Keira Knightley narrowly avoided wardrobe malfunction after dress split in half

Watch: Keira Knightley recalls how dress once 'split' prior to red carpet event

Keira Knightley has revealed she narrowly avoided a wardrobe malfunction when her dress ripped in half right before she hit the red carpet.

The Never Let Me Go actor said she was heading out to the British Independent Film Awards in a tight bandage-style Herve Leger dress when it split from the top all the way to the bottom, leaving her “full-on naked”.

Knightley, 36, told People: "I went to step out of the door and it split from the bottom to the top - my entire body was out.

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"It was just full-on naked body. So it was a real moment of going, 'I think that dress was a bit too small’.”

However, the Atonement star had been sent two dresses so she was able to change before facing the paparazzi at the event and nobody was any the wiser about her near miss.

“Thank God it [didn't] happen on the red carpet because it could have happened at any point that evening and I was incredibly fortunate that it happened when it did,” said the mum-of-two.

The second dress evidently worked out better for the star.

Photos from the event show the star looking stunning in a tight white dress with her hair up.

Knightley has been acting in films since the 90s but got her big break in the movie Bend It Like Beckham in 2002.

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She was then cast as Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates Of The Caribbean films and went on to star in hit romantic comedy Love Actually.