The leather tie, the sharp lapel, and the red lip: inside Elle Fanning’s immaculate birthday red carpet dressing
There are premieres, and then there are statements. When Elle Fanning arrived at the New York City premiere of her forthcoming film Margo’s Got Money Troubles, she did so armed with one of the season’s most covetable silhouettes — and the result was nothing short of sartorially electric.
Dressed by her long-trusted stylist Samantha McMillen, Fanning stepped out in a look plucked directly from Givenchy’s Fall 2026 ready-to-wear collection — a runway outing that made its debut in Paris just weeks prior. Creative director Sarah Burton, whose tenure at the historic house continues to yield quietly authoritative dressing, conceived a double-breasted blazer and matching wide-leg trouser in deep navy pinstripe. The silhouette leans decidedly into the season’s obsession with power dressing: shoulders are broad and sculpted, lapels are sharp, and the overall proportions carry that delicious slouch that separates true tailoring from mere suiting.
Fanning styled the blazer without a shirt beneath — a choice that instantly elevated the ensemble from boardroom-adjacent to something far more rarefied and evening-appropriate. The masterstroke, however, came in the form of a leather neckerchief in a rich maroon, knotted loosely at the throat like a Parisian afterthought. The leather tie — a fixture on Bottega Veneta runways and increasingly favored on the red carpet — received a thoroughly fresh interpretation here, worn with the nonchalance of a silk scarf rather than the gravity of a formal accessory. Against the dark navy of the Givenchy suiting, the contrast was arresting.
To complete the picture, makeup artist Tyron Machhausen delivered a precise red lip that echoed the maroon of the neckerchief — cohesion at its most considered — while sparkling Cartier diamond rings provided the evening’s sole note of classical glamour. The “Sentimental Value” Oscar nominee wore her jewels with the confidence of someone who knows precisely when more is more, and when restraint is the louder choice.
Beyond this particular evening, the broader press tour has offered a masterclass in spring dressing — pastel palette shifts, a double-bow August Barron tutu skirt, a joyfully patchwork Yusho Kobayashi dress, and not one but two appearances in Rabanne’s Fall 2026 collection. All of which unfolded, delightfully, in celebration of her 28th birthday. Happy birthday to this Aries princess — long may she reign, in pinstripes and beyond.
