Frock and awe at the Oscars?

YOU'VE got the best fashion designers in the world queuing up to dress you, stylists dedicated to everything from shoes to false eyelashes, and your choice of pretty much any piece of clothing on the planet. The annual Oscars ceremony is an opportunity to wear the most audacious, intricate, luxurious fashion creations in the world, an event where you can never be overdressed and you are constrained only by the limits of the imagination of the world's most talented fashion designers.

Why, then, did a number of Hollywood's finest actresses step on to the red carpet on Sunday evening looking more Designers at Debenhams than Paris haute couture? Terrified of appearing on one of the many scathing "worst dressed" lists that inevitably appear the morning after the Oscars ceremony, the red carpet was awash with women wearing sober, strapless column dresses in dark shades.

For the less fearful, red ruled, with a number of actresses donning head-to-toe scarlet – some more successfully than others, but all doubtless hoping to emulate Nicole Kidman's head-turning appearance in scarlet Balenciaga last year – and there was also a notable number of one-shoulder dresses (step forward, Tilda Swinton).

The big trend for the 2008 Oscars, however, was restraint. When Ingrid Bergman picked up her Oscar for Best Actress in 1945, at the end of a war and with many people living under rationing, she wore a simple blouse and knee-length skirt. In 2003, following the invasion of Iraq, the dresses at the ceremony were suitably staid and there was no red carpet.

This year, the ceremony had been threatened by the Hollywood writers' strike, which ended recently after three months, having turned the glamorous Golden Globes ceremony into a mere press conference. So while the Oscars went ahead at the weekend, as always the fashions reflected the mood of the season and veered towards the modest, even sombre.

While singer Björk may have been heavily criticised in 2001 for turning up at the event dressed as a swan (she even "laid" an egg on the carpet), I applaud her for taking the opportunity to dress creatively. This year, actresses including Laura Linney, Hilary Swank and Jennifer Garner opted for dark, dull dresses that did viewers a grave disservice. After all, don't most of us tune in simply to lust after the gowns?

"You can't deny that the dresses are hugely important at the Oscars, especially since all the men are dressed like penguins. This year was a disappointment," says fashion stylist Lindsay Campbell. "It was the same at the Baftas: very safe, a bit dull, nothing outrageous at either end of the scale. Everything seemed to have a similar cut and there were very few bold colours. A bit of a let-down for fashion fans really."