The Venice Film Festival 2026 red carpet has barely started and I already have screenshots piling up. We’ve had vintage Armani, sheer gowns, excellent menswear and enough proper movie-star glamour to make September interesting again. After the theme-heavy Met Gala outfits, I like that Venice asks for much less explaining. Wear something great, step onto the carpet and let me decide if I’m saving it.
Venice Is Going Big on Glamour
Embed from Getty ImagesKendall Jenner’s vintage Giorgio Armani gown is an easy favorite for me. The Fall 1995 dress came covered in gold floral embroidery and crystals, with very little styling competing against it. It looked like something a ’90s supermodel could have worn straight off the runway, which is probably the highest compliment I can give an archive pull.
Embed from Getty ImagesKendall also gave us one of my favorite smaller fashion stories in Venice with a pair of Alexander Calder earrings from 1955. She wore them with a separate Vivienne Westwood look, and the connection to the city is almost too good: Peggy Guggenheim collected Calder and famously wore his jewelry herself. A little wearable-art history between gowns never hurts.
Embed from Getty ImagesAmal Clooney went classic in a sculpted black Tom Ford gown by Haider Ackermann. I’ve seen enough red carpet tricks involving giant trains and strategic pieces of sheer fabric to appreciate a dress that just knows what it is. Black, fitted, glamorous, with her soft pink silk nails adding the perfect polished detail. Done.
Embed from Getty ImagesVittoria Ceretti did go sheer, but her Armani Privé gown came with a velvet column skirt and a crystal-covered bodice that pushed it closer to Italian screen-siren territory. If we’re going to continue the naked-dress era, this is much more my speed.
The Red Carpet Is Better When Everyone Looks Different
Embed from Getty ImagesSuki Waterhouse and Robert Pattinson might be my favorite pairing so far. She wore a sheer gold Saint Laurent mini with pink cuffs and messy rock-star hair; he turned up beside her in a white Dior Homme suit. Nothing matched. Perfect. Couple dressing is far more interesting when two people still look like two people.
Embed from Getty ImagesPhoebe Bridgers also avoided the predictable route. Her wispy gray Alexander McQueen gown had lace, sheer panels and just enough gothic weirdness to still look like Phoebe. Somewhere between a ghost in a Pre-Raphaelite painting and someone you would absolutely want to sit next to at dinner.
Embed from Getty ImagesThen there’s Sydney Sweeney pulling vintage Giorgio Armani from Fall 2000, Parker Posey going romantic in Valentino, and Kate and Rooney Mara treating black and white like their own tiny fashion universe. I like that the Venice Film Festival outfits aren’t collapsing into one trend. We’re getting archive fashion, old-Hollywood gowns, naked dressing, sharp suits and the occasional choice that requires a second look.
Embed from Getty ImagesThat mix is why I always end up paying attention to Venice. One look could have walked out of a Sophia Loren photograph, another belongs in Peggy Guggenheim’s palazzo, and the next looks ready for a 2 a.m. hotel bar.
The Venice Film Festival 2026 Outfits I’m Saving
The festival isn’t finished yet, and neither is this edit. See more Venice Film Festival 2026 red carpet outfits below, then drop a comment with your favorite and of course, tag us if you’re sharing your own pick. XoXo, Lila.
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