There’s a perfect balance to strike when it comes to wearing all-black. Lean too heavily on the color and one can risk looking like a Matrix extra or a cater waiter. Instead, one can approach the color with the utmost elegance like Selena Gomez did last night.
The singer and actress brought an Old Hollywood flair to a deep, gothic palette for the Emilia Pérez Los Angeles premiere. She slipped into a couture Elie Saab confection that was draped to perfection. It featured a dramatic structure at the bodice which led into an elegant maxi skirt. Gomez and her stylist Erin Walsh paired the piece with leather opera gloves, an Old Hollywood favorite, and blinding jewelry courtesy of Messika. Gomez may have been in all-black, but she couldn’t have lit up the premiere any more.
The singer and actress was joined by her boyfriend Benny Blanco following the red carpet.
Gomez has been leaning into her version of Hollywood glamour with looks like this one as she’s been promoting Emilia Pérez over these past few weeks.
During a special screening of the buzzy Jacques Audiard film in London earlier this month, Gomez channeled a bygone era in a sequined Erdem outfit that looked like it belonged in the 1920s. She’s mainly stuck to black, but has also come up with bold moments like the princess Oscar de la Renta gown she wore on a London red carpet.
Gomez—who plays Jessi Del Monte, the wife of the titular drug cartel leader Emilia Pérez—has been garnering tons of awards buzz for her performance in the Audiard project. She and her cast mates, Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, and Adriana Paz, took home the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actress prize in May. The film, which features a large musical element in Spanish, follows a notorious cartel boss (Gascón) who retires and transitions into a woman.
Gomez recently opened up about the audition process in which she performed the song “Bienvenida” for Audiard. Gomez recalled, “I had no idea the concept of what he was going for, the director Jacques literally said to me, act drunk and throw your shoes if you want, and just go crazy.”
“I went totally for it, she continued. “I was standing on furniture and I blacked out, but I was just singing my heart out and dancing like a mad woman, a drunk mad woman and it was a very crazy experience.”
