That Helen Mirren–and her stylist Rachel Fanconi–should call on les petites mains of Dolce & Gabbana for this year’s Golden Globes ceremony should come as little surprise. The 78-year-old actor has struck up an unexpected–yet fruitful–alliance with Domenico and Stefano over recent years, sitting front row at their operatic Alta Sartoria shows, while wearing some of their most frou-frou pieces for red carpet events. Mirren herself once gushed that there should be “an Olympic event for twirling in a big dress” and that she would personally enlist herself as a representative for Dolce & Gabbana should the opportunity arise.
The three-time Golden Globe winner was among the first cohort of celebrities to arrive at the ceremony’s 81st edition this evening, draped in a spaghetti-strapped gown with a dramatic shawl befitting a classic prima donna. Cut from three shades of purple fabric, might the actor have been making a tacit acknowledgment of The Color Purple, which was snubbed from this year’s nominations? Glamorous, elegant, ladylike: these are, at this point, the tenets of red carpet dressing, but it’s often Mirren’s choice of hairstyle that bucks the more staid expectations.
There was the blunt bob of the Golda screening back in September and the indigo-dyed mermaid waves of the 76th annual Cannes film. And this time, the actor had fixed her hair into a pristine, slicked-back bun that felt directional and a little androgynous.