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Nobody died and dubbed me the arbiter of all things fashionable, but I can spot a "don't" pretty easily, and last night at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles, there were plenty to go around. In fact, there were so many, like J.Lo, you could have tripped on them. Let's take a "trip" down memory lane.

Janet, "Miss Jackson" if you must, looked like a Crate and Barrel couch that had too much bedazzling.

Speaking of bedazzled, Shakira's shorty black number made Janet's look positively dowdy with all the sparkle and glitz. It was sort of a latex, LED tube dress that fit her like a glove. The hips don't lie.

Rihanna is usually lauded for her ensembles, and while I don't always love the '80s outfits she dons, I can appreciate her ability to pull them off. So what happened last night? Rihanna was covered from neck to ankles in what looked like a white velour "onesie." You know, sort of like little kids pajamas. It was offset by horizontal cutouts that looked like tan stripes, which one person described as a glorified Cinnabon and another termed "Ace bandages." She was wearing a short white shrug that looked like football shoulder pads with spikes jutting forth.

Lady Gaga... you expect a dramatic look from her, it's part of the schtick. But her weirdly proportioned nude leotards, oddly wrapped with the accessory of the night, "Ace bandages," offset by a contraption that looked like a ribcage with Christmas tree lights, and very "Alienesque" headgear were beyond the pale. I kept looking at those straps trying to figure out why they were there and what they were hiding.
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Rihanna stopped to talk to CNN's Denise Quan as she made her way down the red carpet for the American Music Awards Sunday night.

Rihanna: So big things are happening, a lot of work and we're at the AMA's, we're performing some new songs too tonight, so, I can't wait.

Denise Quan: How does it feel to be back to business?

Rihanna: Great, great. When I was off, for the little time that I had off before we started working on music again, I drove myself crazy. I just felt like a delinquent, I'm like what am I doing? I need to work and now I'm back to work and its getting crazy and busier than ever but its what I love to do so I have no complaints.

Quan: How does it feel to have all these fans supporting you?

Rihanna: Amazing. It makes you - you know, you don't feel lonely, you know, you feel like you have a team of support and there's nothing better than that. Especially when you go through something rough, you always feel like you always need friends. You always feel like you want somebody to reach out to you and lean on and having my friend's support throughout the whole thing its just amazing to me.

Quan: It's almost Thanksgiving. What are you most thankful for?

Rihanna: I'm most thankful for my happiness right now. To me the biggest thing in life is to be happy, you can have anything you want but, if you're not happy it doesn't make any sense and I'm really HAPPY right now and I'll be in France on Thanksgiving, I don't know how they celebrate it over there but we'll see.

It's a publicity flurry.

Rihanna's two-part interview with "Good Morning America"'s Diane Sawyer airs Thursday and Friday. There's the December cover of Glamour magazine featuring Rihanna, recognizing her as one of their "Women of the Year." Every day it seems another Rihanna video is released, and don't forget her new album "Rated R" is due in stores November 23rd. Until now, she's been silent about the night she was left bruised and battered by then-boyfriend Chris Brown.

Tomorrow, we'll hear from Rihanna. She'll perhaps shed some light on the evening. We may learn what precipitated the blowout that ended in a smackdown. But there are two sides to every story. Rihanna's side has been dramatically illustrated by the leaked evidence photo of her swollen eyelids, bruised face and busted lips.  Chris' side includes a botched Larry King appearance, a fleeting shot of him serving his community service wearing an orange jumpsuit, and his Twitter posting with a link to a music video (made by fans) of he and Rihanna in ostensibly happier times. The video is set to Lee Carr's "The Way We Used to Be" and accompanied by Brown's apology "SORRY YALL. JUST HAD TO POST IT," with a follow-up tweet "FOR THE FELLAS: showing emotion doesn't make u weak... BEING HONEST MAKES U STRONG."

If being honest makes you strong, then perhaps we're about to see a much stronger Chris Brown. Friday at 6pm ET, his side of the story will play out in an interview with MTV's Sway. According to an MTV press release, Brown will address "the questions people have been asking."  In the 30-minute interview, the one-time R&B darling "opens up about the aftermath of his assault" and his sentence that includes anger management and community labor. Why now? Is he looking for the last word after Rihanna's two-day ABC sitdown? Could it be he also has an album to sell? Not yet, but his third album is on the way: "Graffitti" is slated to hit stores December 8th.

In the end, we have two people, two well-timed interviews, two albums to sell, and two sides of the story... with no happy ending in sight.

Glamour magazine  has just revealed it is naming  Rihanna a “Woman of the Year.” She is being honored alongside the likes of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, Michelle Obama and Maya Angelou.

Glamour says  it is giving Rihanna this award because, in  Glamour's  November issue, Rihanna talks openly for the first time about domestic violence. Rihanna tells Glamour, “Domestic violence is a great big secret. I want to give as much insight as I can to young women… to help speak for them.” As is a sad fact by now, Rihanna was brutally beaten by ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown in February, right before the Grammy Awards.

I, along with many other women, have been waiting for the moment when Rihanna would publicly discuss her personal tragedy. Whether she likes it or not, she is a role model to the young women who buy her albums and emulate her style. Her silence for the last 8 months is a decision I respect – it is her business. But the fact is, that silence has sent a mixed message to her young female fans about domestic violence.

Rihanna should be commended for finally speaking out about domestic violence. I imagine it took a lot of courage for her to discuss such a personal tragedy so publicly. But that doesn’t qualify her to be honored in Glamour Magazine’s “Women of the Year” issue. Yes, it’s a good first step that Rihanna is finally ready to come forward and talk about her experience on that terrible night in February. Yes, Rihanna has every right to talk about this experience in her own due time and in her own way. We’re all ready to support her in this endeavor. But that doesn’t make Rihanna a prime candidate to be celebrated in Glamour Magazine with Maya Angelou and Michelle Obama.

Let’s see how Rihanna grows into this role and how she reaches out to these young women she speaks of. Let’s support her as she continues to speak out about domestic violence. But celebrating Rihanna simply because she has spoken out for the first time about this incident does not make her a “Woman of the Year.”

If you thought Rihanna was bad before, then welcome to her dark side.

The wait is not quite over for her upcoming album, “Rated R” – due November 23 - but the singer is revealing another taste of her evolved sound with the video for her latest single, “Wait Your Turn” , on RihannaNow.com.

Like her barbed-wire bound image on the album cover, “Wait Your Turn’s” grainy black-and-white video is a testament to toughness. The trendsetter dons plenty of leather, enough jewelry to seriously injure anyone looking for a fist fight and she is not - I repeat not - afraid of the crotch grab.

The dark sunglasses she wears seem a little reminiscent of Aaliyah, which she switches up with an eye-patch over her left eye. I smell a new signature look, but only time will tell if it’ll take off like her jet-black haircut of yesteryear.

The Barbadian songstress revealed to Glamour magazine in an interview that she put everything she wanted to say in the past eight months into her music.

“[My new album] is super fearless,” she said in the interview, “which is exactly how I feel right now. I am in a really good place.”

Interesting how a restraining order will make a man show his softer side.

Chris Brown, charged with five years probation and six months of community service for the beating he gave his ex-girlfriend Rihanna nine months ago, is still apologizing – this time for using Twitter to wax nostalgic about the ghosts of his relationship past.

Late Sunday night, the 20-year-old singer tweeted a link to a video montage on YouTube featuring him and Rihanna in better days, set to a saccharine song by Lee Carr, “The Way We Used To Be.” Brown wrote with the link, “IM SORRY YALL. JUST HAD TO POST IT.”

He followed that tweet minutes later with: “FOR THE FELLAS: showing emotion doesn't make u weak... BEING HONEST MAKES U STRONG.”

The video for Brown’s latest single, “I Can Transform Ya” debuted today.

Rihanna's rockin' an eyepatch on the cover of her new single ... and not much else!

Rihanna's new single is "Russian Roulette," from the album "Rated R."

On the front of "Russian Roulette" – which became available on rihannanow.com this morning – the Barbados-born beauty poses with barbed wire strategically wound like a ribbon around her breasts.

The 21-year-old chart-topper is definitely not playing the demure victim, after her much-publicized beatdown at the hands of then-boyfriend Chris Brown this year. In the cover photo, she seems to be saying, "I'm a survivor, I'm strong, I'm sexy – don't mess with me!"

In a press release this morning, Def Jam also revealed the name of her new album: "Rated R." As she announced last week in a tweet, the CD will hit stores on Monday, November 23.

The video for "Russian Roulette" – which was written and produced by Ne-Yo – will "premiere in primetime on ABC." One can only surmise it'll be in conjunction with a long-form sitdown interview.

60.  52.  6.  And zero.

Those were the details of Chris Brown's sentencing Tuesday – and the smallest number may be the most important.

Under the terms of his plea deal for assaulting Rihanna back in February, the 20-year-old R&B star will be on felony probation for 60 months.  He'll have to complete a 52-week domestic violence counseling program, and perform six months of "community labor" - L.A. Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg was clear that she wanted Brown to work.  And Judge Schnegg continued the protective order preventing Brown from contacting or approaching Rihanna in any way.

The judge seemed to take special care to ensure Brown understood that last point, reading the language of the order out loud, and then addressing Brown directly.  She noted that while she didn't rule by hearsay, she wasn't "immune to the chatter" that Brown and Rihanna had been seen together since the order was first imposed.  She spelled it out: violating the protective order would be a violation of Brown's probation.  That means no contact of any kind, staying at least 10 yards away at "industry events" such as award shows, and at least 100 yards away the rest of the time.

I've only met Brown once, nearly two years ago, at the press junket for the movie "This Christmas."  My impression of him was of a talented kid: enthusiastic about music and basketball, a little more polite than your average teenager, and enjoying his celebrity status.  I don't know how much he's changed in the last two years, or how much he'll change in the next five, over the course of his probation.  But I hope he finds a way to become the role model that so many people seem to want or expect him to be - to convince both his fans and those who rightfully blasted him for his criminal behavior that he's a changed man, that he learned the worst possible way what a real man does and doesn't do.  Being a cautionary tale isn't comfortable, but it may be the best thing that could come out of all this.

One hundred and sixty three days. That’s how long it took Chris Brown to publicly apologize for beating his girlfriend Rihanna. In the dramatic video, Brown asks for forgiveness and promises to be a better role model. As someone who normally sees things as pretty cut and dry, I can’t decide where I stand on this one.

On the one hand, Brown needed to wait before he could speak out. Legally it would have been foolish- and perhaps dangerous- for him to make a move before things were settled.  If he had said anything right after his plea deal, it would have been in poor taste. I am sure that he had planned to release this video a little sooner but with all of the media coverage surrounding Michael Jackson’s death I assume he held off for a bit.

The statement itself was a brilliantly crafted work of art, designed I am sure by a team of PR experts. Brown read it beautifully- I imagine off of a teleprompter- and made every point he was aiming to make. All in all, from a PR standpoint, it was a slam-dunk.

If this was just about a guy who hit a girl and then put out a well crafted statement I would be blasting him and that would be that. But there is a bigger story here- Chris Brown is also a victim. He came from a home where there was domestic abuse and now the cycle continues. I have a hard time making him a one dimensional monster because it is more complex than that. I do believe that violence is never the answer- EVER. I don’t care who is abusing, the man or the woman; it is never ok. The problem is that once that cycle starts, it is hard to stop.

What do you guys think? Is Chris Brown a victim too?

Be sure to watch Showbiz Tonight for much more on Chris Brown’s emotional apology, tonight, at 11pm ET/PT on HLN- don’t miss it!

Chris Brown has just released a shocking video in which he apologizes to his fans.  In it he says:

“Hi, I’m Chris Brown.  Since February my attorney has advised me not to speak out even though ever since the incident I have wanted to publicly express my deepest regret and accept full responsibility.  Although I will do some interviews and answer some questions in the future, I felt that it was time that you heard directly from me that I am sorry. I have tried to live my life in a way that can make those around me proud of me and until recently I think I was doing a pretty good job.  I wish I had the chance to live those few moments again.  But unfortunately I can’t.  I cannot go into what happened and most importantly I am not going to sit here and make any excuses I take great pride in me being able to exercise self control and what I did was inexcusable. I am very sad and very ashamed of what I have done. My mother and my spiritual teachers have taught me way better than that.  I have told Rihanna countless times and I am telling you today that I am truly, truly sorry and that I wasn’t able to handle the situation both differently and better.  I recognize that I have truly been blessed.  I have been blessed with a wonderful family, wonderful friends and fans. God has been generous in giving me the ability which has bringing me fame and fortune.  I have done a lot of soul searching and over the past several months I have talked with my minister and my mother and I spent a lot of time trying to understand what happened and why.  I have let a lot of people down and I realize that and no one is more disappointed in me than I am.  As many of you know I grew up in a home where there was domestic violence and I saw firsthand what uncontrolled rage can do.  I sought and I am continuing to seek help to insure that what occurred in February can never happen again and as I sit here today I can tell you that I will do everything in my power to make sure that it never happens again and I promise that.  What I did was unacceptable, 100%.  I can only ask and pray that you forgive me, please.  I hope that others learn from my mistake.  I intend to live my life so that I am truly worthy of the term role model.  Thank you.”

For the complete video and the latest on this fast developing story, be sure to watch Showbiz Tonight at 11pm Eastern and Pacific on HLN- don’t miss it!