Lat week, New Yorkers were briefly fascinated by the existence of a Montessori school in Williamsburg where teachers were seemingly all dripped out in pleated clothing reminscent of designer Issey Miyake. Well, on Sunday, Carey Mulligan hit the red carpet in a pleated gown that looked worthy of the school’s head mistresses.
Attending the Wildwood premiere at BFI London Film Festival, Mulligan wore a metallic two-piece set that wasn’t Miyake, bur rather from Celine’s much talked about spring 2027 collection by Michael Rider. The silver ensemble was covered in iridescent micro-pleats, featuring a floor-trailing column skirt and an asymmetrically cut tunic with a shimmering ball weighing it down at the end. Its bateau neckline, languid draping, and slightly twisted silhouette only added to the air of complex opulence.
With a theatrical release set for October 23, Wildwood has already won over critics, and may wind up as a front-runner for the Best Animated Feature at the 2027 Oscars. Directed by Travis Knight, the film adapts Colin Meloy’s 2011 children’s fantasy novel about a young girl who enters a magical forest in search of her baby brother, who was abducted by a murder of crows. Mulligan plays Alexandra Svik, the governess of the forest realm and ruler of the crows. It’s a role steeped in otherworldly mythology. Sartorially speaking, a sea of opalescent pleats was an apt way to go.
Produced by American animation studio Laika—which also made Coraline—the film has been praised as a feat of stop-motion, blending precise puppet animation with digital effects. Mulligan has credited its rich, dreamy worldbuilding with helping her more easily embody her complicated onscreen counterpart. Wildwood promises to be textured, tactile, and full of micro-details. Evidently, Carey Mulligan has just the dress for the occasion.