The racy wedding dress Madonna wore to the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards ceremony, Sept. 14, 1984, marked the marriage of music and fashion moments.
1985
Dave Stewart, left, and Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics perform during the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards.
1986
Tina Turner performs during the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.
1987
Lacy, layered looks, like those adopted by Prince, who performed at the 1987 awards show, ruled in the mid-1980s.
1988
Bobby Dall, left, Bret Michaels, second from right, and C.C. Deville, right, of the band Poison, appear with an unidentified man at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards. "Hair bands" blew onto the red carpet on the late '80s.
1989
Frontman Robert Smith of The Cure performs during the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards. The London look - a gothic, postmodern punk movement -- also took its place on MTV's stage in the '80s.
1990
Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor displays two of the three awards she won at the 7th annual MTV Video Music Awards in Universal City, Calif., Sept. 6, 1990.
1991
Mariah Carey performs during the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.
1992
Kurt Cobain performs during the MTV Video Music Awards in 1992. In the early '90s, anti-fashion grunge bands like Nirvana became style icons in their jeans and flannel shirts.
1993
Entertainer Rupaul, left, and musician Lenny Kravitz pose at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles.
1994
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson are greeted with applause as they open the 11th Annual MTV Video Music Awards at New York's Radio City Music Hall, Sept. 8, 1994. Jackson's too-short pants and jackets have proven to be a constant at MTV awards shows over the years.
1995
Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas, left, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, of the group TLC, pose for photographers outside New York's Radio City Music Hall before the start of the 12th Annual MTV Video Music Awards, Sept. 7, 1995. Lopes died in a 2002 car accident.
1996
Tupac Shakur arrives at New York's Radio City Music Hall, Sept. 4, 1996, for the 13th Annual MTV Video Music Awards ceremony. Baggy "gangsta" gear was popularized by rappers in the '90s. Shakur was killed in a shooting just a week later.
1997
The Spice Girls arrive for the MTV Video Music Awards at New York's Radio City Music Hall, Sept. 4, 1997. The British singing group offered something for everyone - as long as they had great legs - as women's clothes got skimpier and skimpier.
1998
Marilyn Manson performs during the MTV Video Music Awards in Universal City, Calif., Sept. 10, 1998.
1999
Lil' Kim arrives for the MTV Music Video Awards at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Sept. 9, 1999.
2000
Britney Spears tosses aside her shirt and rips off her pants during her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards at New York's Radio City Music Hall, Sept. 7, 2000.
2001
Kelly Rowland, left, Beyonce Knowles and Michelle Williams, of Destiny's Child, arrive at New York's Metropolitan Opera House for the MTV Video Music Awards, Sept. 6, 2001.
2002
Eminem accepts the award for Best Male Video of the Year for "Without Me" during the MTV Video Music Awards at New York's Radio City Music Hall, Aug. 29, 2002. Eminem reflected a generation who wears gym clothes on the street.