The best way to describe actor and musician Cynthia Erivo's style is fearless: never one to be discouraged by bold colourways, sumptuous textures or sculptural shapes, Erivo's chameleonic approach to clothes is what makes her the perfect Louis Vuitton ambassador and a notable face on creative director Nicolas Ghesquière's fashion week front row.
The Wicked star’s excitement is still palpable hours after Ghesquière's 10th-anniversary show, which was staged inside Paris’s Cour Carrée du Louvre earlier this week.
It was love at first sight when she first saw the patterned black and white, high-collar jacket with a white slip underneath – look 43, to be exact – heading down the SS24 runway back in September, she told ELLE UK. There and then, she picked it as her outfit for this season’s show.
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‘It's one of those pieces that stuck with me,’ Erivo said. ‘It's dark, it was very vivid, very graphic. There's a point of view, from the powerful shoulders wide to the nipped-in detailing at the waist. Nothing is as it seems at first glance. From afar, it looks white and black, but there's an eggshell-white hue peppered in there, along with a mixture of silks.’
With the help of her stylist Jason Bolden, the actor accessorised her runway look with platform boots, a bejewelled clutch, and lashings of jewellery, which enveloped her ears and fingers. (‘I don't know what minimal is when it comes to jewellery,’ she said, grinning.)
Erivo is often drawn to clothes that intrigue, or surprise with an element of unpredictability. Scroll through her Instagram account and you’ll find an amalgam of patterned shirts, Jean Paul Gaultier dresses and neutral knitwear on her days off, alongside armour-like copper Louis Vuitton gowns and A-line dresses while on the red-carpet.
While she credits close friend, stylist and multi-hyphenate Amanda Murray, as her confidant for all things clothing, Erivo has a clear confidence in her own personal style. Already, she’s bookmarked some runway looks from Tuesday’s show for future outings (with Wicked set to hit cinemas later this year, no doubt we’ll see her wearing them on the red carpet very soon).
‘There was a brown dress that was covered in large sequins. And over it was almost like a floor-length waistcoat made of green leather and brown shearling. It was divine,’ she said, also recalling a black top draped over coordinating culottes and boots that piqued her interest.
With only a few hours left to roam Paris, how will Erivo be spending her time? Browsing family-run pen shop Point Plume, a stone’s throw away from the Arc de Triomphe.
‘I'm a cursive writer and enjoy journalling; I ended up connecting with the owners of the store, and I came away with a beautiful fountain pen,’ she said. ‘It's one of the places I know I'll go back to.’
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