The method dressing trend took a Wicked turn over these past few months as stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo delivered a high-profile parade of pink and green ensembles that went viral on Instagram or TikTok with every appearance. After those eye-catching looks, you would be forgiven for not clocking Felicity Jones‘ recent appearance at the Los Angeles premiere of The Brutalist as being the newest example of the red carpet craze.
“This look is inspired by brutalist architecture,” Jones explained to The Hollywood Reporter of her black Proenza Schouler dress from the house’s Spring 2025 collection. The dress features a cut-out design up top and a car-wash-style skirt on the bottom with grommet details. “That was the idea with the dress, which has very strict rectangular forms and quite blunt cuts. It’s a dress that felt like it was an appropriate look for the film.”
Directed by Brady Corbet, A24’s The Brutalist stars Adrien Brody as László Tóth, a Jewish Hungarian architect who is attempting to rebuild his life in the United States after the Holocaust. Jones plays Tóth’s wife, Erzsébet Tóth, while Alessandro Nivola (as Tóth’s cousin Attila), Guy Pearce (as the wealthy Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr.), Joe Alwyn (as Harry Lee) and Isaach De Bankolé (as Tóth’s unlikely pal) round out the cast.
Asked what she makes of the method dressing trend, the recent Golden Globe nominee offered a fresh take. “It’s very subtle in our case tonight, but overall, I think it’s fantastic,” noted Jones, who works with stylist Nicky Yates. “Increasingly, the press around films has become as entertaining in many cases as the film itself, so why not embrace the theater of it for everything? I also just love when you can find a little character in the red carpet.”
Jones also loves the character she plays in The Brutalist, who is far from the typical cliché wife part. “I embraced Erzsébet’s intensity. I loved how she was almost quite controlling of László,” she explained. “She’s complex, and she’s quite difficult. I just threw myself into it, and in many ways, I kind of reveled in her complexity. She’s quite an uncontainable force.”
She said she knew “straight away” that she wanted to be involved after reading the script Corbet wrote with longtime creative and romantic partner Mona Fastvold. “I just thought it was so brilliantly written, and had so many quite techy aspects to it. The script had the interval included, title cards, archive pictures. I thought, well, this is the unusual, I haven’t really seen this before. This could be an interesting adventure. I knew also based on Brady’s previous films [Vox Lux and The Childhood of a Leader] that he’s not only a great storyteller but that he could do this in a cool, modern, interesting way.”
Jones was equally complimentary of Brody, her frequent scene partner. Without spoiling anything, it’s safe to say that they share some of The Brutalist’s most heart-wrenching scenes. “Adrien’s just so meticulous. Sometimes when you’re doing a scene or a take, it can feel a bit phony, but with Adrien, he makes sure that it’s never phony. With him, you know that you’re always hitting the rhythms. He just has this absolute honesty in all of his performances.”
The Brutalist hits theaters on Dec. 20.
English (US) ·