Femail verdict: Did they think it was a panto?

WHY do even the most stylish stars sometimes take a wrong turn on the red carpet?

Last night there was evidently a little too much pantomime dame – and too little A-list trouper.

Take the effortlessly chic Keira Knightley, face of Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle campaign, who can always be relied upon to look elegantly understated.

Has she been watching too many episodes of Victoria? How else do you explain the bodice-ripping tulle confection complete with Victorian curtail pulls dangling from the sleeves?

Meanwhile, a youthful Cate Blanchett was wearing what appeared to be a Christmas novelty jumper in powder pink.

The beautifully embellished cropped knit by Alexander McQueen, which is from the designer’s Resort 2018 collection, would, you might think, perhaps be best paired with a pair of trousers – yet it comes with a full skirt which hung like a pair of froufrou curtains.

Even the gloriously statuesque Poppy Delevingne only got it half right with a magnificent plunging white sheath dress scattered with appliqued turquoise flowers. Where she went wrong? Adding the cartoonish marabou feathers which should have been left at home in the dressing up box.

The pressure to make a serious fashion statement on the red carpet also appeared to throw poor Billie Piper, who tested out the current trend for ‘cold shoulder dressing’.

It seems she lost the style memo that, in order to carry this particular style off, you need to bare both shoulders. Not just the one. Nor should you throw in a leg and thigh for good measure.