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Angelina Jolie is, perhaps, the ultimate Hollywood actress. Dignified in speech with a Hellenic beauty and an underlying pathos that evokes Louise Brooks, Pauline Starke and Marilyn Monroe. Her performance in the Pablo Larraín-directed Maria Callas biopic–which British Vogue editor Radhika Seth described as her greatest of all time and won her an eight-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival–has seen her become an avatar for a resplendent strain of old-world composure otherwise lost to time.

“I chose not to copy [Maria’s] looks because they are hers, and her Venice carpets were stunning, so I gave a little nod to her—in a different way,” Jolie recently said of her own Venice wardrobe. “But I made sure to wear something ladylike in her honor.” The actor spent most of her time dressed in Saint Laurent and Tom Ford dresses with Grecian-style sleeves that served as a subtle homage to the American-Greek soprano, before later wearing a knitted column at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado cut from the most luxurious shade of cashmere with Roger Vivier’s buckled City pumps.

Angelina Jolie at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival.

Vivien Killilea/Getty Images

Blanket dressing can be as polished and decadent and sumptuous as a stole-topped Tamara Ralph gown—the draped chiffon number that Angelina Jolie wore to the premiere of Maria—but there’s perhaps something more vulnerable about the desire to swaddle oneself in ultra-soft yarns.

Daisy Fringed Scarf-Detailed Striped Brushed Cashmere Cape

Mongolian Cashmere V-Neck Midi Sweater Dress

It reminds me of Callas’s own relationship to clothing, which continues to inspire. “An armour,” as Vogue editor Liam Hess noted in an interview with Jolie, “that allowed her to step out into an at-times hostile world.”

This article was originally published by British Vogue.


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