Ever since her star-making turn in the first season of The White Lotus, Alexandra Daddario has become one of the fashion world’s most consistent red-carpet dazzlers: Her plunging necklines, sheer beaded fabrics, and fishnet bodices have earned her ample real estate in best-dressed galleries. Now happily a Dior girl, the actress most recently brought her refined taste to the Guggenheim International Gala on Nov. 9.
The luxury house dressed her in a full-length Dior Haute Couture wool crepe gown, affixed with embroidered scrolls and volutes in subtle creams and grays. The look, paired with Dior shoes, Dior jewelry, and Dior Beauty makeup, was a more conservative—but no less enchanting—take on Daddario’s typical elegance.
As she dressed for the fundraiser’s annual festivities, Daddario took ELLE.com behind the scenes, sending along exclusive images and a few thoughts via email.
Daddario says she selected the embroidered gown for the Guggenheim Gala, in part, because she “had never worn anything like it.” She arrived to her first fitting with Dior in sweatpants, Birkenstocks, and a hoodie, but when she slipped the dress on, “I looked at myself and felt like a princess.”
“I loved the beading and the intricate work on the dress,” Daddario added. “It was so perfectly made and didn’t need any tailoring, so I figured it was fate.”
The actress describes her typical red carpet style as “fun, sexy, and always trying to do something different and be playful with my choices.” For a high-society, fall/winter soiree like the Guggenheim fundraiser, she opted to reject expectations and abandon (at least, temporarily) her penchant for bold necklines. Instead, the Dior gown accentuated her waist and shoulders, its skirt flaring every time she took a step.
Daddario says she brought her mother as her plus-one for the evening, during which they sat with Nina Dobrev and Shaun White. “They are such lovely people. Shaun gave my mom advice about how to heal after workouts, as she has started getting into weight lifting,” Daddario wrote. “My mom says she remembered dragging us kids through the lobby of the Guggenheim, and it was really exciting to have dinner in the museum we always used to go to as kids.”
After her performance as Rachel Patton in The White Lotus snagged her an Emmy nomination, Daddario is returning to television next year as the lead in AMC’s Mayfair Witches, adapted from Anne Rice’s Lives of the Mayfair Witches novels.
“[Rice] is such an inventive and amazing storyteller,” Daddario writes. “Playing a witch, and getting to bring her story to life, is amazing. There are fascinating characters with powers, all part of one big dysfunctional family. It’s relatable, fun and dark.”
Lauren Puckett-Pope is an associate editor at ELLE, where she covers film, TV, books and fashion.