And the award for Best Trip goes to...Jennifer Lawrence for falling up the stairs at the Oscars

Beautiful as Jennifer Lawrence looked at the Oscars last night, she might want to think about a shorter dress next awards season.

The Hunger Games actress came a cropper at the biggest moment of her career tripping up the steps in her Dior gown as she went to collect the Academy Award for Best Actress.

The blushing actress briefly let her head rest in her hands before being awarded a standing ovation by the crowd at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

"Thank you so much," she told them. "This is nuts. You guys are only standing up because I fell and you feel bad. That was embarrassing."

The mishap is not Lawrence's first at an awards ceremony. Last month at the Screen Actor's Guild awards the face of Miss Dior's couture gown was more revealing than she intended.

The fabric of her dress was caught under a chair leg as she got up to collect her gong and the actress was left, albeit briefly, showing her upper thighs and gusset.

Lawrence had anticipated her Oscars dress being problematic and told Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet that she had actually cut six inches off its train in order to aid her mobility. "It would have been too insane," otherwise, she said.

The actress was also candid about how stressful the Oscars run-up had been for her.

She said:"I'm just cross-eyed. The process today was so stressful. I felt like Steve Martin from 'Father of the Bride' watching my whole house being torn apart."

Lawrence, 22, an early front-runner for the prize, beat strong competition from Jessica Chastain and 86-year old French actress Emmanuelle Riva for the Best Actress prize.