With no sighting of Bosasa-stuffed Louis Vuitton bags or the triumvirate of glam political wives, this year's red carpet for the state of the nation address (Sona) was a bit like drinking tepid champagne.
Instead we're left with a recycled dress (which might be best binned), a bosom buffet and a lot of glitter that's not real gold.
Perhaps we can finger the day's bland but investor-friendly theme, "Following up on our Commitments: Making Your Future Work Better", and the slashing of the function budget for casting a pall over the mood.
Always among the first to turn up was opposition leader Mmusi Maimane, who wears a suit well but needs to shorten his trousers by an inch. He was there with wife Natalie, in a white beaded catsuit.
Next up was Mmusi's DA colleague, the feisty Phumzile van Damme, who arrived with her tall model-cum-varsity-student sister Qiniso.
I found myself chatting to the sisters and learnt that the two were wearing Cape Town couturiers Kluk CGDT.
Qiniso sported a brocade suit while Phumzile's Grecian-draped gold dress was finished off with matching Crystal Burch headgear.
When I raise her political sister's clapbacks on Twitter (Mzwanele Manyi and Helen Zille both recently faced her flames), Qiniso's retort proved that the feistiness runs in the family veins.
"Don't mess with my sister because she will snatch you at the edges [of your hair]," she says. Ouch!
Later on, in walks our police minister Bheki Cele, who always looks dandy, but I am disappointed that I don't see his wife, Thembeka, by his side - especially after she was my pick for Sona best dressed last time.
No sight either of my A-lister Norma Gigaba, though that might have something to do with the wife of disgraced former minister Malusi Gigaba having gone back to school.
I am also crestfallen that Nozuko Mbalula, Fikile's wife, didn't show.
Instead, we were left with the eye-popping sight of Lillian Wolmarans, the wife of controversial former Rustenburg mayor now MP Matthew Wolmarans (who had a short spell behind bars in between).
Mrs Wolmarans, who has what looks like a prison-style tattoo on her back, was showing off so much édcolletage in her blue satin, gold and embellished gown that I suggested she avoid the president's gaze during his speech in case he gets distracted.
I was perplexed by deputy communications minister Pinky Kekana's claim that her green fern print dress was inspired by land expropriation.
Judging by the quality of the fabric, it looks like the land might have been made in China.
Nothing, though, beats our erudite ANC Women's League leader and minister of women in the presidency, Bathabile Dlamini, who told me that her long beaded dress (which has clearly seen better days) wasn't new: she just updated it by adding a few crocheted flowers, and àvoil!
Er, perhaps the bin would have been a better option.
I felt underwhelmed by the clingy pink number worn by the DA's Natasha Mazzone, which hugged in all the wrong places, and minister Lindiwe Sisulu gets an A for effort for lifting her game from last year but clearly couldn't make up her mind and ended up with a gown that was a mix and mismatch.
Best dressed?
Nice one, speaker Baleka Mbete, in your flowing green gown, and bronze to the president for his pink-tinged tie.
But the trophy goes to Nathi Mthethwa's wife, Philisiwe Buthelezi, who proves that you can come back from a fashion disaster.
Two years ago, I thought her green and chiffon fluff number deserved to be repatriated to the Great Barrier Reef but this year her long flowing cream-with-orange patterned gown looked regal...