It is not every premiere that finds an actress sharing the red carpet with the name behind her gown—and rarer still that said designer once acted alongside her in the very film being celebrated. Yet for a project like The Devil Wears Prada 2, where celebrity cameos abound and the fashion media ecosystem is examined from every conceivable angle, such convergence feels almost inevitable. Thus, Anne Hathaway was photographed alongside Donatella Versace at the London premiere, both women serving as living embodiments of the house’s enduring theatricality.
For the occasion, Hathaway selected a navy-blue velvet gown from Atelier Versace—a masterwork of architectural deconstruction. The bodice, rendered in lustrous silk, assumed the precise silhouette of a tuxedo jacket: miniature lapels, a regimented row of buttons, all the formal signifiers of boardroom propriety. Yet at either side, sheer panels with exposed boning offered an intimate glimpse into the garment’s construction, dismantling the traditional silhouette to reveal its inner machinery.
The back echoed the front’s configuration, with lapel-like flaps folding over the skirt as though the entire garment were in the process of coming elegantly undone. Below, a long high-slit skirt trailed behind her, its sequin top panel catching light with every movement—a deliberate disruption of the velvet’s matte sobriety.
Hathaway and stylist Erin Walsh selected Bulgari Serpenti earrings, displayed to full advantage by the actress’s voluminous, slicked-back high ponytail. The effect was simultaneously severe and sensual: the disciplined updo permitting the jewelry to command attention while the gown itself performed its own elaborate contradictions.
Beside her, Versace wore a black off-the-shoulder gown with tiered ruching—the designer who spearheaded the label’s creative direction from 1997, following her brother Gianni’s death, until 2025, when she ceded control to Dario Vitale. Now serving as chief brand ambassador, her presence lent the evening its full-circle resonance. The house she defined, worn by the actress who once portrayed its aspirational allure on screen.
The deconstructed tuxedo dress: where power dressing meets its own unraveling.
