If you’ve ever seen a Wes Anderson movie, you’ll know that colour is everything — well, colour and a meticulous attention to symmetry. And moustaches. Regardless, it seems that three months of working in a saturation-heavy environment was all too much for the Asteroid City cast, because at last night’s premiere it was a distinct lack of colour that dominated the red carpet.
To give it some context, monochrome has dominated nearly every red carpet this year, from the Oscars to the Golden Globes to Cannes. Bridal chic was everywhere as celebs accepted their academy awards, the Princess of Wales donned a white dress with black Oscar gloves for the BAFTAs and who could forget Natalie Portman’s archival Dior petal dress at Cannes?
But last night the Asteroid City cast really knocked it out of the park. Lead actress Scarlett Johansson was a vision in white as she walked the red carpet in a ruched Carolina Herrera gown with a protruding pleated skirt, razor thin halter straps and floral centerpiece at the bust — very Carrie Bradshaw.
On the darker end of the monochrome spectrum was Maya Hawke, who wore a black A-line custom Prada dress, embellished with oversized, petal-esque sequins. The best part of the outfit wasn’t the dress, though, it was the matching sequined swimming cap, clasped onto Hawke’s head by a fastening at her chin.
Harry Lambert, who styled Hawke and is known for styling the likes of Harry Styles, Emma Corrin and Josh O’Connor, said the dress and cap were “inspired by the era of the movie,” which is set in the mid-1950s. “We really took inspiration from the film in terms of the silhoutte of the look,” Lambert told the Evening Standard. “We combined that with the appliqué from Prada’s autumn/winter 2011 show because we were obsessed with that kind of sequining.
“In that show they also had bonnets and I’m a big fan of bonnets, I’m a big headwear fan in general but especially on the red carpet. This just felt very Wes Anderson, very Maya — I just think it’s a fu way to take a dress somewhere else.”
Embodying both aspects of black and white dressing was Barbie herself, Margot Robbie, who took a brief break from pink while still able (the star is set to attend not one, not two but eight Barbie premieres to promote the film in July) and donned a Schiaparelli SS23 couture mini dress for the red carpet. The dress featured a velvet bodice and peplum white pleated skirt with a tiny gold keyhole detail at the waist.
Robbie paired the black and white number with soft waves, red nails and simple black pumps — plus barely any jewellery. The girl is getting in her refinement while she still can because next month is gonna be pretty, pink and plastic.
Also in all black were cast members Jason Schwartzman, Tom Hanks (who attended with his wife Rita Wilson, also in all black), Glee alum Diana Agron, actress Dylan Mulvaney and the director himself, Wes Anderson, who wore a simple black and white suit with chain link loafers.
Some colour was brought to the red carpet by the ever-reliable Jeff Goldblum, who beamed at photographers as he danced about in his prussian blue Prada suit, which he wore on top of a collared cream shirt with fluffy yellow detailing (matching his yellow rimmed glasses), as well as a salmon pink shirt and tie combo. Has anyone checked that this man isn’t secretly related to Harry Styles?
Meanwhile, Adrien Brody looked the picture of cool in his cream suit and white shirt, which was altogether not too dissimilar to the outfits worn by his character in Darjeeling Limited, another Wes Anderson flick. If you were looking for bold, colourful looks, this wasn’t the premiere for you — you’ll have to watch the actual film for that — but it sure was a lesson in monochrome dressing, and proof that we need more swim caps on red carpets.
