the Harlem Riots in 1943. (Bettman/Corbis)

My man Nick Cannon once more, making me proud in his very simple but very elegant evening clothes. Cannes Film Festival, May 2007. (WireImage)

The definition of smooth: Ray Charles in a velvet dinner jacket. 1967. (Bettman/Corbis)

You can always count on Jack Nicholson (with Anjelica Huston at the Oscars) to do - or in this case wear - something amusing. They both have a great sense of their own style. 1976. (Getty Images)