The least celebrities can do these days, amid a flurry of red carpets and increasing fashion waste, is promote ecoconcious mindsets around consumption and closets. Leave it to superstars Amanda Seyfried and Julia Roberts to lead that charge with a single Versace outfit — and shared stylist to boot!
Versace confirmed that the A-listers did indeed wear the same ensemble over the course of the week in Venice. Julia Roberts first stepped out in newly christened Versace creative director Dario Vitale's first collection for the brand while promoting her new Luca Guadagnino joint, After the Hunt. The simple jeans and blazer with accompanying striped shirt held a major wow factor for me, especially when paired against co-star Ayo Edebiri's all white Chanel look.
Coincidentally, Cate Blanchett made similar headlines — and PAPER's best dressed list — in a repeat Armani Privé gown that was just as hot after a second spin around the fashion rack.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Seyfried loved the look so much she had her team contact Versace about borrowing it from Roberts for her own photo call the next week, to promote The Testament of Ann Lee. Both Versace and Roberts obliged, helped along by Robert and Seyfried's mutual stylist, Elizabeth Stewart. On Instagram, Stewart wrote: "“Thank you Julia Roberts for your generosity and sustainability. Sharing is caring.”
Now, fashion obsessives and critics were quick to point out the similarities, with the social media commentariat quickly describing the incident as a fashion faux pas of the highest magnitude. It's quaint, almost, to think that the same stylist would put two different mega-celebrities in the same outfit at such a highly photographed event, even for a photo-call prior to the proper red carpet. In fact, this is nothing of the sort.
What's happened here is actually quite the coup for Versace, who get to join the conversation at Venice while widely publicizing Vitale's first collection post Donatella Versace, who's departure and new appointee kicked up a bit of conversation for the house. Mainly, those same commenters, who neither buy clothes or work in fashion, believed another glamorous woman deserved the job. I'm inclined to agree, if only because high profile fashion jobs helmed by women are so few and far between these days.
If I were Seyfried and Roberts, I'd show my appreciation to Stewart for landing them on multiple best dressed lists over a blazer and jeans at a popular film festival. And if I was Versace, I'd get them front row, or even a campaign. But I don't do marketing, and should leave it to those cooking up schemes like these. My job is to clap like a seal and discuss the beautiful women in front of me.
Images via Getty
