Timothée Chalamet has explored numerous ways to wear a scarf as of late, but his A Complete Unkown co-star Elle Fanning has her own idea. At the Directors Guild of America Awards over the weekend, Fanning slipped into a custom Valentino number by Alessandro Michele. Her innovation? Matching her scarf exactly to her shirting.
Fanning donned a black smoking suit that she paired with a butter yellow blouse underneath. Her top featured a standing collar, a coquette bow detail that mimicked a cummerbund, and the matching fringed scarf. Fanning finished off her look with a flipped bob and black pumps.
Full suits like Fanning’s are en vogue right now among actresses. Look no further than Friday’s Critics Choice Awards where Nicole Kidman wore a Saint Laurent blazer, jacket, and tie. Even Ariana Grande recently took a break from her Glinda princess dresses to wear a suit and tie, also by Saint Laurent, during a Wicked screening. Fanning’s suit, however, wasn’t the type that would traditionally be found in an office setting. Her outfit had a more theatrical feel to it—largely, due to that giant bow across the front. It’s a playful, retro-tinged aesthetic that has drawn Fanning to Michele’s Valentino designs. Indeed, this is the third time in recent months that she’s worn Valentino.
At The National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala in January, Fanning slipped into a powdery baby doll dress from Michele’s pre-fall 2025 Valentino collection. Like her blouse from Saturday, the dress featured a bow detail at the front which Fanning paired with a dramatic faux fur stolle and dazzling Cartier rubies.
It shouldn’t be a surprise then that Fanning was one of the first to wear Michele’s Valentino in November 2024. For the Governors Awards that month, the actress and her stylist Samantha McMillen picked out a sheer mint green dress and matching cape from Michele’s debut Valentino collection.
Certainly, Fanning’s custom suit only further cemented her status as Michele’s foremost Valentino muse.
