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The night may have been chilly but at this week’s premiere for What’s Love Got To Do With It?, there was one person who got the world hot under the collar.
The film’s star, Lily James, left mouths agape and little to the imagination in her sheer, corseted, lime-green Miu Miu dress and towering silver heels.
It was certainly a departure from the blushing blonde who tripped down the red carpet in a series of fairy-tale frocks after playing Cinderella eight years ago.
Yet this week’s busty display shouldn’t come as so much of a surprise. For the truth is that 33-year-old Lily has been blazing a trail on the red carpet with her powerful, sexy new look for the past year.
Look back at every dress she has chosen since January 2022 and you’ll notice a theme: bold, body-con dresses that show the world she is no wilting wallflower.
Lily James starred as Pamela Anderson in the headline-grabbing Hulu series last year
Lily James, left mouths agape and little to the imagination in her sheer, corseted, lime-green Miu Miu dress and towering silver heels at the premiere for What’s Love Got To Do With It?
So what’s behind her style sea-change? After all, she’s boasted the same stylist, celebrity favourite Rebecca Corbin-Murray, since 2015.
Well, her metamorphosis from a young twentysomething who chose sweeping gowns from the likes of Oscar De La Renta and Elie Saab to today’s screen siren started around the time she played Baywatch bombshell Pamela Anderson in the TV series Pam & Tommy.
For the premiere on January 24 last year, Lily drew much attention in a silver Atelier Versace mini dress with a cut-out bodice and bra-like straps, which showed off the curves she had worked on so hard with a personal trainer to get into beach-babe shape.
Onlookers assumed Lily was simply borrowing Pammy’s vibe to plug the show. Yet as the months went on, the sultry, figure-enhancing outfits continued.
In March, Lily opted for a mini dress and thigh-high boots by Roberto Cavalli for Vogue and Tiffany’s fashion and film party.
At the Oscars later that month, she chose a baby-pink lace Versace gown with a thigh-high split that revealed her fabulous legs and left the cape-like skirt trailing in her wake.
She went for thigh-flashing Versace again at May’s Met Gala in New York, this time donning a sheer, jewel-encrusted fabric that gave tantalising glimpses of the flesh underneath.
Look back at pictures of her from her rise to fame and you’ll find Lily in giant bows; classic polka-dots and lots and lots of floral
Lily putting on the glitz at the Oscars in a mesmerising pale pink Versace dress
And at the BFI film festival in September, she cut a dramatic figure in backless red Alaia.
This felt like a new Lily James — one who was becoming more confident in owning her sexuality.
You can, of course, understand why Lily might want to break out of the mould the world had cast for her.
With her cut-glass British accent, delicate features and a filmography that includes adaptations of some of literature’s classic tales (Rebecca, The Pursuit Of Love, Cinderella) it was always tempting to lump Lily into that most dreadful of cliches, the English Rose. (Truth be told, I don’t think there’s a single British actress who has ever made it in the hard-knock world of Hollywood who could be seen as a ‘delicate flower.’)
But for years, Lily’s choice of classic gowns on the red carpet, and floaty midi-dresses off it, only further cemented that reputation. Look back at pictures of her from her rise to fame as Lady Rose in Downton Abbey in 2013 up until the pandemic put a stop to awards ceremonies and premieres in 2020, and you’ll find her resplendent in giant bows (Valentino); classic polka-dots (Petar Petrov) and lots and lots of floral (Emilia Wickstead, Preen, Alexander McQueen and Saloni).
On January 24 last year, Lily drew much attention in a silver Atelier Versace mini dress with a cut-out bodice and bra-like straps (pictured left). The next month, she wore another striking Versace outfit, at Milan Fashion Week (right)
In March 2022 Lily was snapped wearing a crop top and trousers by Del Core at LA film awards (pictured left). That same month at a screening of Pam & Tommy in Los Angeles Lily wore a sheer Roberto Cavalli dress (right)
And yet, I have always thought her early style at odds with the Lily James I have seen and met.
I shared a table with her in December 2019 at the British Fashion Awards. She was fresh from her split with ex-Doctor Who star Matt Smith and was wearing a white gown by Valentino.
Lily was no delicate wallflower that evening; she was funny, flirty — and one of the sexiest actresses I have ever met.
It was as though the room bent towards her as she walked. ELLE magazine, of which I was editor, almost shot her for its cover a few months later (as usually happens with these things, the timing didn’t quite work out) and unlike most Hollywood actresses, Lily was very willing to experiment with her look.
You could feel it, even then, that the real Lily James was itching to step out of her pre-prescribed sartorial comfort zone.
In March 2022, Lily opted for a mini dress and thigh-high boots by Roberto Cavalli for Vogue and Tiffany’s fashion and film party
May 2022: Lily styled in a risque Versace safety pins at the Met Gala after-party
At the BFI film festival in September, Lily cut a dramatic figure in backless vintage red Alaia
At last year’s Met Gala in New York, Lily wore a stunning jewelled Versace dress
I think you have only to look at the men Lily has dated — fellow star Matt Smith; an alleged dalliance with her married Pursuit Of Love co-star Dominic West and her recent ex-partner, American rock musician Michael Shuman — to know that this is a woman who is not prepared to be any man’s simpering arm candy.
Which makes me wonder whether there’s anything surprising about this ‘new’ look at all.
In fact, I’d put money on the fact this provocative new style is far more representative of the woman Lily really is . . .
Body confident, wonderfully impish, oozing sex appeal — and finding it ever so amusing that we’re only just starting to realise that this English rose has thorns.
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