FASHION

Ralph Lauren Plucks Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Straight Out of the Old West for Spring 2017

Velvet, velvet everywhere.


Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s transformation from runway to front row is complete. Though once best-known as a Victoria’s Secret favorite, her big break in film came last year with Mad Max: Fury Road alongside fellow models-turned-actors Riley Keough, Abbey Lee, and even Charlize Theron. But she hasn’t foregone the fashion world — far from it: She regularly appears on the red carpet and on the front lines of fashion parties in designers like Brandon Maxwell, Galvan, and Balmain. So it was no surprise to see her appear at New York Fashion Week at Ralph Lauren’s Spring 2017 show alongside peers like Annabelle Wallis, Julianne Moore, and Jessica Alba. It was a star-studded front row filled with women who know their stuff — Wallis’s cropped turtleneck and wide silk skirt and Moore’s black velvet mini were standouts — but Huntington-Whiteley still won the front row in her old-school glamorous Ralph Lauren ensemble.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Ralph Lauren at the designer’s Spring 2017 show in New York, New York.

Getty Images for New York Fashion Week: The Shows

Who: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

When: Wednesday, September 14.

Where: Ralph Lauren’s Spring 2017 show in New York, New York.

What: A Ralph Lauren Collection burgundy velvet slip dress, black velvet bag with fringe and gold chain, and black choker with three large wine-colored drops, and a pair of black snakeskin boots.

Why: We’re just about done with the choker but we’ll never be over velvet. Lauren’s show, which in typical Ralph Lauren style featured a whole lot of nodding to quintessential Americana (stetsons and silk dresses, anyone?), took over a section of Madison Avenue outside Lauren’s uptown flagship. Huntington-Whiteley’s jewel tones — and bejeweled choker — offer up 19th-century Victorian vibes, and the tea-length silhouette, fringed bag, and snakeskin boots take it into the Old West. (A high-fashion, highly romanticized version of frontier style, but with vaguely southwest Americana nevertheless.) Yet beachy, sun-kissed locks, mink-brown smokey eyes, and pale pink lips are totally contemporary.

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