Cynthia Erivo Taps Vivienne Westwood for a Swirling Blue Tartan Dress and Towering Platform Heels
Her look included a swirling blue tartan dress and towering platform heels
Reported by Harper's Bazaar.
Cynthia Erivo closed out her West End run of Dracula and walked straight into another kind of performance: Variety's inaugural Power of Women: London ceremony at the Chancery Rosewood, where she was honored alongside Emilia Clarke, Suki Waterhouse, Emma Corrin, Hannah Waddingham, and Dame Joan Collins. For the occasion, she did what any self-respecting British cultural institution would do — she wore Vivienne Westwood.
The custom look, according to Harper's Bazaar, leaned hard into everything the house does best. A blue tartan ensemble built around an off-kilter blazer and high-low skirt, with asymmetrical lapels and hemlines that gave the whole thing a controlled sense of chaos. The soft ruching and draping made the fabric look like it was moving even when she wasn't — structured rebellion with a couture finish. Then came the boots: leather lace-up platforms, also Westwood, because the dress asked for softness and she answered with authority. A Bettina mini crossbody in black leather with silver bondage-inspired hardware and a stack of Marli diamond rings completed the picture.
On Power, and What It Actually Costs
The outfit was doing something her speech made explicit. After a clip went viral in which Erivo admitted she was tired of talking about Wicked, the internet did what it does — flattened her candor into ingratitude. She addressed it directly from the podium. "I think we've fallen in love with the concept of the powerful woman," she said, "but in reality, we seldom celebrate or raise up a woman when she claims her power, steps into it and uses it." She also spoke on her ongoing support for LGBTQ+ organizations, centering the evening in something more substantive than a photo moment.
What's worth noting is how precisely the Westwood choice tracked with the message. This isn't a brand that softens its edges to make a room more comfortable — it has always used fashion as a vehicle for cultural confrontation. Erivo showing up in head-to-toe Westwood while calling out the conditional nature of female power wasn't accidental styling. It was editorial.
Dressing for the room you're actually in — not the one that wants you smaller — is its own kind of statement.
Read the original at Harper's Bazaar.
