Angelina Jolie's Fashion on the Venice Red Carpet: Dress, Faux Fur Stole

Angelina Jolie stole the show Thursday night at the Palazzo del Cinema for the world premiere of Pablo Larraín's film Mary during the Venice Film Festival.

The Oscar-winning actress stars in the biopic, just acquired by Netflix, as famed opera star Maria Callas. Jolie looked like the stage diva in her red-carpet ensemble, which featured a perhaps surprising accessory in the brutal Venice heat: a faux fur stole.

With sweltering temperatures reaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit, Jolie stepped out onto the stage outside the Sala Grande wearing a draped, asymmetrical gown in stone-colored chiffon by designer Tamara Ralph, one of her frequent collaborators. If she was sweating, it wasn’t obvious, as Jolie took her time posing on the red carpet with her co-stars, including Pierfrancisco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, and Kodi Smit-McPhee, as well as author Larraín. She gave two red carpet interviews to local media personalities and then spent a good amount of time stepping off the barricade to greet fans, pose for photos, and sign autographs.

Once inside the theater, Jolie and the Mary team was greeted with a standing ovation before the screening. Once the credits rolled, the applause continued for eight electric minutes that ultimately brought Jolie to tears.

Back to fashion. Jolie’s faux fur stole wasn’t her only striking sartorial choice in the summer heat. When she arrived in Venice and was photographed at the airport, the movie star was impeccably dressed for the cool fall weather in a Dior Fall 2024 trench coat paired with leather boots.

Her other festival looks were much more carefree. She arrived at the Hotel Excelsior in a sheer, sleeveless, V-neck dress by Saint Laurent, crafted from flowing silk. She also wore Saint Laurent to a photoshoot and press conference for Maria, in a black dress paired with a Cartier brooch. Both looks can be seen below.

Based on true accounts, Mary tells the tumultuous and tragic story of the life of one of the world's greatest opera singers during her final days in 1970s Paris. The screenplay was written by Steven Knight. Jolie also made her first public comments about the project during a press conference held Thursday afternoon before the screening. She apparently spent about seven months preparing for the demanding role, a job that required her to train with opera singers and coaches to master the posture, breathing and movement of a singer of Callas' caliber. Deeply immersing herself in opera was “a therapy I didn't realize I needed,” she told the press.

“I had no idea how much I was holding back and not letting out,” she continued. “So the challenge wasn’t technical, it was an emotional experience of finding my voice, of being in my body, of expressing myself. You have to give every single part of yourself.” Asked what part of Callas she identified with most, Jolie said, perhaps surprisingly, that it was “the part of her that is extremely soft and has no room in the world to be as soft as she really was, as emotionally open as she really was. I share her vulnerability more than anything else.”