From Kim Kardashian to Beyoncé to now Penélope Cruz, the Cher Horowitz, Clueless-inspired pink tweed look Cruz wore to Variety’s Creative Impact Awards and 10 Directors to Watch brunch is perfectly on trend. The brunch was held yesterday during the 35th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival in celebration of the most influential actors and directors working in Hollywood this past year.
Sean Penn presented Cruz with an award at the event, where he called her an “acting animal” with great “intuitiveness and an imagination,” People reports. As she accepted the award, Cruz spoke of her early passion for acting and how she first found her way into it through ballet as a child: “I feel very lucky to make a living out of acting,” she said. “I was asking the teachers to allow me to play Carmen when I was four. They called my parents. Then it was through acting. I feel so lucky. Being able to stay a student for the rest of my life, because that’s what we are.”
Cruz was honored with the Creative Impact in Acting Award for her accomplished career, and the four-time Oscar nominee was chosen for her “daring, multidimensional, and unforgettable performances,” Entertainment Tonight reports.
“It’s actually always confusing to me because I grew up dreaming about acting,” Cruz said, per the outlet. “All that I wanted was to have a job, a profession that would be inspiring and creative. So I would pray for that, just to be able to make a living out of a job that I love. But I could never dream about extra things like this, you know, like it still feels very surprising and shocking. But I don’t want to lose that feeling, you know, like I never want to expect things like this.”
Cruz will turn 50 in April, and the actress quipped to Entertainment Tonight that she plans to live to be 100. “I’m really looking at it as the beginning of the second part of my life,” she said, joking that while she’s not “happy” with the film industry’s obsession with using AI, that it could be useful to keep her around “much longer” while she spends time with her children and future grandchildren.
Cruz—who represents Chanel—wore the brand for the event yesterday, a pink, black, and white plaid co-ord from Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2024 Ready to Wear collection featuring an asymmetric skirt and a textured trim. The look channeled Clueless’ Cher Horowitz and, driving home the 1990s theme, she wore a black tube top underneath her jacket and Mary Jane peep-toe heels similar to Cher’s white pair—knee-high socks not included. She also carried a black quilted Chanel purse for the occasion.
“This has been my passion since I was a little girl,” Cruz said as she accepted her award. “When I get an award for doing what I love the most, it feels very confusing and shocking. I used to pray every night when I was a little girl, ‘Please, God, don’t lock me in an office.’ I thought, if I cannot release everything that is going on here, I know I would lose my mind.”
That same day, Cruz wore a completely different look to a SAG-AFTRA screening of her new film Ferrari, where she swapped the soft pink look for an edgier choice: wide-leg denim jeans, a black button-up blouse, and a leaf-patterned leather jacket by—you guessed it—Chanel. The jacket featured dramatic lapels and double-breasted buttons.
Cruz said it herself—she’s just getting started. What’s next? Cruz said, per Variety, that she’d love to do a superhero movie someday: “If it’s something interesting, why not?” she said. “It’s fun. As you could imagine, that’s what my kids ask me sometimes, ‘Are you ever going to do that, mom?’ Because I’ve done so much drama and so many films I can’t show to them yet.” And, while Cruz said she’s had “conversations here and there” about appearing in a superhero movie, it’s “nothing specific that will happen soon,” she said. What probably is happening soon is a musical; Cruz told the outlet that she’s probably going to start filming one any day now. “I’m going to do one soon, I think,” she said. “I was very fortunate to do Nine with Rob Marshall. I had an incredible time. it forced me to go back to dancing to five hours a day. We’re planning something that makes me very happy.”
