We tried to find winning red carpet looks at the Hum TV Awards. We failed

Saturday night saw a bunch of our brightest celebrities strut their stuff down the Hum TV Awards' red carpet.

This year's awards were held in Karachi, not Dubai, unlike last year's shindig. Still, we were sure this change in venue wouldn't let us down, and we were expecting some fine plumage. It's a soon-to-be-televised awards show, and one of our main reasons for tuning in is that we want to see some razzmatazz and glamour, right?

We were disappointed. Not all the red carpet looks we saw were terrible, just most of them. Below, we attempt to decode why these looks fell flat, and what these stars could've worn instead.

1) Uzair Jaswal's indecisive feathers

Now, we love experimental looks on men and women. But as the saying goes, 'go big or go home.'

Though we do offer props to Uzair for trying something outside the birdcage — er, box — if he reaaaally wanted to rock feathered shoulders he should've gone full fabulous and opted for a more exaggerated look. These tiny 'accent' feathers just look... random, and didn't work at all.

2) Humaima Mallick's Alia Bhatt moment

Note to stars: if a very famous person has worn a certain dress on the cover of Filmfare just a little over a month ago, don't wear the same thing or similar to a red carpet event.

Besides, we just don't love the dress in real life. It looks fine in a highly stylised fashion shoot, but in person it's too baby-girl, too flouncy, too... much. Yep, this is one case where going big isn't the best idea. We can't understand why Humaima, lovely as she is, didn't opt for another, more flattering Elan look. Something sleeker would've worked wonders on her. Oh, and no choker. And no updo.

3) Sarwat Gilani's tea cosy cape-let

Let this be your guide: stay away from anything that could reasonably be described as a cape-let, pant-let, short-let... you get the idea. These mini-me items are extremely hard to pull off. Especially when they look like the cape-let Sarwat Gilani is wearing here, decorated as it is with the kind of sad, wilted ribbon roses that wouldn't look out of place in a third-grader's art project.

We were sad to be this elegant stunner dragged down by a not-so-wow outfit. Sigh.

4) Reema's forced cold shoulder

Hmmmm where to start? First, let's all agree that 'cold shoulder' tops are slightly teeny bopper. Even then, a case could be made for the peek-a-boo style if it conforms to certain rules: it shouldn't look forced, it should be unfussy, it should work within the context of your look. Unfortunately the 'cold shoulder' let Reema down.

This gold gown's 'cold shoulders' are so forced it's painful to view. Combined with the gown's many swoops and flounces there's just too much going on. Also, Reema's managed to break yet another simple yet vital rule: a floor-length gown is meant to skim the floor, not your ankles. Stars be warned: when a gown is too short for you, opt for flats. Easy fix.

5) Gohar Rasheed's magic carpet moment

Oh Gohar. We love you for trying something new, but we don't love the outfit. At all.

On their own, the pants could've worked. By that we mean if they were paired with a simple top/kurta (untucked). But the way this look is worn, its just too costume-y for a red carpet appearance.

6) Urwa Hocane's corny cornrows

Urwa Hocane's cute outfit was let down majorly by her unfortunate hair styling. Someone needs to tell her stylist that cornrows are dated and just a little bit inappropriate.

What Urwa could have used is a super-sleek ponytail, so the attention remained on her unconventional outfit choice. This instead was high school hair that makes her look like she's a gutsy girl at the prom.

Special mention: Nomi Ansari's double-breasted decorations and Ali Xeeshan's eye patch.

To Nomi we'd say: chose one or the other, the medals or the pocket square. Rocking accessories on both sides of your sherwani is just not good. To Ali Xeeshan: statement sunnies would've worked better than an eye-patch. And if you were suffering from conjunctivitis, well, then you're forgiven.

However, like we said, the fashion at the Hum Awards wasn't all bad.

While Syra Shehroz played it safe, she did look well turned out in Shehla Chatoor. Rubya Chaudhry's Adnan Pardesy sari gown also worked, and we rather liked Nausheen Shah's sequinned slit skirt.