Pre-Emmy Party Time! (Fashion Wire Daily)

Summery short dresses ruled the evening's red carpet, from Sophia Bush's billowy blue-and-white number to Kate Walsh's white baby-doll frock. Samaire Armstrong went with a riotous black-and-white knee-sweeping dress, while Stacy Keibler did a glitter flapper-girl imitation and Fran Drescher showed off skin-tight white. Jeans and casual slacks were well represented too, by Angie Harmon, Kelly Carlson, and Lauren Graham.

Lindsay went with her new uniform, shades of the 1980's, in black leggings and oversize white top; she helped DJ Samantha Ronson spin an eclectic set of tunes that got pockets of people dancing all over the indoor/outdoor space.

Everywhere you looked there was a familiar face, and not just the ones projected on large and small flat-screen televisions all over the place. Taye Diggs, Dule Hill, and Henry Simmons joked in one corner, while Kevin Nealon and Jonathan Silverman gabbed in another. Matthew Perry and Lauren Graham got chummy with Tina Fey, and "Ghost Whisperer" star Jennifer Love Hewitt snuggled with boyfriend Ross McCall.

Heidi Klum made being very pregnant look like a fabulous place to be, and "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" Best Actress in a Drama nominee Mariska Hargitay showed off her voluptuous post-pregnancy bod, too, while laughing it up with her competition, "West Wing's" Allison Janney.

Cute "Desperate Housewives" daughter (and still a teenager) Andrea Bowen came with her mom, and Ron Livingston, star of the new Fox series "Standoff," brought his co-star Rosemarie DeWitt along for the fun, and laughed at the whole idea of the party-before-the-big-party that the EW fete was, a precursor to Sunday's Emmy night revelries.

"The Emmys are the time of year when Hollywood celebrates itself," he smiled. "And we all need to celebrate ourselves once in a while ? but Hollywood does it all year long!"

Other nominees in the teeming crowd included Clifton Collins, Jr., Blythe Danner, Denis Leary, and Cheryl Hines, along with a gaggle of "Scrubs" stars ? Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Judy Reyes, and Zach Braff, who commented wryly on their show's single nomination.

"It's such a weird thing to do this sort of competition, especially when you have no idea who the people are who are voting," he said with shrug. "We're excited to be invited and we're going to go and have a fun time at the party. Of course, we're only nominated for Best Comedy Series, so the nomination is really about Bill Lawrence, whose baby the show is. It's funny; we're not nominated in any other category, only best show. Which means none of the parts that make it up are any good ? everything sucks except the show!"