Venice Film Festival Best Dressed of All Time

As the sun sets over the enchanting canals of Venice in September, the city transforms into a dazzling stage for the Venice Film Festival, where cinematic excellence meets high fashion. Since its inception, this festival has attracted A-list stars of Hollywood and international cinema, all eager to showcase their latest films and sartorial glamour.

The Venice Film Festival, officially known as the Venice International Film Festival, is the oldest film festival in the world, having been founded in 1932. It takes place as part of the Venice Biennale, which embraces various art forms. The festival is renowned for its prestigious awards, including the coveted Golden Lion, and serves as a significant platform for filmmakers to showcase their work and gain international recognition.

Ahead of the 2024 Venice Film Festival, which will run from Wednesday to Sept. 7, WWD looks at the best-dressed red carpet stars in the event’s history.

Zendaya

For the 2021 premiere of “Dune,” Zendaya wore a custom, formfitting Balmain dress with a thigh-high slit.

Gwyneth Paltrow

Paltrow attended the “Contagion” premiere in 2011 wearing a pink Prada dress with an oversized bow at the back of the neckline.

Cate Blanchett

Blanchett wore a black and gold one-sleeve long dress from Armani Privé’s fall 2018 collection at the “Suspiria” screening in 2018.

Timothée Chalamet

Chalamet went bold in a custom blood-red Haider Ackermann ensemble for the “Bones and All” premiere in 2022.

Jennifer Lopez

Lopez, accompanied by her now-ex-husband Ben Affleck, showed up to “The Last Duel” premiere in 2021, wearing a Georges Hobeika couture dress from the brand’s fall 2021 collection.

The Venice Film Festival is an annual festival held in Venice, Italy, that previews new films from around the world. In 2024, the festival will open with Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and feature a jury led by actress Isabelle Huppert. The festival aims to promote cinema in all its forms and foster dialogue among filmmakers and audiences, making it a key event in the global film calendar.

Here is the lineup for the 81st Venice Film Festival:

Venezia 81 Competition

The Room Next Door, dir: Pedro Almodovar
Campo di Battaglia, dir: Gianni Amelio
Leurs Enfants Après Eux, dirs: Ludovic Boukherma, Zoran Boukherma
The Brutalist, dir: Brady Corbet
The Quiet Son, dirs: Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin
Vermiglio, dir: Maura Delpero
Sicilian Letters, dirs: Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza
Queer, dir: Luca Guadagnino
Love, dir: Dag Johan Haugerud
April, dir: Dea Kulumbegashvili
The Order, dir: Justin Kurzel
Maria, dir: Pablo Larrain
Trois Amies, dir: Emmanuel Mouret
Kill the Jockey, dir: Luis Ortega
Joker: Folie à Deux, dir: Todd Phillips
Babygirl, dir: Halina Reijn
I’m Still Here, dir: Walter Salles
Diva Futura, dir: Giulia Louise Steigerwalt
Harvest, dir: Athina Rachel Tsangari
Youth – Homecoming, dir: Wang Bing
Stranger Eyes, dir: Yeo Siew Hua

Out of Competition

Fiction

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, dir: Tim Burton (Opening film)
L’Orto Americano, dir: Pupi Avati (Closing film)
Il Tempo che ci Vuole, dir: Francesca Comencini
Phantosmia, dir: Lav Diaz
Maldoror, dir: Fabrice du Welz
Broken Rage, Takeshi Kitano
Baby Invasion, dir: Harmony Korine
Cloud, dir: Kurosawa Kiyoshi
Finalement, dir: Claude Lelouch
Wolfs, dir: Jon Watts
Se Posso Permettermi Capitolo II, dir: Marco Bellocchio (short)
Allégorie Citadine, dirs: Alice Rohrwacher, JR (short)

Non-Fiction

Why War, dir: Amos Gitai
2073, dir: Asif Kapadia
Bestiari, Erbari, Lapidari, dirs: Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Perenti
Apocalypse in the Tropics, dir: Petra Costa
One to One: John & Yoko, dir: Kevin Macdonald, Sam Rice-Edwards
Separated, dir: Errol Morris
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989, dir: Goran Hugo Olsson
Russians at War, dir: Anastasia Trofimova
TWST/Things We Said Today, dir: Andrei Ujica
Songs of Slow Burning Earth, dir: Olha Zhurba
Riefenstahl, dir: Andres Veiel

Special Screenings

Leopardi. Il Poeta Dell’Infinito, dir: Sergio Rubini
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, dir: Peter Weir
Beauty Is not a Sin, dir: Nicolas Winding Refn

Series

Disclaimer, dir: Alfonso Cuaron
The New Years, dirs: Rodrigo Sorogoyen del Amo, Sandra Romero
Families Like Ours, dir: Thomas Vinterberg
M – Il Figlio del Secolo, dir: Joe Wright

Horizons Extra

September 5, dir: Tim Fehlbaum
Vittoria, dirs: Alessandro Cassigoli, Casey Kauffman
Le Mohican, dir: Frederic Farrucci
Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo, dir: Khaled Mansour
La Storia del Frank e della Nina, dir: Paola Randi
The Witness, dir: Nader Saeivar
After Party, dir: Vojtech Strakaty
King Ivory, dir: John Swab
Edge of Night, dir: Turker Suer

Horizons

Nonostante, dir: Valerio Mastandrea
Quiet Life, dir: Alexandros Avranas
Mon Inséparable, dir: Anne-Sophie Bailly
Aïcha, dir: Mehdi Barsaoui
Happy Holidays, dir: Scandar Copti
Familia, dir: Francesco Costabile
One of Those Days When Hemme Dies, dir: Murat Firatoglu
Familiar Touch, dir: Sarah Friedland
Marco, dirs: Jon Garano, Aitor Arregi
Carissa, dirs: Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar
Wishing on a Star, dir: Peter Kerekes
Mistress Dispeller, dir: Elizabeth Lo
The New Year that Never Came, dir: Bogdan Muresanu
Pooja, Sir, dir: Deepak Rauniyar
Of Dogs and Men, dir: Dani Rosenberg
Pavements, dir: Alex Ross Perry
Happyend, dir: Neo Sora
L’Attachement, dir: Carine Tardieu
Diciannove, dir: Giovanni Tortorici

Venice Classics

Documentaries About Cinema
Miyazaki, L’Esprit de la Nature
I will Revenge this World with Love S Paradjanov
Le Cinéma de Jean-Pierre Léaud
From Darkness to Light
Carlo Mazzacurati – Una Certa Idea di Cinema
Chain Reactions
Maroun Returns to Beirut
Volonté – L’Uomo dai Mille Volti
Constelacion Portabella