Elle Fanning's Romantic Vintage Style, and How to Wear It
Elle Fanning dresses like someone who's been let loose in a very good grandmother's wardrobe and refuses to treat any of it as precious. With her stylist,...
Elle Fanning dresses like someone who's been let loose in a very good grandmother's wardrobe and refuses to treat any of it as precious. With her stylist, Samantha McMillen, she pulls from the '40s through to the '70s, and this spring's press tour for Margo's Got Money Troubles was a run of tea dresses, rose satin and, at one point, a tutu with a polo shirt. It never looks like costume, which is the bit worth copying.
“slouchy, nostalgic and at times ironic versions of femininity”
— Leah Dolan, CNN, on Fanning's press-tour wardrobe
The Elle Fanning palette
Faded, warm colours with one sharp red.
Rose satin
#E8B4A8
Butter
#F3E3A1
Tea-dress cream
#F2EAD8
Powder blue
#BFD7EA
Cherry
#8E1B26
Black
#1A1A1A
Four Elle Fanning looks and how to wear them
These are all from before the Hunger Games press tour, which will get its own post. Each one has a single old-fashioned piece at its centre and something that pushes back against it.
Rose satin with a scarf neckline
For a radio appearance she wore a long-sleeved pink satin midi from Alberta Ferretti's autumn/winter 2026 collection: a tonal floral jacquard, a gathered waist and a neckerchief draped into the neckline. On its own that's very sweet. The shoes are what stop it being too much. W Magazine identified them as Miu Miu's red pointed heels with three buckled straps, glossy and a bit severe. That's the formula worth stealing: a soft dress and a shoe with some bite.
Shop pink midi dresses
The smaller pieces that finish the look
Her accessories are old-fashioned ones. A strap across the foot, a collar peeking out from under a pinafore, now and then a knotted scarf. They're cheap to copy and do a lot of the vintage work on an otherwise plain outfit.
How to borrow Elle Fanning's style
Pick one old-fashioned piece per outfit
Build everything else from plain, modern pieces so it never tips into fancy dress.
Give the sweet piece something to argue with
A sharp red heel, a boyish polo, a pair of trousers under a dress. Every look above has one thing that doesn't quite belong, and it's the reason you look twice.
Mix small prints in the same colours
Her Rabanne look put two different tiny prints together and got away with it because both sat in cream and brown. Keep the scale small and the colours close.
Leave it loose
Her press looks this year weren't trying to shape anything. The belt sits instead of cinching. Trousers pool a little at the ankle.
Sunrise on the Reaping is out next month, and her press tour for it should bring a lot more of this. Prices and sizes on these rails change daily, so if something's right, don't leave it too long.