Julia Roberts pays fashion tribute to George Clooney at Kennedy Centre Honours

The event honours lifetime contributions to American culture

George Clooney and wife Amal Clooney, in a sequinned Valentino gown, arrive at the 45th Kennedy Centre Honours in Washington on December 4. AP

Julia Roberts supported her friend, honouree George Clooney, wearing a Moschino dress emblazoned with his portraits. AP

Kennedy Centre honourees U2, from left: Adam Clayton, Bono, The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. Reuters

US Vice President Kamala Harris, wearing black Vera Wang, and her husband Doug Emhoff arrive for a reception for the Kennedy Centre honourees at the White House. Reuters

US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, wearing a navy floral dress, arrive at the reception. EPA

Honouree Gladys Knight, wearing a red gown, at the Kennedy Centre event. Getty Images

Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso coordinated in black. Getty Images

Honouree Amy Grant wearing a navy caped gown. Getty Images

Kennedy Centre honouree Tania Leon wearing a red sequinned dress. AP

Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher, wearing a sequinned gown. AFP

Honouree Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, wearing a red dress with caped sleeves. AFP

Katie Couric in a hot pink gown. AP

Ariana DeBose wearing a purple halter necked dress. Getty Images

Sheryl Crow wearing a one-shouldered floral dress. Getty Images

Actor Don Cheadle and wife Bridgid Coulter, wearing a teal gown. Reuters

George Clooney was among the honourees at the 45th Kennedy Centre Honours in Washington on Sunday.

The actor arrived with his Lebanese-British lawyer wife, Amal Clooney, who dazzled in a silver sequinned Valentino gown. However, it was friend Julia Roberts who made, arguably, the biggest style statement of the night.

Scroll through the gallery above to see fashion highlights from the event

Roberts, who has starred opposite Clooney in a number of films, most recently Ticket to Paradise, as well as Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Money Monster and August: Osage County, wore a gown decorated with her long-time friend's image.

She wore a custom black Jeremy Scott for Moschino gown, with framed images of Clooney across the fabric. The images include portraits of the actor, both on the red carpet and in some of his most famous roles, including as Doug Ross in medical drama ER. In one image, he is standing on stage after winning the Cecil B DeMille Award at the 2015 Golden Globes.

Roberts wore the dress with a black blazer and attended the event with her husband, cinematographer Daniel Moder.

Also supporting Clooney were his Ocean's Eleven co-stars, Matt Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso, and Don Cheadle with his wife, Bridgid Coulter. During the event, Cheadle praised Clooney for his humanitarian work and Roberts described him as a "Renaissance man". Damon took a more playful approach, questioning the label often levelled at Clooney as the "the last true movie star", given his love for a practical joke.

The annual Kennedy Centre Honours celebrate lifetime achievements and contributions to American culture. Also recognised this year was the Irish band U2, and singers Amy Grant, Gladys Knight and Tania Leon.

The awards have been presented annually since 1978; this year, it will be televised on December 28 in the US on CBS.

The black-tie event was attended by US President Joe Biden, his wife Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff.

See Julia Roberts' style evolution in 43 photos