Michelle Monaghan went sleek and modern for the Emmys on Sunday, donning a custom chainmail silver Rabanne gown that shimmered under the Los Angeles sun.
“I wanted to find a dress that met me in this moment,” the actress said.
It’s been quite the moment; she’s earned acclaim for her performance in “The White Lotus,” playing a Hollywood actress.
“Initially, I was a little scared of it,” she admitted. “I was figuring out what areas of the character to push and finding the nuance. Fortunately, I was getting to work with such an amazing visionary with Mike [White] and being able to collaborate with him and explore the subtext of the scenes, and doing it with two costars, Leslie Bibb and Carrie Coon, who are extraordinary actresses. And getting to examine friendship felt really relatable and special. So, it checked a lot of boxes for me, creatively and personality at this stage in my life.”
At 49, she’s also a year into her first global beauty ambassadorship with U Beauty. It’s no surprise that the beauty brand helped create the base for her glam for the award ceremony.
“The dress is really extraordinary,” she went on. “And so, I think I’ll keep the makeup kind of just very minimal and clean and beautiful.”
And she did. The look was a collaboration with her longtime stylist Karla Welch, makeup artist Sarah Uslan and hairstylist Bridget Brager.
“Michelle and I’s first Met Ball together was when Julien [Dossena] first started at Rabanne,” Welch told WWD. “It was magic, and to me, one of the most wonderful aspects of all of this is the beautiful relationships we grow. So, I asked, and Julien said ‘yes’ and here is the most perfect dress for Michelle.”
Dossena has become a friend, said Monaghan. “It was a no-brainer to reach out and see if we wanted to do something together again.”
For the glam, the skin is the star, said Uslan: “Skin care was actually vital to achieving this look. I wanted her to look like she just left a facial with that glowing and fresh skin. The U Beauty campaign was our inspiration in terms of beauty. We have been loving the stripped back, minimalist approach to makeup after creating the looks for the campaign and wanted to translate that into the look for her today.”
Welch had referenced Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, she added, “with that, we got the vision, clean, minimal and timeless.”
Uslan started off with the U Beauty Resurfacing Flash Peel to prep the skin, then the new Smooth Dynamic Wrinkle Defense Serum as a primer, followed by a gua sha massage, the Super Hydrator and SPF.
For color, she used ILIA Liquid Powder Eye Tint in cork and hatch, shaded the crease and lined the top and bottom lashes with a neutral taupe shadow. Lashes were curled — with Hourglass’ 1.5MM Mechanical Gel Eye Liner in obsidian used to lift the outer corners of the eyes, “using a clean angled liner brush to extend” — and finished off with a light coat of black mascara.
Uslan then used Dior Forever Skin Glow foundation, Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Concealer, Charlotte Tilbury Unreal Skin Sheer Glow Tint in number four as a highlighter, which was blended over cheekbones, followed by the Charlotte Tilbury Contour Wand in fair medium to sculpt and shade around the face. To finish, she added the Merit Flush Balm Cream Blush in cheeky over the apples of the cheeks, used Makeup by Mario to line the lips, adding Violette_fr matte Plume Lip in syrah fumé and U Beauty’s Plasma lip plumper in cassis on top.
The hair was kept simple, straight with a middle part. “Ultra-silky, shiny strands tucked neatly behind her ears,” explained Brager, using Moroccan Oil and Remi Cachet.
“I wanted a clean silhouette but a dazzling one,” Monaghan said of the complete ensemble.