Ellie Goulding salutes the 80s in thigh-skimming gold minidress with pinched shoulder-pads as she attends the Vanity Fair Oscars party

 If there was an award for best dressed, Ellie Goulding may well have been in the running as she attended the Vanity Fair Oscars party in Beverly Hills on Sunday evening. 

The British singer, caught the eye in a thigh-skimming gold minidress after making an entrance at local venue Wallis Annenberg Centre for the Performing Arts. With pinched shoulder pads, the striking dress embraced the current fad for 80s trends, while a cinched waist served to accentuate her slender physique.

A cut-out chest panel drew further attention to her cleavage as she rubbed shoulders with guests including Kendall Jenner, Nina Dobrev and Julianne Hough.

Adding to her look, Ellie opted for strappy black heels, while a distinct lack of accessories ensured her outfit was not overshadowed. Evidently in high spirits, the singer beamed as she posed for a fun selfie with a selection of guests at the event shortly after making her way inside.

Ellie's appearance followed a major cultural shift at the Oscars, three years after the movie industry's top awards show was slammed for overlooking work by nonwhite artists. 

Green Book, a film about racial injustice in the segregated U.S. South in the 1960s, took best picture, the night's top prize. In his acceptance speech, director Peter Farrelly said the film, about a black pianist and his white driver, was "about loving each other despite our differences."

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The film won three awards, as did Roma, a black-and-white, Spanish-language film about an indigenous housemaid, and Black Panther, a Marvel superhero movie with an almost entirely black cast. Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, about a black detective who goes undercover with the Ku Klux Klan, also was honored. Mahershala Ali, one of the stars of Green Book, was one of two black actors to claim acting prizes, taking home the best supporting actor trophy. 

Elsewhere Regina King, who played a protective mother in If Beale Street Could Talk, claimed the supporting actress award.