This week’s best celebrity looks are ‘confident and powerful’

While polka dots are one of the strongest emerging pattern trends of the year and oversized checks are still going strong, this week the stars mostly favoured bold blocks of colour.

A red carpet premiere and a shirtless stroll in the sun are at opposite ends of the dressing spectrum but, as Keke Palmer and Donald Glover proved this week, no matter what’s on the agenda there’s a shade of yellow that will work.

Whether they were strutting the red carpet, dressing as a centaur or parading around half nude, the celebs did it in proud style this week. Herewith, our thoughts on our favourites.

READ MORE:
* Why big gold jewellery is back – and how you can pull it off
* This week’s best celebrity looks were hot, hot, hot
* ‘Barbiecore’ is the reason everyone’s wearing hot pink right now
* A minimalist’s guide to ‘dopamine dressing’

Best use of opera gloves

I’m a Keke Palmer fan, mostly for her off-screen charisma and charm – from her Met Gala hosting last year when she created the instantly iconic ‘you know it’s your giiiiirl’ sound to the delightful video where she takes a walk down fashion memory lane. She seems like a lot of fun, and her fashion choices help convey that too.

This week she’s been wearing lots of amazing ensembles while on the press tour for her new film Nope, like this outrageously chic yellow Prada column dress with classic opera gloves for a screening in Rome.

She’s also used her platform to talk about colourism in Hollywood – following some social media chatter comparing her career to Zendaya’s, Keke responded with a tweet that showcased her confident spirit.

“A great example of colorism is to believe I can be compared to anyone. I’m the youngest talk show host ever. The first Black woman to star in her own show on Nickelodeon, & the youngest & first Black Cinderella on Broadway. I’m an incomparable talent. Baby, THIS, is Keke Palmer.” – Zoe Walker Ahwa

Best Kiwi adjacent

We had the pleasure of meeting the brilliant Nazanin when we shot her for Ensemble a year ago while she was in Aotearoa filming Lord of the Rings. Karen Inderbitzen-Waller styled and photographed her for that shoot, and Nazanin continues that tradition of working with fashion’s best.

I’m so excited to see her with Erin Walsh on the Lord of the Rings promo trail. Erin works closely with Anne Hathaway, who I’ve had to ban from my best dressed lists as she was becoming too easy a target. I’m obsessed with this wet-look Christopher Kane dress, which somehow manages to be both modest and sexy, and the hair that perfectly highlights her beautiful face.

If I sound like a fan girl it’s because I absolutely am; I’m more excited about Nazanin on the promo trail than I am about the show (being probably one of the few Kiwis who has never seen the films!). – Rebecca Wadey

Best Centaur chic

I know, I know: choosing Julia Fox for celebrity outfit of the week is a bit of a cop out. Her stylist Brianna Andalore does an incredible job of getting people to write about her. But this Mr. Tumnus x Matrix look that she posted to Instagram on Monday has layers to it.

I think Fox is underrated as an actor, and I listened to her podcast Forbidden Fruits religiously, way before she appeared on Kanye’s arm. I’m a true stan. She has so much charisma it feels a shame that nowadays she’s most known for being a stylist’s clotheshorse. So seeing this pic of her literally dressed as a horse, abs on show in the most dangerously low-rise Liza Keane pants I’ve ever seen, lets me know that she’s in on it. – Lara Daly

Best coverall

After jealously watching extremely hot celebrities parading all over the Northern Hemisphere in scant summer wear for what feels like an eternity (see Donald Glover below), it was genuinely thrilling to spot Karen Gillan at San Diego Comic Con rocking a big ass colourful Oscar de la Renta coat boots. You cover that delicate Scottish skin lass! – Tyson Beckett

Best hoochie daddy shorts

I feel like there’s literally no explanation needed for the inclusion of a hot Donald Glover pounding the NY pavement during a heat wave. – RW

Best in Manchester

Hot pink might be the runway favourite celebrity colour of the year, but Gugu Mbatha-Raw wearing this pleated Alexander McQueen gown was a sharp reminder of the enduring power of green.

Dressed by stylist extraordinaire Leith Clark, the look has somewhat divided the internet, with one website going as far as to draw comparisons between the heavy draping and a duvet.

“I like to feel confident and powerful,” Mbatha-Raw told Vogue about her approach to red carpet. “I want to feel like I’m wearing something that I can have a great time in.”

Maybe the bed comparison was intentional then. – TB