With the unfortunate passing of Whitney Houston casting a dark cloud over the 2012 Grammy Awards, many of tonight's stars are pressing on and showing off their wild Grammys garb.

Just hours before the Grammys last week -- a mysterious blonde woman was being wheeled around in a clear coffin-ish box backstage ... and all signs point to Lady Gaga.


Sources behind the scenes at the Grammys tell TMZ ... the woman in the box was spotted backstage right around the time Gaga had finished rehearsing for her performance.  And the gang of staffers surrounding the coffin suggests that the person inside was kind of a big deal.

Hours after the video was shot, Gaga famously arrived to the awards inside of a crazy alien egg thing.

We called Gaga's camp for comment -- but so far, nobody's talkin'.

The egg Lady Gaga was encased in at the Grammys can't be bought at a local Target -- it's a one-of-a-kind original designed by British fashion designer and artist Hussein Chalayan.


According to the designer, the "plexiglass vessel" was a collaboration between Gaga and Chalayan based on a piece of work Chalayan did for a movie back in 2003.

The vessel took over a month to construct, but only about two seconds for everyone to go, "What the hell is that?!?!?"

From the looks of the red carpet, the 2011 Grammy Awards are sure to put on a show! So check out all the craziest looks that went down outside Staples Center.

This really is not her month.

Lady Gaga arrived at the Grammy Awards, being carried down the red carpet in something that looks like it came from the movie "Alien."



We get it already. You can stop now.

With this year's Grammy Awards just hours away, let's take a look back at the best and worst from last year's red carpet.

Michael Jackson has earned a posthumous Grammy nomination for the song "This Is It."



Michael is nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and is up against Michael Bublé, Adam Lambert, Bruno Mars and John Mayer.

If Jackson wins it will be his 14th Grammy award.

Gen. Larry Platt just took in-flight entertainment to the next level.

Platt's manager tells TMZ Platt busted out an impromptu performance of "Pants on the Ground" during a flight from L.A. to Atlanta this AM -- after passengers recognized him and then begged him to do it.

We're told Platt -- who was on his way back home from The Grammys -- performed the song in the aisle in coach.

Platt was the last person to get off the plane -- because the pilots and flight attendants wanted to meet him.

Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Fergie all attended a pre-Grammy party at the Beverly Hilton over the weekend.



The question is ...

Paris and Prince Jackson, Michael Jackson's two oldest kids, delivered a touching speech when they accepted a lifetime achievement award at the Grammy Awards tonight.