Behind Gwyneth's Oscar gown

Stylist Elizabeth Saltzman typically works ‘with no more than four specific designers to gather several viable options for the event,’ Paltrow wrote in her most recent GOOP newsletter. ‘This requires months of work, of phone calls, meetings, and many long conversations just for this particular evening.’

Saltzman said she begins the winnowing process by approaching several designers to find out how they would dress her client for the big event. She also avoids same-dress shockers by asking whether the designers under consideration are dressing any other actresses for the event.

The contenders send sketches, which Saltzman ‘gently’ tweaks to suit her client’s needs before asking designers to produced finished garments. Fabric-swatch dispatches, Skype check-ins and rounds of fittings follow before the selection is finalised.

The politics of asking so much from so designers when only one gown will make it onto the red carpet ‘can be rough if you don’t know the players,’ Saltzman said. ‘It’s about being honest with the designers and the other people involved, listening to what they’re hoping for, and striking a compromise between their vision and the client’s needs.’

The 2012 Academy Awards were slightly different, in that Saltzman said there was only ever one option: the ivory floor-length Tom Ford gown and matching cape that Ford told us was his favourite look from the autumn winter 2012 collection.

‘This dress screamed OSCARS to me. It simply was “the one”’, Saltzman said. ‘The dress was composed of all the elements that I look out for for Gwyneth: supreme elegance, grace, royalty, extreme modern luxury, simplicity without lacking intense skill and risk.’

We would have to agree... See Paltrow and more of the best-dre