Fashion moment: Maggie Gyllenhaal

THEY say that before you leave the house for a red-carpet event, you should study yourself carefully in the mirror and remove one accessory. We say you should remove all but one. Celebs have developed a habit of piling on the accessories as if they were, well, going out of fashion (and since most women would trade a limb for their dream shoe/bag/cocktail ring, we can assume that's not going to happen).

So what's with the fad for looking like you've blown your pay cheque in a pawn shop? We believe it's the Rachel Zoe effect. That leathery little imp of a Hollywood stylist has managed to persuade celebs that piling on a truckload of over-sized accessories will make them look thinner. In reality, they just look like characters from The Borrowers.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, however – who has an irritating habit of dressing fabulously wherever she goes – knows that a great dress speaks for itself. At the Dark Knight premiere in New York last week, her look was so pared down that she didn't even have a bag, just earrings and a bracelet, letting her Dries van Noten dress shine. Red lips, bare shoulders, simple hair: stunning.