Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman arrived at the Oscars Sunday wearing a Dior cape embroidered with the names of female directors who were snubbed by the awards ceremony.

When asked why she had the names of 'Little Women' director Greta Gerwig, 'The Farewell's' Lulu Wang and others, sewn into her cape, Portman said she wanted to recognize the women in a 'subtle' way.

The Academy Awards' best director category was male dominated for the 87th time in the ceremony's 92 year history.

This year's five contenders for best director announced on Monday were Martin Scorsese for 'The Irishman,' Todd Phillips for 'Joker,' Sam Mendes for '1917,' Quentin Tarantino for 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' and Bong Joon-ho for 'Parasite.'

Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman arrived at the Oscars Sunday wearing a Dior cape which she had embroidered with the names of female directors who were snubbed by the awards ceremony

When asked why she had the names of 'Little Women' director Greta Gerwig, 'The Farewell's' Lulu Wang and others sewn into her cape, Portman who won for best actress in the 2010 film 'Black Swan', said she wanted to recognize the women in a 'subtle' way

The names of 'Little Women' director Greta Gerwig, 'The Farewell's' Lulu Wang and others were sewn in gold thread

Sewn in the inseam of Natalie Portman's Dior cape at the 92nd annual Academy Awards were the names of female directors who were snubbed at the ceremony

Joining Gergwig and Wang in the list of women snubbed were Melina Matsoukas, director of 'Queen & Slim', Kasi Lemmons who directed 'Harriet', Lorene Scafaria who helmed 'Hustlers', Marielle Heller the director of 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood' and Alma Har'el, who directed 'Honey Boy'.

Issa Rae, who announced the Oscar nominees last month, had a dig at the Academy during the broadcast, saying 'congratulations to those men' after noticing Gerwig's snub.

An online platform also promised to shine a light on those snubbed at the Oscars by using the ceremony's advertising breaks to celebrate female directors.

Natalie Portman attended the Oscars with her husband Benjamin Millepied

Portman had removed her cape when she appeared on stage during the ceremony with actor Timothee Chalamet of the TV drama 'Homeland'

Nonprofit initiative Give Her a Break have launched the online portal to the Oscar's live stream which automatically plays viewers trailers for female-directed films during commercial breaks.

The initiative was born out of frustration over the absence of women in the best director category which this year celebrates an all-male set of nominees - with the website including phrases such as 'You stole our Oscars, so we stole your ads.'

It comes after several stars used their speeches at awards ceremonies to speak about diversity in the industry, including Joaquin Phoenix who spoke about the issue at the BAFTAs on Sunday night.