Oscars: Natalie Portman wears dress embroidered with names of snubbed female directors

'I wanted to recognise the women who were not recognised for their incredible work this year in my subtle way'

Natalie Portman made a red carpet statement wearing a Dior cape embroidered with the names of all of the female directors who weren’t nominated this year.

Bong Joon-ho, Sam Mendes, Todd Phillips, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino are all in the running for Best Director at this year’s ceremony, with women once again left out of the best director category.

The subtle-yet-eye-catching statement saw the names of the women directors who many hoped would get a nod from the academy stitched onto the edges of Portman’s cape in gold font.

She said: “I wanted to recognise the women who were not recognised for their incredible work this year in my subtle way.”

The nomination announcements caused a stir back in January when actor Issa Rae deadpanned: “Congratulations to those men” after reading out the nominees.

Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood) Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers) and Alma Har’el (Honey Boy) were all notably left out.

Portman's move sent Twitter wild, with one person saying: "She is my religion. Let me bow at her feet for this."

A close-up of the stitching (AFP via Getty Images)