By Madeleine Marr and Audra D.S. Burch,The Miami Herald

MIAMI – It was a night of unpredictability: The red carpet was white, the skies were clear, the fashions a mix of Hollywood glitz and gangsta chic.

Really now. Where else but the VMAs would you see Carmen Electra glide down in an electric orange Cavalli gown anda few steps away, Timbaland in an oversized white T-shirt and jeans?

Thankfully, though, many other guys rose to the occasion. As always, Usher dressed the part of the star he is, in head-to-toe Bottega Veneta (powder-blue blazer, white slacks and open shirt, yellow). Jay-Z looked fab in a navy pinstriped suit – “It’s something I just ripped out and put together.” Yeah, right.

Shout-outs must also go out to Daddy Yankee, who rarely lets eagle-eyed fashionistas down in a natty gray suit and pink tie (Who’re you wearing? “Pregunta a mi estilista.”). Cool, Daddy – tell your stylist she’s doing a great job. And rapper The Game, in a white cotton suit with red bandanna tie draped over a tunic. The designer: The Game himself. He calls his line Pigeon, “the most ghetto of all the birds. It’s flashy, smooth, but still gangsta. This collection is the future, very 2009.”

As for the lovely ladies: Human boombox Kelly Clarkson squeezed into a vintage gold low-backed gown that matched her ever-changing hair color. “I get bored. It may be fire red tomorrow.” From a distance, the “American Idol” winner resembled an Oscar statuette. Renewed blond Ashlee Simpson also went vintage, chucking her punk image, seemingly, for good. Of her lacy dress: “I could have gone all white, but I went all black.” Sounds reasonable.

More smart choices: Hilary Duff in a beaded flapper gown; Beyonce in a Dolce silver sequined goddess gown, which was so beautiful legendary music producer Quincy Jones stopped dead in his tracks saying, “How can you not love awards shows when people show up looking like this?”

Gwen Stefani (who, with Snoop Dogg, won the Diddy Fashion Challenge, which gave the best-dressed man and woman at the show $50,000 each to go to charity) and Lindsay Lohan couldn’t be further from soul sisters but showed up in too-similar cheetah print dresses.

Hear that sound? Somewhere, a stylist is being canned.

Not one to be outdone, Miami’s wannabe favorite daughter Paris Hilton flitted by in a ruby dress by established favorite son Esteban Cortazar.

Party girl of late Nelly Furtado, in town recording her new album, showed in a skimpy yellow jersey dress by Ella Moss.

Another gal who opted for casual – new Gap spokeswoman Joss Stone in a long denim patchwork skirt with a fishtail and peasant top. “I think it’s cute that Gap custom made it for me,” she said. Hear that sound? Somewhere, ousted Gap girl Sarah Jessica Parker is murmuring to herself, “I could have done better.”

Also someone who could have done better: the Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie, wearing a ruffly yellow and green dress.