We can do this the easy way or the hard way.  We can start from the top and work our way down or vice versa.  Beginning with a color palette is a popular choice, but then there’s the method of dressing specifically for an event.  Whichever way you decide to go, there’s no getting around the fact that you will actually have to get dressed (and all done up) on New Year’s Eve.  And while we can’t know whether or not you have a gold strapless dress already in your closet, we can tell you that the following looks are sure to drop jaws a la Jim Carrey in The Mask.

Everywhere You Go Has Valet

If you can barely remember the last time you had to parallel park, Diane von Furstenberg would like to dress you for New Year’s Eve this year – her Josun Dress in Miranda Ruffles (Green) is fun, flirty, and colorful, unlike all the girls waiting in line in little black dresses and leather leggings.  Don the dress with a pair of Stella McCartney’s black, gold, and white heels, smoky eye shadow, a rather large cocktail ring, and a glass of champagne.

For The Omnipresent Gossip Girl

Regardless of whether you consider yourself a Blair or Serena, it seems that Herve Leger knows what you’d look best in this New Year’s Eve.  His signature body hugging dresses make a bold statement, especially this crystal beaded number perfect for shining at a beau from across the room.  As soon as this dress meets a pair of Pierre Hardy’s Silver Pailettes, it will be a match made in 2010 heaven.

Pleasure Mixes Best With Business…

You may talk like a dominatrix at times, but that doesn’t mean you’d like your clothes to be held together with oversized safety pins.  Alexander McQueen’s striped, asymmetrical, body conscious dress with a pair of Azzedine Alaia’s highest (and most punishing) heels will let you make as grand and dominating entrance as possible.  Work in some color with bold jewels, bright red lipstick, and maybe some colorful language – nobody said being the life of the party was easy.

You’re Ahead of the Curve

If you think Cosmopolitans and Apple Martinis are for amateurs, you’ll want to usher in the new year wearing one of Jonathan Saunder’s candy colored, girlish dresses from his Spring 2009 collection.  Wear it with a quintessential gold or nude pair of red-soled Louboutins, colorful makeup (we’re thinking purple eyeliner and a healthy dose of rouge), and a gold cuff to toughen it all up a touch and you’re reputation as a style maven is left in tact.

And thus, the dream list of what we’ll all be wearing come December 31.  Of course, we’d better not all show up in the same thing…