Mikey Madison leans into Dior’s Los Angeles Cruise debut
mikey madison used Dior’s Cruise show in Los Angeles to make a clear styling case: her outfit, she said, was built around a slightly retro skirt suit, and it was one she sees through a 1940s lens. The actress and Dior ambassador said the look lined up with the house’s cinematic direction under Jonathan Anderson, who staged his first Cruise collection for Dior last week.
“I absolutely loved the slightly retro feel of this skirt suit. It felt reminiscent of the 1940s, very Lauren Bacall to me, with the suit buttons going all the way to the top,” Madison said after the show. She finished it with her custom pink Tiffany pinky ring and diamond studs, a restrained combination that kept the focus on the tailoring rather than extra flash.
Dior’s Hollywood line
“I’ve always loved Dior, the iconic silhouettes and glamour,” Madison said of the brand she now represents. That allegiance matters because she was one of the first Dior ambassadors appointed by Anderson when he joined the house, and last week’s Los Angeles Cruise presentation gave her a front-row role in the designer’s first full statement for the label in that format.
Anderson’s approach, Madison said, brings “a very cinematic storytelling” to the collection. In a city that has long sold itself on image, the pairing was cleanly businesslike: Dior got an ambassador who can wear the clothes like a working part of the brand’s language, not just a guest passing through a show.
Andrew Makumal’s role
Madison said she only started working with a stylist when she was about to go on the whirlwind press adventure with Anora, and that the collaboration has become part of how she manages her public image. Her stylist, Andrew Makumal, has become a “great partnership,” she said, and that kind of working relationship is now central to how awards-season and red-carpet dressing gets built.
“I love collaboration and tend to want to have a very heavy hand in choosing every piece of clothing alongside who I’m working with,” Madison said. She also said the outfit usually dictates the direction of her hair and makeup, which means the clothes are not the final step in her appearance but the starting point for the whole look.
Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn
Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn are always on Madison’s mood boards, and she said fashion for the red carpet is “a chance to transform and step into a different character.” That is a sharp fit for an actress who won a Best Actress Oscar and a BAFTA in 2024 for Anora, because the public image now carries the same weight as the role that earned the trophies.
Last week’s Dior show placed Sabrina Carpenter, Greta Lee and Miley Cyrus in the front row, but Madison’s value to the house was more specific: she came away with a look that fit Dior’s silhouette-first identity and her own screen-era references. For the next red-carpet run, that means the formula is already set — tailoring first, then hair, makeup and jewelry built to match it.
