Sofia Vergara and Heidi Klum ramped up the sizzle Sunday night on the Emmy Awards red carpet that already had TV’s biggest stars talking about just how hot they were because of the sweltering temperatures in Los Angeles.

Vergara wore a teal gown by Zuhair Murad with beads all over and a cutout reverse halter neckline, and Klum chose a sea foam-colored gown by Alexandre Vau­thier with plunging V’s from every angle on the top and super-high slits that left very little in the middle.

They helped fuel the trend toward bright, bold color that was also worn by pregnant Claire Danes in strapless daffodil-yellow Lanvin, Julianne Moore in a long-sleeve, stretchy gown by Raf Simons for Christian Dior and Nicole Kidman in a blue-on-white beaded gown by Antonio Berardi. All brought bona fide fashion credibility to the Nokia Theatre, even if they weren’t necessarily the favorites.

Hayden Panettiere plucked her sari-style Mar­chesa straight from the runway, and Ginnifer Goodwin’s flame-red-on-sheer-champagne strapless gown by Monique Lhuillier announced there’s a new generation of style stars to reckon with.

Hal Rubenstein of InStyle magazine, however, saw the beauty of VanCamp’s gown up close and said that — like Moore’s gown, which was Simons’ red-carpet debut for Dior — it needed to be appreciated for the details. "Julianne’s will be the one to remember," he said. "It’s a lot — and it’s a blazing, flaming color — but if you saw the dress, the construction was extraordinary."

Moore said before the show, "I love the color. It’s so fresh."

Zooey Deschanel played to her funny-girl, vintage-style, kooky-sexy character in an ice blue strapless gown by Reem Acra that had a puffy full skirt made of tiers of sharply cut tulle layers.