That Helen Mirren–and her stylist Rachel Fanconi—should call on les petites mains of Dolce Gabbana for this year’s Golden Globes ceremony should come as little surprise. The 78-year-old actor has struck up an unexpected–yet fruitful–alliance with Domenico and Stefano over recent years, sitting front row at their operatic Alta Sartoria shows while wearing some of their most frou-frou pieces for red carpet events. Mirren herself once gushed that there should be “an Olympic event for twirling in a big dress”—and that she would personally enlist herself as a representative for Dolce Gabbana, should the opportunity arise.
The three-time Golden Globe winner was among the first cohort of celebrities to arrive at the ceremony’s 81st edition on Sunday evening, draped in a spaghetti-strapped gown with a dramatic shawl befitting a classic prima donna. Glamorous, elegant, ladylike: these are, at this point, the basic tenets of red carpet dressing, but it’s often Mirren’s choice of hairstyle that bucks the more staid expectations.
There was the blunt bob of the Golda screening back in September and the indigo-dyed mermaid waves of the 76th annual Cannes film. And this time, the actor had fixed her hair into a pristine, slicked-back bun that felt directional and a little androgynous.
Styled with a deep side parting and a flyaway-free finish, Mirren’s cheated crop cut drew attention to a delicate pressing of lilac eyeshadow, swirls of pale-pink blush, and a peony-painted lip. Not to mention all those twinkling jewels. It’s a slight diversion from her usual beauty MO: to wear her hair long and lustrous in resistance to the beauty standards put on older women.
“There’s an unspoken rule that you’re not supposed to have long hair. Or if you do have long hair, you’re supposed to have it all neatly up in a bun,” she told Vogue in May. But, of course, Mirren understands that rules are made to be broken. “I don’t think there should be any rules and luckily there are less and less,” she added. “I grew up in a world where there were all kinds of rules as far as women were concerned, and then saw people like Madonna come along and break them all. She was totally a woman after my own heart.”
Listen to Vogue editors talk about this year’s winners, biggest moments, and best red-carpet fashion on this episode of The Run-Through here.