Of all the glittering events on Hollywood’s calendar—the Oscars, Academy Museum Gala, Met Ball—there’s no place Cate Blanchett shines more than when she’s celebrating cinema. Specifically, the red carpet of the Palazzo del Cinema at the Venice International Film Festival. This year, at the 81st iteration of the annual event, the Australian actress will preview Alfonso Cuarón’s new Apple TV+ limited series Disclaimer.
While the premiere of her first leading television role show in four years isn’t slated until later in the week, Blanchett has already warmed up the theatre in a custom Armani Privé gown for the festival’s official opener, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. For the occasion, Blanchett was a vision of light in the strapless golden metallic silhouette.
Perhaps emulating the afternoon light as it hits Venice’s grand canal, the garment featured a shimmering, body-conscious shape divided into panels through strings of pearls. When designing the dress, Mr. Giorgio Armani drew inspiration from his most recent Fall/Winter 2024 Haute Couture collection—which you can read GRAZIA’s review here.
As Blanchett’s stylist Elizabeth Stewart pointed out, this won’t be the last time the 55-year-old wears it either. Indeed, Blanchett has become somewhat of the patron saint of re-wearing fashion, with the actress often shopping from her own wardrobe for high-profile events. “It’s chic to repeat,” Stewart wrote while sharing images of Blanchett from the glamorous screening.
Fittingly, Blanchett borrowed from her headline-making Cannes Film Festival outfit from earlier this year. From the Côte d’Azur to Lido di Venezia, we’d like to come back as one of Blanchett’s clothing in our next life. The piece in question is a pearl and diamond Louis Vuitton necklace, repurposed from the French maison’s atelier, worn around her shoulders. Blanchett also wore the high jewellery to the 2023 BAFTA Awards.
If Taylor Russel’s vintage Chanel was the stuff of bridal and vintage fashion fantasies, then allow Blanchett’s to be the ‘something borrowed’ in the traditional matrimonial adage. Blanchett later connected with multi-hyphenate creative Patti Smith on the carpet, before joining the cast, including Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara, inside the cinema. Grab yourself some popcorn, because there’s more of Blanchett where that came from.
This story first appeared on GRAZIA International.