From The Great to The Beguiled , No One Wears a Corset and Petticoat Better Than Elle Fanning
Elle Fanning wears a Valentino Haute Couture dress. To get this look, try: Infallible Total Cover Foundation in Classic Ivory, True Match Super Blendable Blush in Baby Blossom, Colour Riche Eyeshadow in Little Beige Dress,Infallible Silkissime Eyeliner in
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As Nathan Heller pointed out in his 2017 Vogue cover profile of Elle Fanning, the then 19-year-old actress is “an old soul.” If Fanning seems wise beyond her years, it’s partly because she often plays characters from a different time period. Consider her portrayal of Alicia in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, or her latest role as Catherine, Empress of Russia, in The Great. The Hulu series premiered on Friday and follows the life of Catherine the Great, the woman who staged a coup against her husband Peter III and ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796.
PRETTY IN PINKFanning, who has been acting since she was two, regards moviemaking as the easy part of growing up. It's real life that can feel tricky. Loewe jacket and skirt. Manolo Blahnik boots (worn throughout).
The 10-part series is no sappy melodrama. Rather it’s a hilarious retelling of Catherine’s reign, with naughty Monty Python–esque dialogue and brilliant comedic chemistry between Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, playing her husband-slash-nemesis. As has been pointed out in the mostly glowing reviews, the narrative and setting of the series lies somewhere between The Favourite and Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Stunning costumes are par for the course, and Catherine’s embroidered corsets and petticoated skirts—designed by Emma Fryer, are a marvel, to say nothing of her royal jewels.
BRANCHING OUTIn Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled, Fanning plays an aspiring temptress at a Civil War-era boarding school. “Sofia was so excited about making me the bad girl!” she says. Gucci dress.
As she proved in this 2017 Vogue shoot with Annie Leibovitz, Fanning is the best model for this sort of deeply romantic fashion, be it a headful of pink roses and a matching Valentino haute couture gown, a fairy-tale Alexander McQueen dress, or a flowing Loewe skirt and matching jacket. With IRL travel all but impossible, now is the moment to revisit this dreamy romp through Savannah, Georgia, where The Beguiled was filmed, again.
Elle McQueen
Elle Givenchy
“Swept Away,” by Nathan Heller, photographed by Annie Leibovitz, was published in the June 2017 issue of the magazine. Fashion Editor: Grace Coddington. Hair, Julien d’Ys for Julien d’Ys; makeup, Lauren Parsons. Production design: Mary Howard. Furniture courtesy of Royal Antiques Ltd, New Orleans. Local production by Batou Chandler. Special thanks to Friends of City Park and Jennifer Coolidge House.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
