First-timers, however, admitted to feeling a bit overwhelmed. "It's a little crazy here, I've got to say," noted Gucci-garbed Aussie hunk Hugh Jackman, who came with wife Deborra-lee Furness but left their own Oscar -- the couple's 22-month-old toddler -- at home in London with relatives.

Fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman, who arrived with sister Antonia, also left her children (Isabella, 9, and Connor, 7, from her nearly 10-year marriage to Tom Cruise) at home with friends and family, though not before helping Isabella choose a frock for an Oscar-viewing party. "I took my daughter shopping on Friday to get her a dress," said Kidman, who dazzled in a $4-million, 241-carat raw-diamond Bulgari necklace that she helped design. As for her own pale-pink Chanel couture gown, "I wanted something that was light and airy," she said. "I didn't want to wear black again."

Apparently not everyone agreed. Like the ceremony itself, the red-carpet styles seemed tempered -- with the exception of Jennifer Lopez's bloated hair -- with nary a swan dress (where's Björk when you need her?) in sight. Appearing in basic black: last year's Best Actress Julia Roberts (in a cut-out jersey Armani gown), Reese Witherspoon (in lacy, beaded Valentino) and Sandra Bullock (also in Valentino). Her tulle, off-the-shoulder gown" pushes where it needs to push, lifts where it needs to lift, splays where it needs to compensate," said Bullock, who came with copresenter Hugh Grant, her costar in the upcoming film Two Weeks Notice. Actress Naomi Watts, who indulged in a lymphatic-drainage facial and a "pep talk" with best friend Nicole Kidman prior to the ceremony, praised her black Gucci as "sophisticated in sort of a punk-rock way," while last year's Best Supporting Actress, Marcia Gay Harden, called her noir Oscar de la Renta ballgown "classic but whimsical. I love how it sparkles -- it has an African inspiration to it," she said. "My husband (Thaddaeus Scheel, a filmmaker) helped me pick it out. He's the final and most important vote."