How did Gwendoline Christie conquer the fashion world?

Gwendoline Christie, an actress revealed by Game of Thrones

Known worldwide for her interpretation of Brienne de Tarth, the short-haired heroine with the imposing armor in the series Game of Thrones, Gwendoline Christie has been quickly propelled to international stardom in 2011.

Thanks to her androgynous silhouette and banging personality, the 6’27” British actress has often been offered roles of strong, tenacious women that the audience is not used to seeing on screen.

One can recall her interpretations of Captain Phasma in Star Wars (2015 and 2017), Commander Lyme in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015) or the marginalized character of Miranda Hilmarson she embodied in the series Top of the Lake: China Girl in 2013.

In a completely different register, Gwendoline Christie displays a new aspect of her talent by accepting the much more glamorous role of Larissa Weems in the series Wednesday directed by Tim Burton and released in 2022. Sporting elegant, Hitchcockian suits this time, she brilliantly plays a strict yet ultra-feminine headmistress. A few months prior to that, Netflix also offered her the role of Lucifer in the series Sandman (2022), in which she appeared in mesmerizing costumes and gigantic black wings.

An actress with a passion for fashion who appeals to designers

While many agree that Gwendoline Christie dazzles and surprises us with her powerful roles, the actress also appeals to the fashion world. This creative universe has fascinated her since the age of 11, as she explains in an interview with System Magazine.

During the Spring/Summer 2024 Couture Fashion Week last January, she made a lasting impression as the final act of John Galliano’s spectacular “Artisanal” couture show for Maison Margiela. Yet, what we often miss is that the 45-year-old star is no stranger to the catwalks…

After collaborating with designers Vivienne Westwood in 2015 and Miuccia Prada for her Miu Miu Cruise collection in 2019, she took part in Japanese designer Tomo Koizumi’s debut show in New York that same year. She walked the runway wearing a breathtaking dress with multicolored ruffles, alongside supermodel Bella Hadid.

Equally at ease on film sets and on red carpets, from the Fashion Awards and the Met Gala to film previews, Gwendoline Christie tends to go for majestic looks created by her partner, the British designer Giles Deacon, or by her friends, such as the couple Michèle Lamy and Rick Owens, Iris van Herpen, or British designer Peter Copping.

Last but not least, it’s impossible to forget her masterful entrance on Thom Browne’s catwalk at the Opéra Garnier during the Spring/Summer 2023-2024 Paris Fashion Week last year. Stunning in her embroidered midnight-blue coat, the actress opened the show with a poetic, exuberant act, which once again confirmed her love of craftsmanship and theatricality.

The actress also delivered a moving performance alongside actor Robert Pattinson at the Dior menswear Fall/Winter 2023-2024 show, reciting the poem The Waste Land written by T.S. Eliot in 1922 to the music of German composer Max Richter. Yet again, she demonstrated her loyalty to specific designers like Kim Jones.

“The fashion industry did embrace me for everything about my loudness as a person, my opinions, my sense of humor and my desire to change and transform”, the star shared in an interview with Vogue last year. In any case, we can’t get enough of her presence and of the intoxicating, transgressive “je ne sais quoi” she brings to fashion and cinema.

Traduction Emma Naroumbo Armaing