Tomorrow night, the most glamorous movie stars in the world will be in Hollywood for the Academy Awards.
With a global TV audience of one billion, it’s little wonder the competition to dress Oscar-nominated actresses is fierce.
This year, the star every top designer wants to land is Margot Robbie, who is up for an award for playing disgraced figure skating star Tonya Harding in I, Tonya.
Blonde, 27 years old and with a perfect size-eight figure, Robbie has, thanks to a team of stylists, become a fashion icon.
It wasn’t always that way. Here, Claudia Connell charts her astonishing transformation from frump to fashionista (with help from a £1.4million wardrobe).
1: A good two dress sizes heavier than now, she wore an orange-and-black mullet dress at the Logie Awards in 2009 (left); 2: Margot seen at the opening of an exhibition in Melbourne (right)
1: May 3, 2009
Margot was 18 when she was cast as bisexual student Donna Freedman in Australian soap Neighbours.
Raised on a farm in Queensland, Margot admitted she was clueless about fashion. ‘Most of the time I wore shorts, a T-shirt and Converse trainers,’ she said.
A good two dress sizes heavier than now, she wore an orange-and-black mullet dress at the Logie Awards (Australia’s national TV bash) where she was nominated (but didn’t win) as Best Newcomer.
Local outfitter Rebecca Copping’s garish £200 dress was teamed with ugly black platforms (£50) and led to teenage Margot being named as one of the worst-dressed stars by the Herald Sun newspaper.
Total: £250
2: September 17, 2009
Seen here at the opening of an exhibition in Melbourne, Margot has to hold her own pop-up brolly and jacket (no celebrity gofers here). She’s not yet a dab hand at posing for the camera, and is sporting a rather goofy smile and a very creased off-the-rail £100 dress.
Total: £100
3: Margot looked as though she’d been swimming in a vat of fake tan when she attended the Logie Awards in 2010 (left); 4: When she attended reality TV star Kim Kardashian’s New Year’s Eve party in Las Vegas in 2011, she looked as though she’d forgotten to get dressed (right)
3: May 2, 2010
Margot looked as though she’d been swimming in a huge vat of fake tan when she attended the Logie Awards in 2010.
Far too old for the teenager, her sparkly white two-piece with bejewelled shoulder detail (£300) was made by Juli Grbac, a winner of the Project Runway Australia reality show, in which wannabe fashion designers compete. Juli now designs uniforms for airlines.
Total: £300
4: December 31, 2011
In 2011, Margot left Neighbours and moved to Hollywood, where she was quickly cast as an air hostess in TV drama Pan Am.
She was still dressing herself in chain store purchases, with a sprinkling of vintage and designer. When Margot attended reality TV star Kim Kardashian’s New Year’s Eve party in Las Vegas, though, she looked as though she’d forgotten to get dressed and was hitting the town in her nightie and bra, teamed with a battered pair of ankle boots (£80) from Dune and a Mulberry clutch (£595).
Margot’s dress (about £150) and the bangle (£50) were both most likely vintage.
Total: £875
5: Margot looked a full-blown movie queen when she attended the Golden Globes in 2014 (right); 6: Her attendance at the Academy Awards that year is regarded by many as Margot’s first ‘wow’ moment on the red carpet (right)
5: January 12, 2014
A star is born! Following rave reviews for The Wolf Of Wall Street, Margot looked a full-blown movie queen when she attended the Golden Globes. She teamed up with stylist Cristina Ehrlich, whose other clients include Penelope Cruz, and wore a striking slashed-to-the- thigh white Gucci crepe gown (£15,000) embroidered with an array of sparkling crystal and emerald gemstones.
The look was completed with green satin heels (£695) by Christian Louboutin and matching snowflake design earrings (£7,000) and ring (£12,000) by Van Cleef & Arpels.
Total: £34,695
6: February 22, 2015
Her attendance at the Academy Awards that year is regarded by many as Margot’s first ‘wow’ moment on the red carpet. Her black chiffon dress with plunging neckline was by Saint Laurent (£14,000) but the most memorable thing about the outfit was the stunning £1.2million necklace. By jewellers Van Cleef & Arpels, it featured 150 diamonds and 300 sapphires and was based on a piece that had been owned by the Duchess of Windsor.
Total: £1,214,000
7: Margot wore a gold sequinned Tom Ford dress (£6,000) to the Oscars ceremony in 2016 (left); 8: She wore a striking £22,000 silk embroidered Gucci gown and vertiginous black heels at the LA premiere of The Legend of Tarzan (right)
7: February 28, 2016
If you can’t win an Oscar, then why not dress like one? Margot wore a gold sequinned Tom Ford dress (£6,000) to the ceremony which resulted in Vogue magazine naming her the best-dressed celebrity on the red carpet.
Ironically, Margot had acquired the services of a new stylist — Vogue editor Anna Wintour’s former assistant, Kate Young. She is known for dressing Hollywood’s youngest, edgiest stars, and other clients include Sienna Miller and Dakota Johnson. Diamond earrings and rings by Forevermark (£5,000) and a black clutch bag by The Row (£2,500) with trailing tassel add the final touches.
Total: £13,500
8: June 27, 2016
At the LA premiere of The Legend Of Tarzan, in which she played Jane, Margot wore a striking £22,000 silk embroidered Gucci gown with pink faux fur cuffs. She also wore vertiginous black heels (£595) by Jimmy Choo.
Margot now works exclusively with make-up artist Pati Dubroff whose other clients include Gwyneth Paltrow.
Total: £22,595
9: For The Legend Of Tarzan’s London premiere, Margot dazzled in a sheer panelled dress by Miu Miu (left); 10: at the end of 2016 she was seen on the red carpet promoting the film Goodbye Christopher Robin in a custom-made ruched butterfly print dress (right)
9: July 5, 2016
For The Legend Of Tarzan’s London premiere, Margot dazzled in a sheer panelled dress by Miu Miu (£5,900). Hidden beneath the dress were metallic Bally sandals (£425).
Her 18-carat diamond ring (£7,000) was provided by Messika. As well as having a regular make-up artist, Margot also employs the services of a brace of hair stylists who fly around the world attending to her locks. One of them, Italian Renato Campora, also works for Kate Winslet, with tousled hair being his signature look. He recently said he styles Margot’s hair with ‘only Evian water and my hands’.
But, on this occasion, is the result tousled or just messy?
Total: £13,325
10: October 11, 2017
Margot married her British husband Tom Ackerley, an assistant film director, at the end of 2016 and was next seen on the red carpet promoting the film Goodbye Christopher Robin, in which she appeared. She kept it natural and girly at a New York screening in a custom-made ruched butterfly print dress by Versace (£16,000) and a Tiffany and Co diamond crucifix necklace (£2,750).
Footwear designer to the stars Manolo Blahnik provided the (£585) nude sandals.
Total: £19,335
11: Margot was a froth of white feathers and beads when she attended the Screen Actors Guild Awards in LA in January (left); 12: Margot was, once again, able to steal the show at last month’s Baftas in London with a halter-neck gown with silver sequin detail
11: January 21, 2018
Margot was a froth of white feathers and beads when she attended the Screen Actors Guild Awards in LA.
Her Miu Miu dress (£10,000) was customised for her from the catwalk and teamed with a Jimmy Choo silver clutch (£495) and Tiffany & Co diamond earrings and bracelet (£5,500).
Margot’s flawless complexion is the result of treatments by facialist Nichola Joss, who also works with Meghan Markle.
Total: £15,995
12: February 18, 2018
Even with an unofficial black dress code in evidence at last month’s Baftas in London, Margot was, once again, able to steal the show.
Her halter-neck gown with silver sequin detail was by Givenchy Couture (£25,900) while a Roger Vivier clutch bag (£1,450) was customised especially for her to complement the outfit. Margot’s statement diamond daffodil earrings (£30,000) came courtesy of New York jewellers Harry Winston.
The only question that remains is: Who will dress her for the big one tomorrow night?
Total: £57,350
Grand total: £1,392,320