Florence Pugh has truly mastered the art of the fashion moment.
Take the Dune: part two premiere in New York on Sunday evening. The actress wore an ethereal dove gray pleated couture gown from Valentino, taken to the next level by futuristic-looking mirror-finish eye makeup and slicked back hair, allowing her diamond earrings and ear cuff to take center stage.
It’s a remarkable look in its own right, one that more than held its own alongside Zendaya (in Stéphane Rolland), Anya Taylor-Joy (in Margiela couture), Timothée Chalamet and Austin Butler – perhaps the most interesting and stylish red carpet dressers of our time. time. But it’s even more extraordinary when you realize it’s part of an epic fashion puzzle that involves the Dune: part two world tour with premieres.
There was clearly an effort on the part of the film’s marketing team to have the leads reflect its themes and aesthetics in their red carpet looks. This ‘method dressing’ is an increasingly popular strategy, which is also used by Margot Robbie Barbie.
Each of DuneThe appearance of the ‘stars’ will have to coordinate with that of the other actors, so that there is a nice cast photo at every stop. Multiply that coordination by the number of premieres and photocalls (London, New York, Paris, Seoul and Mexico City so far) and it becomes quite mind-boggling. This all happens during awards season, when other celebrity stylists will be calling “bagsie” on the latest runway looks.
To enjoy this sartorial spectacle, you don’t need to know that the Dune franchise is based on a 1965 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert about a world in the far future where all ‘thinking machines’, such as robots and AI, are banned. Nor that the landscape is arid and desert-like, although these factors have been the main inspirations for the stylists involved in coordinating these celebrity looks.
It is safe to say that the assignment was properly followed by all parties. And the likely goal – to convince people who might not have bothered to see a science fiction movie that it’s worth their time – has been fully achieved.
Planning for this will have been in the works for some time, says celebrity stylist Rachel Davis, who works with Sharon Horgan and Edith Bowman and has dressed countless stars for red carpets and press conferences. She says there is always an element of coordination.
“Normally, as a stylist, you would do this on your own,” she says. ‘You would say: I want Florence to wear this great Harris Reed, but of course it shouldn’t be too similar to what she did last time…
“I once styled a presenter for BAFTA and it had to match what the male presenter was wearing. I talked to his stylist and of course we keep in touch and coordinate, but this is on a different level, you would have to show so much flexibility that you normally wouldn’t have to do. On this occasion they are working as a collective.”
Davis is too polite to add that there are probably a lot of egos to deal with too, and the celebrities are probably the least of them. At this level, even the hair and makeup artists will be famous in the industry – and their creative input is valuable too.
Near London Dune: part two At the premiere, Zendaya’s stylist Law Roach even walked the red carpet next to her. Considering she was dressed in a silver robot suit first seen in Thierry Mugler’s Fall-Winter 1995-1996 collection, which promptly went viral, he was probably keen to soak up some of the admiration it brought to himself.
Alex Babsky, the makeup artist behind Pugh’s silver eye decoration, is the best of the best, says Davis: “He’s an artist. He really is. He illustrates every look before he does it.”
And he must also have been working overtime: “This is something different,” she adds. “It’s about the hair and the makeup and everything that comes with it. It’s such a Herculean task. Whatever Florence wears, there are probably three or four other options.
‘Then Alex and [hair stylist] Evanie Frausto will have to come up with ideas for each option. So say, three or four clothing options, then you have jewelry, then you have shoes. Then you have hair and makeup, and then it has to match what Zendaya is wearing or what Timothée is wearing.”
Then there are the advertising or ambassadorship deals, where stars are required to wear certain labels, limiting the possible options. Pugh works so closely with Valentino that her stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray probably has Pierpaolo Piccioli herself on speed dial.
And she should; Even though Pugh wears couture like she was born to do it, she doesn’t have traditional model proportions, so Corbin-Murray has to have each of Pugh’s looks custom made.
“All of her looks will be custom-made, which makes the whole coordination thing even more difficult,” says Davis. “Because it’s not a case of ‘Oh, just pull it off the catwalk’ – even though everyone wants to dress Florence – she’s probably been inundated with offers.
“But they must have been working on the plans for a long time, and I think because the movie is science-fiction, they probably really wanted to push them all, because they can, because there’s always that light costume element in a movie . premiere often,” says Davis.
And then there’s the art of knowing when not to be OTT. When Zendaya wore the archive Mugler couture robot costume to the Dune: part two Premiere in London: ‘It could have been a bit rude and’Bride wars”to try to outdo her, says Davis.
Instead, Corbin-Murray styled Pugh in a relatively subdued brown sequined hooded Valentino dress. “I think on this occasion [Corbin-Murray] knew that Florence could still look fierce by just staying cool and calm,” says Davis.
That’s because Pugh has her own superpower in real life: “She knew that just by being Florence, Florence could hold her own.” Even if you put her in a little black dress, she would still be Florence.” No sci-fi storylines required.
More from the press tour…
