As she perches on a sofa in this Soho hotel room, dressed in cropped black trousers and a cream shirt, the 48-year-old is far from the polished superstar she was in a floor-length dress at the ceremony. Yet the actress is no less luminous. Her trick, she claims, is Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser. “It’s a big part of my life. Every day I’m grateful for it.” She also reveals that her most extreme beauty measure is a regular blow-dry, and that she has “not paid much attention” to fashion month, despite being thrilled to have a woman at the head of Dior.

Anderson is known for standing up for the sisterhood. She has spoken out about how happy she is to have a female Prime Minister and her aforementioned book is a feminist call to arms. We: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere, published on 8 March, is co-written with the journalist and activist Jennifer Nadel and aims to be “an inspiring, empowering and provocative manifesto for change”.

In a previous interview, Anderson said: “It’s a book about facing oneself. It’s about working through things in one’s own life in order to be of better service out in the world. And it’s about the community of women, too: the fact that there is so much competition and judgment and negativity out there, especially on social media, when we should be turning to each other, helping each other to find our voices.”

Exclusive: Gillian Anderson on her new role in ‘Viceroy’s House’