Florence Pugh is back on the press circuit for We Live in Time—and she’s left Arakis-inspired dressing in the intergalactic dust. For the premiere of the A24 rom-com at TIFF last night, the Oscar nominee activated Princess Peach mode in a gown that might well have featured in Funny Face’s “Think Pink” sequence. The dress hails from Ralph & Russo alumna Tamara Ralph’s fall 2024 couture offering, which took the romance of Paris as its subject, a theme played out in silhouettes that recalled the Nouvelle Vague; Moulin Rouge-worthy quantities of lace and leather; and orchid embellishments meant to symbolize forbidden love, per the show notes. (Tamara, I’m guessing, is a fan of Swann’s Way—or at least she’s read the SparkNotes.)
Interestingly, Pugh wasn’t the only TIFF attendee with a security detail to wear Tamara Ralph yesterday. The irrepressible Jennifer Lopez faced the paps at her Unstoppable premiere in a chainmail dress from the very same collection—marking her first public appearance since news broke of her divorce. The internet, in its wisdom, is already making comparisons to Diana, Princess of Wales’s Christina Stambolian “revenge dress” at the Serpentine 30 years ago—although, in the name of fashion journalism, I feel obligated to point out that J Lo’s platformed Dolce & Gabbana stilettos last night were more Divine than Lady Di.
This double endorsement at TIFF is, of course, a boon for Ralph, whose ateliers have been catching the attention of Hollywood stylists in recent months. It’s the Australian-born designer who made Angelina Jolie’s custom premiere gown for Maria during the Venice Film Festival—Ralph, too, who masterminded the crystal intarsia dress that Blake Lively wore on her no floral-left-behind tour for It Ends With Us. And while not every fashion editor is convinced by Ralph’s designs—which, admittedly, can tip “1980s prom queen” on occasion—they’re still a marked improvement on the more literal forms of method dressing we’ve been subjected to lately. Fewer spiderwebs, more silk faille, please.