How Cara Delevingne’s Showstopping Press Tour Wardrobe Came Together

Promoting a big film means traveling the globe and donning one great outfit after another for photo ops, interviews, and premieres. That requires a game plan. This summer no one was more committed to the task than Cara Delevingne, who traversed the globe for her sci-fi flick Valerian. Delevingne’s schedule of press dates lasted nearly six months and featured pieces from everyone from Alexander Wang to Maison Margiela. To pull it all off, Delevinge relied on her longtime stylists, Rob Zangardi and Mariel Haenn. The power duo behind Delevingne’s daring wardrobe brought their A game, creating a cohesive series of looks that can only be described with one word. “I think the overall mood for Cara is ‘badass’,” said Haenn on the phone from Los Angeles. “There are so many different variations on that and we’ve kept switching it up for each premiere.”

Working to incorporate the film’s science fiction theme without utilizing the genre’s fashion clichés, Haenn sought to highlight both the power of Delevingne’s special agent character and the mood of the runways. “We always try to use a little bit of the movie’s theme because it allows us to have a starting point,” says Haenn. “It wouldn’t make sense if she was wearing these futuristic, structured clothes while promoting a Victorian movie. Still, there’s a fine line between using the theme and making things too costumey.” Using the collections as reference when requesting specific looks, Haenn stresses the importance of keeping each look in sync with her client’s outspoken personality. “You always have to keep her in mind, and say, ‘Okay, this is an amazing dress, but it doesn’t really fit with who she is, so we’ll save it for someone else.’ ”

Though Delevingne’s status as a former model often allows her to pull off the kind of extreme fashions few starlets could, Haenn felt keeping the focus on her current work was important. “She’s out there promoting herself as an actress instead of a model,” says Haenn who admits that Delevingne’s versatility was a draw. “When we first started working with her, we were excited, because she’s a supermodel, but we quickly learned we needed to make sure that we were representing her actress side and not just dressing her in all these super avant-garde fashion looks.” Finding the appropriate balance meant taking into consideration the beauty changes brought about by Delevingne’s onscreen roles—especially the shaved head she sports thanks to an upcoming part in romantic drama, Life in a Year. “I remember when we first saw it. I was like, ‘Wait. Is this real?’ And it was right before the MTV Movie Awards,” says Haenn, who quickly got over her initial shock. “It was an ‘Oh, shit’ moment, but I absolutely loved it.”

The surprise change had an instant effect on the outfit selection. “You know I hate the word edgy, but the new haircut allowed us to do things we maybe wouldn’t have done before,” says Haenn. “It sets a different tone and direction.” From the drawn-on silver strands to match her Chanel couture suit at the Met Gala, to the rose gold dye job Delevingne sported with her Atelier Versace minidress at the Mexico City premiere, her hair—or lack thereof—has become a key part of each look. Getting things just right means trial, error, and plenty of laughs in between. “It just feels like we’re hanging out with our friend, and having a party except we’re trying on clothes,” says Haenn. “She doesn’t ever say no. If she doesn’t like something she’ll let us know, but she trusts us enough to experiment. We try to fit as much a possible, so we can see how everything looks on because sometimes there are things that she wouldn’t ordinarily think that she likes. But then when puts it on she’s like, ‘Oh my God I love this.’ ”

With hundreds of dresses to choose from and an impressive repertoire of statement pieces, it’s hard to settle on a single standout look, but the 3-D printed Iris van Herpen Couture that Delevingne chose for Valerian’s Los Angeles premiere was hard to beat. Sculptural with metallic construction that called to mind Fritz Lang’s Metropolis android, the dress was the perfect distillation of the science fiction theme. “It just felt like the right moment. [Rob and I] are big fans of Iris so we’re always looking for an opportunity to use her collections,” says Haenn, who admits a surprisingly practical reason for saving that dress for L.A. “Because it is 3-D printed it’s really delicate. We didn’t want to pack it with other clothes and risk damaging it.” The logic behind the choice may have been pragmatic, but standing out next to Rihanna is no small feat and Haenn chalks up the magic of the moment to Delevingne’s star quality. “It’s Cara, she just owns whatever she’s wearing.”