Elle Fanning looked fit to rule a kingdom on the 2022 Emmys red carpet, and it’s no wonder why.
The star, who is nominated tonight for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Catherine the Great on Hulu’s The Great, said her vintage Hollywood–inspired dress was designed by series costume designer Sharon Long, who just won the Emmy for Outstanding Period Costumes at the Creative Arts Emmys last week for her work on the show.
Fanning, who is busy filming season 3 of the outrageously funny series, added that she was inspired by the glamour of 1950s Tinseltown, back when costume designers, and not fashion designers, would create dresses for their stars.
“Once I got nominated, I thought wouldn’t it be amazing if [Long] designed my dress,” she told Laverne Cox on the E! Red Carpet special before the awards show.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Elle Fanning at the 74th Primetime Emmys
The Great love didn’t stop there. Fanning says that Catherine Shaw, the seamstress and cutter who actually made the clothes that Fanning’s character wears on the second and third seasons of the series, also handmade the dress she wore Monday night.
“I wanted to pay homage to the creatives on our show because the world that is created in The Great — of course the writing, but also the way it looks — is so important. And I’m very proud to wear this dress tonight. It’s my first Emmys. I’ve never been here!”
Fanning, who is nominated alongside costar Nicholas Hoult, who plays her hilariously terrible husband Peter, credits the costume, makeup, and hair artists on the show with getting her in character. “They transform me so much, especially with characters [like Catherine],” she says. “You get up in the morning and you feel like yourself. You’re all tired in sweatpants and then boom. In my case, I put my corset on, I have this tall wig, and I feel like a queen.”
Both Fanning and Hoult received their first Primetime Emmy nomination this year.
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