Cate Blanchett has defended the right of women to look “sexy”, and said that they should be able to do so without it being interpreted as an invitation for sex.

The Oscar-winning actress made her statement while picking up the Style Icon prize at the InStyle Awards 2017 in Los Angeles.

Blanchett said on stage: “Women like looking sexy, but it doesn’t mean we want to f*** you.”

Cate Blanchett Cate Blanchett at the 3rd annual InStyle Awards (Chris Pizzello/AP/PA)

She added, referring to former White House aide Steve Bannon: “No one says to Steve Bannon, ‘you look like a bag of trash. Do you want me to throw you out?’.

“But the comments that get said about what women wear on the red carpet — I mean. If you trawl through those trolls on the internet, just don’t.

“I just say, ‘bring it on, ladies! Break it wide open. I think you’re all extraordinary’.”

The Australian actress, 48, also praised “those women who’ve been utterly themselves without apology — whose physical presence and their aesthetic is really integrated in a non self-conscious way”.

She added: “Women who know how they look, it’s not all of who they are but just an extension of that, and it’s about women who feel free to wear what they want, when they want and how they want to wear it.”

Blanchett is among a number of high-profile stars to shine a light on the topic of female empowerment in recent days, her remarks following speeches made by the likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Reese Witherspoon at last week’s Elle Women in Hollywood Awards.

They had discussed the inequality faced by women in their industry, both telling stories of their own experiences at the event.

Lawrence told of how she was once made to do a nude line-up and was ordered to lose weight for a film role, while Witherspoon alleged she was assaulted by a director as a 16-year-old.

They discussed their own experiences in the wake of the allegations of sexual harassment made against producer Harvey Weinstein and other film and TV bosses in America by a number of women.