Old Faces, New Designers, and Politics on the Lido
The 82nd Venice Film Festival has landed on the Lido with its usual mix of glamour, film, and protest. But this year, the red carpet drama aren’t just about premieres , it’s about fashion houses battling for dominance.
Julia Roberts, is back at Venice after years away, and has been chosen as the face of Versace’s new era. Dario Vitale, freshly installed as creative director after Donatella’s departure in March, dressed Roberts in tailored businesswear by day and a sweeping gown by night for Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt. Her appearance was read as both a nod to classic diva continuity and a symbol of change.
Then came the twist. Amanda Seyfried, promoting Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee, appeared in the exact same Versace look worn just days earlier by Julia Roberts . Far from a faux pas, it was staged as a sustainability gesture. Sharing stylist Elizabeth Stewart, Seyfried asked to borrow the outfit, and Roberts obliged. Stewart posted the now-viral line: “Sharing is caring.” A Casual marketing gimmick ??
Cate Blanchett meanwhile continued her own eco-fashion streak this week , rewearing a custom Armani Privé gown from 2022. On anyone else it might have looked recycled; on Blanchett it read as effortless and defiant.
Men’s fashion, often sidelined, broke out with oversized tailoring. J.W. Anderson’s beautiful billowing suits and Dior’s wide-legged tuxedos have turned the red carpet into a laboratory of shape and silhouette, far from the standard black-tie uniform.
But Venice is never purely about aesthetics. Activists with Venice4Palestine unfurled a “Free Palestine” banner outside the La Grazia premiere, urging the festival not to ignore Gaza. The protest dovetailed with Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, competing in the festival and executive-produced by Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Jonathan Glazer, and Alfonso Cuarón. The film recounts the death of a young girl in Gaza in 2024, pulling real-world tragedy onto the Venetian stage.
Thus, the 82nd edition is shaping up as classic Venice: the collision of spectacle and substance, of Hollywood royalty in Italian couture and activists demanding global accountability. The question is whether this year will be remembered more for the clothes or the causes.
