The countdown to the 85th annual Academy Awards has begun, with the glittering Oscars ceremony taking place on Sunday 24 February.
As usual, the coveted golden statuettes aside, all eyes will be on Hollywood's most glamorous women and their fashion statements for the evening. The Academy Awards red carpet, as it was last year (with Angelina Jolie's black-gown-right-leg pose), will be the centre of attention for fashionistas everywhere.
A-list Hollywood fashion isn't just about exquisite couture and flawless fashion... it's also about the tad more eccentric and, in some cases, downright absurd, ensembles.
For example, costume designer Lizzy Gardiner turned heads in 1994, when she wore a gown made of American Express credit cards. Outlandish? Yes. But it did work... Gardiner was nominated for her work in The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. And she won.
The ultimate fashion disaster in Oscar history must go to singer and actress Bjork - for her Swan Dress. She even pretended to lay an egg on the red carpet.
"What surprises me is that they thought I was trying to fit in but got it wrong, that I expected everyone to be wearing peacock dresses and gorilla outfits! What they don't mention is that I had brought six ostrich eggs with me and I was dropping them carefully on the red carpet. But other people's bodyguards kept picking them up and saying in their thick American accents, ''Scuse me, ma'am, you dropped this,'" she confessed in an interview with GQ magazine in 2011.
Take a look at the worst dressed Oscar attendees through the years...
Australian Lizzy Gardiner arrives at the 67th annual Academy Awards March 27 wearing a gown made of American Express credit cards she designed. Gardiner won an Oscar for best costume design for her work in the film \"The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the DesertReutersSinger and actress, Cher at the 70th Academy AwardsReutersActress Angelina Jolie waves to the crowd as she arrives at the 72nd Annual Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, March 26.ReutersRecording star Celine Dion at the 71st Academy AwardReutersSinger Bjork arrives at the 73rd annual Academy Awards.ReutersActress Gwyneth Paltrow at the 74th Academy AwardsReutersCountry music star, Faith HillReutersJennifer Connelly at the 74th Oscars.ReutersUma Thurman at the 76th Academy AwardsReutersActress Diane Keaton at the r76th Academy AwardsReutersU.S. actress Melanie Griffith arrives at the 77th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, February 27, 2005. REUTERS/Mike Blake MMRReutersActress Scarlett Johansson arrives at the 77th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood February 27, 2005.ReutersCharlize Theron bagged the sixth place with £15mReutersBest supporting actress nominee Tilda Swinton from the film \"Michael Clayton\", dressed in Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, arrives at the 80th annual Academy Awards, the Oscars, in Hollywood February 24, 2008.ReutersFrench actress Marion Cotillard has her dress adjusted as she arrives at the 81st Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 22, 2009.ReutersKate Hudson at the 73rd Academy AwardsReutersActress Missi Pyle from the film \"The Artist\" arrives at the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, February 26, 2012.Reuters
