Keira Knightley proved to be fashion royalty at the Academy Awards. She wore a wine-colored, one-shoulder gown by Vera Wang that hit the right balance between youthful funkiness and movie-star glamour.

The 20-year-old wore her strawberry blond hair in a loose ponytail, and she had on a one-of-a-kind necklace with emeralds, rubies and diamonds from the 1960s she chose from the Bulgari archives.

Michelle Williams modeled herself after classic screen sirens, wearing a yellow chiffon gown with tulle pleats surrounding the V neck.

On her arm was Heath Ledger in a classic bow-tie tuxedo, down to the white pocketsquare.

Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe looked like a superstar couple – she wore a gown with rows of silver beads and he was dressed in a three-piece suit with a black tie.

Felicity Huffman wore a supersexy black gown by Zac Posen with a plunging V neck, keyhole back, sheer panels on the side and pleated bodice and hem.

For Rachel Weisz, who is 7 months pregnant, comfort was important in picking her long, slinky black gown with cap sleeves – which also showed off significant cleavage. “My friend Narciso Rodriguez made me three dresses and I chose one this morning,” she said.

Charlize Theron’s forest-green, handpainted gown with a bow on one shoulder was designed by John Galliano for Christian Dior. She said the leather silk satin fabric was “insane” – but some might have said that about the too-big bow.

Jennifer Lopez was in a lighter green gown with a fitted bodice that laced up in the back like a corset.

One of the biggest misses of the night was Helena Bonham Carter. Her off-the-shoulder, tea-length blue satin gown was fine but her bed-head hair and clunky white shoes were not.

Oscar.com fashion analyst Tom Julian was a fan of Meryl Streep’s plum V-neck gown with long sleeves. Julian also noted that the shape of the gowns shifted to full skirts from the more formfitting styles at the earlier award shows.