While Cannes means glamour, Venice retrochic and Sundance Uggs, Berlin poses a style dilemma: How are the bold and the beautiful supposed to dress for a high-profile yet serious and often political event? How do you combine glitz with intelligence?

And then there's also the snow and the sleet to worry about, because goosebumps and blue lips ain't a good look either.

Among this year's contestants, the ones that rose to Berlin's style challenge were few and far between. The grand dames tried but didn't quite get there.

What was Charlotte Rampling thinking when she picked that hippie- meets-vampire assemblage for the opening night? Meryl Streep went for the Russian intelligentsia look but ended up looking like a walking armchair. Her boots, however, were great.

Sigourney Weaver looked regal in her midnight-blue gown but somehow it was more Oscar than Berlin.

Streep's "A Prairie Home Companion" co-star Lindsay Lohan tried to solve the problem by not thinking about it at all and grabbing the first thing in her wardrobe.

Natalie Portman looked cute in the little black number she wore for her red carpet bow, and her Helmut Newton-style heels were "very Berlin." But the tweedy potato sack she wore for her press conference seemed an edgy stab at Berlin cool gone wrong.

Among the Teuton contingent there were a lot of misguided Barbie doll gowns that didn't so much spell Berlin as they did Paris Hilton. Nina Hoss could have done with showing less skin but Simone Thomalia outdid them all with a toxicgreen satin dress, unwisely combined with a jean jacket.

Franka Potente struck the perfect balance between smart and sexy. Other fashion winners included Jessica Schwarz with her outfit for "The Red Cockatoo" preem and Milla Jovovich at the Cinema for Peace event.

However, for all those overly sequined and excessively ruffled carpet walkers out there, we offer this advice: You might want to throw out the tired Guccis and Versaces and try on Roland Mouret, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Chloe or Stella McCartney.

There's plenty of intelligent and alluring fashion in the world -- which is exactly what Berlin needs more of.