HONG KONG  - It's a movie star's worst nightmare.

Promoting her new film "The Banquet" at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday, Zhang Ziyi wore the same polka-dotted low-cut dress that fellow Chinese actress Xu Jinglei wore two months ago.

Actress Zhang Ziyi attends a photocall at the Venice film festival September 3, 2006. Zhang stars in director Feng Xiaogang's movie "Yeyan" (The Banquet), which is showing at the festival. [Reuters]

The Hong Kong entertainment press, known for being harshly critical of Zhang, pounced on the apparent slip-up Monday.

"Zhang Ziyi wears Xu Jinglei's old dress," the headline read in Apple Daily's entertainment section.

Xu wore the dress - identified by the Apple Daily newspaper as an Emporio Armani design - at a press conference in Hong Kong in July to promote the upcoming film "Confession of Pain," directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak of "Infernal Affairs" fame.

Xu Jinglei. [file]

Apple Daily also ran a picture of Zhang chatting with Zhou Xun, a fellow actress from "The Banquet," inserting a comic-like dialogue box that jokingly quotes Zhou as saying, "Poor you, wearing someone's old dress."

A headline in Oriental Daily News read, "Zhang Ziyi's outfit clashes, loses attention." The story said, "Zhang Ziyi, who occasionally fumbles her wardrobe, wore the same outfit that Xu Jinglei wore at a press conference earlier. What a big strategic mistake."

Hong Kong media is traditionally critical of Zhang, accusing her of bad fashion taste, poor English and bad habits. Zhang has been quoted as saying Hong Kongers, ruled separately by the British until 1997, are biased against mainland Chinese, often viewed as country bumpkins and gold diggers.

Zhang rose to international fame after appearing in the martial arts hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Her Hollywood credits since then include "Rush Hour 2" and "Memoirs of a Geisha."