Shiri Appleby Showed Some Underboob in Risky White Lace Dress

Some of Hollywood’s biggest names in TV flocked to L.A.’s Nightingale Plaza on Friday night to kick off Emmys weekend with Entertainment Weekly’s annual bash. But before the stars sipped champagne and mingled with their famous co-stars, they hit the red carpet for their standard pre-event obligations. And while the experience might seem exceptionally glamorous to outsiders, it’s something that many celebrities would prefer to skip. In fact, Miley Cyrus opened up in Elle’s October issue about her plan to boycott future step-and-repeats, equating posing for photographers to something out of the movie Zoolander. “It’s really not about the color of the carpet. It’s more about, especially women, we get yelled at to blow them a kiss, and I don’t feel like blowing you a kiss,” she clarified. "[The photographers] yell, ‘Blow us a kiss!’ Like what is going on? Who are you? And then you’re just kind of putting yourself out there for people to talk.“ While the renowned pop star’s peers don’t seem to be taking such drastic measures, there are things about being on that side of the velvet rope that celebrities don’t always enjoy. We caught up with a few of this year’s EW party attendees to hear about their biggest red carpet pet peeves. “Red carpets are so nerve-racking,” gushed Ariel Winter, who arrived in a Kookaï LBD that she affectionately referred to as rocker chic. “There are lights everywhere! Sometimes I’ll turn and be talking, and then I’ll see a photo of me the next day of me looking crazy,” she joked. After defending her decision to showcase her breasts for the evening, the Modern Family actress expressed her gratitude for finally being in a place where she feels comfortable with her body. “I was insecure when I was younger because I had a lot of eyes watching me,” she explained. “I had people spreading so much hate on all of my pictures, on my Twitter, on everything since I was a little girl and it really got to me in my preteen years. And then as I got older, I was surrounded by people like Sofia Vergara who were curvier like me that were proud of it. They were showing it off and it really helped me to move forward and be proud of my body. I finally said to myself, ‘This is who I am. There is no way I’m changing and I should learn to love and accept it.’ I’m really happy I did that because I wouldn’t want to change myself in any other way.” After posing for photos, Padma Lakshmi made her way down the long red carpet, stumbling a bit in her heels. “My feet hurt already!” she chirped, all the while maintaining a smile. “At least the shoes are cute, right?” she said of her Stuart Weitzman pumps. The Top Chef host revealed that hopping out of a car and getting her picture taken by a sea of photographers is never her favorite part of an event. “It makes you so self-conscious about everything and really you just want to look nice and see your friends,” she explained. “I think it’s nice that they want to take everyone’s picture but I think my mom takes quicker pictures!” she added with a laugh. Jaime King double-dipped on Friday night, attending two pre-Emmy soirees. And by the time she arrived to meet up with her friends at EW, the event was bursting with attendees. “I’m burning up. Do I have hives all over my chest? Because all I’m thinking about is how hot I am right now,” she said with a laugh. “I came from Variety Women in Film and it was so packed and it was such a small space. And this is way too close and I’m on fire.” Her Jason Wu outfit, although lovely, didn’t help the occasion. “These are wool pants underneath,” she said as she rushed inside to cool off with a cocktail. If there’s one pose that Sara Rue loathes, it’s the “over the shoulder.” In fact, if someone from the photo pit specifically requests it, she’ll playfully smile and pretend that she doesn’t hear them. “It’s like, why do you want to take a picture of my butt. Why? It’s not that great. Please stop. Focus on the front. I mean, I worked really hard right here. Let’s focus there, not on my butt,” she joked. Yara Shahidi seconds the ban on that pose. “I feel like, as a 16-year-old, I’m not quite ready for the over the shoulder,” she joked. “I know it’s common to do over the shoulder, but for me personally, I’m like, “Look at the front of me. Isn’t my face great?” Riki Lindhome may be one part of the comedic duo Garfunkel and Oates, but that doesn’t mean that she’s keen on having to coordinate her red-carpet pose with comedian pal Kate Micucci. “I have been asked to do the Charlie’s Angels pose so many times. I feel like I’m done with this!” she exclaimed. “I sometimes say I don’t hear them or if it’s somebody super eager, I do the gun. No solo Charlie’s Angels pose, though, ’cause then it just looks like I’m firing a gun.” For Unreal’s Shiri Appleby, it’s the fashion-judging aspect of a red carpet that stresses her out. Though she looked amazing in a white lacy halter dress that showed off her assets, the stream of screaming photos made her second-guess her attire. “I’m wearing a dress that I really love, but it’s kind of a bit of a risk, so I’m just kind of going for it,” she admitted after rushing through the photo process. Rhea Seehorn’s pet peeve is when her moment gets stolen by a bigger name. “I’ve had them yell ‘move out of the way’ because there’s a giant celebrity next to me,” the Better Caul Saul actress revealed. “That’s not fun at all when that happens.” Meanwhile, Rumer Willis, who was palling around for the evening with America’s Got Talent finalist Brian Justin Crum, just strives to make it inside of a party with her vision still intact. “I feel like at a certain point the flash starts going in your eyes and when you leave, you have spots a little bit for a while,” she explained. “You just gotta work though it!” Her many years in the trade have trained Mary Elizabeth Winstead to tune out the “angry” photographers who yell at her to pose in certain directions. “Occasionally, it can get a little aggressive and that’s when you just want to go, ‘OK, calm down,’” she noted. “I’ve been on set since I was a kid, so I kind of know how to go into my happy place in my little own dream world. I’m kind of used to just centering myself and tuning a lot of those kinds of things out,” she explained. In preparation of her upcoming ABC drama, Notorious, Piper Perabo, has been hitting the red carpet circuit hard. “I’ve been doing this long enough that I feel like I know a lot of the people who do photographs on the red carpet and there are so many photographers that I am a fan of,” she said with a grin. But that doesn’t mean that the experience doesn’t take its toll after a while. “If you have to stay on it for a long time, your smile starts to hurt a little bit. I think that’s why some of the girls have, like, an intense look. I can’t help smiling, but at the end of the night, my cheeks hurt!” she divulged. Fortunately, the Coyote Ugly alum has a remedy. “I always get tacos on the way home. Somehow I feel better by the time I get there.” Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.