Anya Taylor-Joy’s Vintage Chainmail Gladiator Gown Is Ready For Battle

Anya Taylor-Joy’s looks ready for either the post-apocalypse or for a kick ball change, depending on your point of view. Today, the actress walked the red carpet for the Australian premiere of her upcoming Mad Max prequel Furiosa in a vintage chainmail dress and matching headpiece that were fit for both the stage and the battlefield.

Taylor-Joy’s outfit came from Paco Rabanne’s 1996 spring couture collection. Her dress featured the late designer’s signature chainmail fabric—assembled by hand in his Paris atelier—in silver and gold metals. But what really took things over the edge were the series of pointed and gilded arrows that lined the dress’s skirt and headpiece. The spears poked out from the side of the piece—which explains why her Furiosa co-star Chris Hemsworth had to keep a slight distance as they posed together—as well as from atop her metallic cap. The actress let her plunging couture dress shine mostly on its own here. She topped everything off with simple glam and see-through PVC pumps.

There’s no denying that theme dressing has become the de facto uniform of Hollywood actresses—think Zendaya, Margot Robbie, Kirsten Stewart—as they promote their respective projects. And, just a few weeks into her Furiosa press tour, Taylor-Joy has clearly found her footing with yet another warrior-inspired moment. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that her dress happened to be one-of-a-kind vintage.

Rabanne showcased this look during his 1996 catwalk show in Paris. Taylor-Joy wore the outfit exactly how it was presented on the runway but seems to have switched up the shoe slightly.

Taylor-Joy’s latest red carpet appearance comes on the heels of another glam apocalyptic fashion moment earlier in the week. Yesterday, the actress attended a Furiosa photo call while wearing a terracotta-hued set from Rick Owens. Her Rabanne outfit, while also on theme like her Owens look, proved that she—like Zendaya and Margot Robbie—understands the power of archival fashion on the red carpet.

Furiosa is slated for its grand premiere at the Cannes Film Festival later this month, but we could see Taylor-Joy stateside before then. Monday’s Met Gala would be the perfect setting for something like this Rabanne dress—the theme, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” is all about unearthing rare vintage—and Hemsworth is co-chairing the event which would make for quite the stop on the duo’s press tour. If Taylor-Joy does attend fashion’s big night out, which would mark her first appearance since 2018, we’d wager there’s even more archival fashion from where this gladiator dress came from.