From Sophia Loren to Lady Gaga and Zendaya, the unforgettable dresses that transformed the Lido red carpet into a fashion stage.
Every year Venice offers fashionable scenography that no other festival can replicate. The stars arrive from the sea, cross the Lido and reach the Palazzo del Cinema while clothes, jewels and gestures are delivered to the photographers’ lenses. The red carpet thus becomes the meeting point between the theatricality of cinema and that of fashion, capable of transforming a premiere into an image destined to survive the film that accompanied it.
This is demonstrated by the looks that have remained in the memory of the Exhibition. In 1958 Sophia Loren collected the Volpi Cup with a dress with a cinched waist and full skirt, embodying the idea of the Italian diva. Sixty years later Lady Gaga arrived at the premiere of A Star Is Born wrapped in a monumental cloud of Valentino Haute Couture pink feathers. In 2021, Zendaya entrusted one of the most iconic entrances in contemporary fashion to a nude Balmain, modeled on the body and crossed by a surprising wet effect.
Cate Blanchett also contributed to defining the aesthetic identity of the Festival, alternating the experimental elegance of Armani Privé with the conscious choice to bring already worn clothes back to the red carpet. Taylor Russell, in 2024, instead rediscovered a Chanel Haute Couture from 1993, confirming the new charm of archive creations.
Among dresses that have entered history, surprising couture creations and appearances that have become part of the collective imagination, here is a gallery of the best looks shown off over the years at the Venice Film Festival.
