The tale behind Sarah Burton’s inspiration for actress Emily Blunt’s elaborately embroidered metallic dress she wore to the Golden Globes is nearly as lovely as a moment from a Mary Poppins film. Jenn Streicher, Blunt’s makeup artist and a member of her red carpet prep team, stated, “She discovered a book about undiscovered Victorian mudlark treasures.”
“The outfit is an art piece,” remarked Jessica Paster, who found the handcrafted armor-caged corset dress with a crinoline skirt and pale silver antique guipure embroidery of medieval flowers, horses, swans, and the sun for Blunt to wear to the 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards by chance. “The whole thing has a Victorian vibe about it.”
“The makeup and hair were obviously inspired by the garment,” Streicher added. “It gave Emily a Joan of Arc vibe,” Emily said. The sheer weight of it made it feel almost warrior-like, and it had the sense of armor. Emily wanted her makeup to be light and airy. “It was all about the glowy, stunning skin, along with a neutral lip. I made my own lip color by combining the pink and beige gloss hues.”
Lanie Reeves, a hairstylist, went for a Dutch braid to convey the female warrior feel. “We wanted to make something as textural as the garment,” says the designer. “We needed to do something more suited to real life than the runway,” she remarked, referring to McQueen’s habit of matching the texture of the hair to the garments in his presentations. “I wanted the hair to be thick and full to give the braid some substance, so we used Frederic Fekkai One to Believe in a leave-in conditioner, then blow dried and waved the hair before applying dry shampoo for a next-day look. We plucked out bits of hair after braiding it to add texture and fixed it with hairspray.”