Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it. - Yves Saint Laurent.

Right, I'm going to make a heartfelt promise to you all to never, ever boast about the weather in Barcelona again - if I so much as mention the word 'sunshine' on this blog, you have my permission to inflict whatever painful punishment you see fit upon my sorry self.  Less than forty-eight hours after publishing my last post about the glorious sunshine and how winter dressing is all but a distant memory, the most unimaginable snow-storm has hit the city - blizzards, thunder, lightening and all!

So, in an attempt to stay warm without central heating and distract myself from the fact that the world may well be ending, I am curled up with a blanket, cuddling my electric heater and procrastinating wildly.

Any procrastination on a day that follows a major awards ceremony is only going to end one way, and predictably, I have lost almost the whole afternoon to that vast black hole of red carpet photos from last night's Oscars.  What I initially found to be a rather unimpressive selection of outfits, lacking both imagination and originality, has crept up and up in my estimation over the course of the afternoon - there are some truly beautiful dresses which single-handedly  compensate for the number of uninspired outfits, and even some of those that I had originally dismissed lingered on at the back of my mind, until I eventually had to admit that I did rather like them.

Diane Kruger in Chanel 

I already have a serious girl-crush on this woman, and seeing her looking perfect on yet another red carpet in these wonderful cream ruffles has only encouraged it to reach dizzy new heights; I'm fairly certain Diane Kruger can do no wrong.  

Zoe Saldana in Givenchy

Undoubtedly my favourite dress from last night - the colour, texture and sequins all work beautifully together and the simple hair, make-up and lack of accessories allow the dress to really stand out and speak for itself.

Demi Moore in Versace

Having originally dismissed this as slightly bland, I have to now admit that, while it wouldn't be my choice, this nude, layered dress works very well on Demi - her colouring and accessorising add interest and make the dress stand out.

Cameron Diaz in Oscar de la Renta

Yes, it's incredibly over-the-top, but if you can't be excessively glamourous at the Oscars, when can you?!  It's a gorgeous dress, which could easily be overwhelming; fortunately Diaz is a strong enough character to wear this dress as God (or Oscar de la Renta) intended.

Sarah Jessica Parker in Chanel

I really love her, so was initially slightly disappointed by this choice, but the more I look at it, the more it just screams SJP.  Admittedly it wouldn't be my first choice of outfit for an award ceremony, but then I wouldn't wear a lot of the things that she does and that's precisely why she's completely amazing!

Rachel McAdams in Elie Saab

This dress is beautiful, and a perfect example of the sort of thing I would wear (if I was, for some reason invited to the Oscars and happened to have the money for a designer dress...).  Rachel McAdams looks wonderful in it too and, for somebody who has never really come to my attention fashion-wise, I'm very impressed.

Anna Kendrick in Elie Saab

This is another one that I immediately dismissed, but it just kept popping back into my head and I can't put my finger on why - it's really quite a simple dress and I'm close to finding it dreadfully boring.  I love this colour on Anna though, and I think all those ruffles and draping tug on my heart-strings, melting any resistance.

Miley Cyrus in Jenny Packham

It almost causes me actual, physical pain to include her in this post, but I just can't get away from it: It's a beautiful dress and she does look good in it.  After much deliberation I've decided I can justify her presence as long as you all know this does not make me a Cyrus fan.

 Carey Mulligan in Prada

I'm not usually a fan of black dresses for award ceremonies, preferring a bit of colour and imagination, but this embellished beauty is just too good to begrudge it an outing at the Oscars - it works so well with Carey's short blonde crop and beautiful earrings.

Vera Farmiga in Marchesa

Wow - this takes everything I love about ruffles and colour and amplifies it tenfold!  The results are dramatic and slightly extreme, as one would expect, but it works so very well.

With this many fabulous dresses in one place, there will inevitably be some slightly dodgy choices made and a handful of undeniably bad outfits on display to counteract all that amazing style...

(Click to enlarge)

Hilary Swank appears to have borrowed her outfit from somebody's slutty younger sister (or perhaps just run out of material while making what could have been an okay-ish dress), while Cat Deeley has been raiding the wardrobe of a dowdy relative, who is clearly several sizes larger than Miss Deeley herself.  And don't even get me started on Katie Price - the fact that she managed to get her grubby mitts on a ticket might just be more horrendous than the ridiculous ensemble she then chose to wear?!

Photos from - Harpers Bazaar, Elle, Vogue.fr and Marie Claire