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When director Todd Haynes secured Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett, 46 and nominee Rooney Mara, 30 to star in his new film, Carol, he not only secured a casting coup, but two of the most inherently stylish and photo-ready women in Hollywood.

This means that every time Blanchett and Mara step out to promote the forthcoming release, their union creates an easy-on-the-eye tableau; Mara, with her porcelain skin and bird-like physique, is the fragile counterpart to Blanchett’s mega-watt aura and commanding presence.

Take this week, when the co-stars appeared at the BFI London Film Festival to undertake promotional duties for Carol in Europe. Both were singing from a very similar style sheet – Mara in a white, delicately ruffled mini dress, Blanchett in a slightly edgier, negligee jumpsuit, toughened up with a black blazer to avoid them looking too matchy-matchy.

At the London premiere in Leicester Square (main picture), Rooney, in a romantic, knitted Alexander McQueen dress, was the light to Blanchett's dark sartorial statement, courtesy of Esteban Cortazar.

But even when the actresses do go down the co-ordination route, they are individual enough to complement each other rather than look like doppelgangers. In New York, their black dresses featured a similar neckline (Mara’s by Chanel and Blanchett’s by Aouadi Couture) but were contrasted by details that reflect their personality – Blanchett’s featured an unusual tattoo-like sheer layer while Mara’s sparkled thanks to a scattering of sequins.

Playing lovers in Carol will have made the actresses closer than the average female co-stars; the story, set in 1950s New York, tells of a department-store clerk (Mara), who falls for an older, married woman (Blanchett) as she dreams of a better life. This ease with each other comes across in their body language - even when they opt to wear the same designer in public, as they did at a photocall in Cannes this May, when they both donned Alexander McQueen.

So there’s no risk of ‘twinning style’ on this promo tour, just a delectable feast of harmonising outfits from two of the biggest style risk-takers in Hollywood. We’re hungry for more…