Is there anything left to say at this point about the naked dress? Before the season 4 premiere of Emily in Paris in LA last night, probably not. Afterwards? Most definitely. Phillipine Leroy-Beaulieu, who plays the formidable marketing guru Sylvie Grateau in the hit show, joined her co-stars on a rooftop at golden hour to celebrate its return, and promptly reminded everyone watching that – even after Florence at Couture Week , a post-partum Sienna Miller and EmRata out walking the dog – a cleverly deployed naked dress still has the potential to cause a sensation.
The 61-year-old star turned to Saint Laurent for her premiere look – and who better to outfit the woman who plays Sylvie, most often seen with a Gauloise in one hand and a handsome younger lover in the other? Her transparent mocha dress, snatched at the waist with a whip-thin leather belt and worn over visible briefs, is from Anthony Vaccarello’s autumn/winter 2024 collection, summarised at the time by Vogue ’s own Mark Holgate as a “taut, impeccable silhouette” crafted almost entirely from the fabric used to make tights. In other words, forgiving this was not. Consider Leroy-Beaulieu’s choice another chic rebuff for archaic (but lingering) expectations around how women “should” dress at different stages in life.
Setting the fact that the actor looked phenomenal aside for a moment, she’s one of a multitude of famous women who have been coolly turning tired assumptions around ageing on their hea.