As the drizzle over the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden turned to snow, it was more a question of how many clothes the red carpet starlets could get away with wearing, than how few.
The Hollywood stars brave enough to migrate to London from the Californian sunshine for last night's Bafta Awards had no need for the kind of strict no-nudity dress code imposed upon attendees of the Grammys.
As the drizzle over the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden turned to snow, it was more a question of how many clothes the red carpet starlets could get away with wearing, than how few.
Jennifer Lawrence, a nominee for best actress, was taking no chances after a recent pneumonia scare, wrapping her embellished Dior gown under a black overcoat and leaving the big reveal until she was safely in the warm.
Being the face-in-waiting of the French couture house has ensured that Lawrence, 22, hasn't had to look far for something to wear this awards season, and - besides the SAG Awards gown which didn't actually rip, OK? - has been guaranteed a win every outing.
Jessica Chastain, the Zero Dark Thirty actress, found out too late that puddles are no friend to cobalt satin, and Andrea Riseborough, who was nominated for the rising star award, discovered for the second time this awards season that there is such a thing as too much cleavage on the red carpet. As her decolletage started turning blue, Anne Hathaway had to step in and loan Riseborough her jacket. Hathaway, the recent victim of the worst kind of wardrobe malfunction (Google at your peril), came prepared in a low-risk studded black Burberry gown and let her accessories do the talking instead.
Up close, her dainty Anya Hindmarch box clutch had been personalised with an image of the first edition cover of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables - the film for which she received the award for best supporting actress.
There were two rays of sunshine, however. Best actress nominee Marion Cotillard - another Dior girl - could have lit up the whole Royal Opera House single-handedly thanks to her yellow gown and scarlet lips. And, of course, a special recognition award has to go to Helen Mirren for her candyfloss pink hair - a surprise style move which the 67-year-old Hitchcock actress claimed was inspired by the British winner of America's Next Top Model.
It may not have been everybody's cup of tea, but she wore it with conviction, and the smile of a woman who knows that she has nothing to prove.
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