How Emma Stone Got Ready for the New York Premiere of ‘Poor Things’

Bella Baxter, the curiosity (played by Emma Stone) at the center of Yorgos Lanthimos’s neo-Gothic romp, Poor Things, cuts a severe figure in waist-grazing raven hair and heavyset brows. But the character herself—a living, breathing experiment on her way to self-actualization—is really a tangle of contradictions. Her delicate beauty skews feral, her sexual hedonism is braided with the absurd. Even before the film’s New York premiere on Wednesday evening, Stone’s performance had already been drawing praise. (A snippet of a frenetic dance sequence in the trailer hints at just how much the performance is a finely calibrated, full-bodied feat.) But with a winding awards season likely ahead, how might an actor carry the spirit of this wild child onto an otherwise buttoned-up red carpet?

Stone’s premiere look offered an early glimpse: all the polish you’d expect of a seasoned Oscar winner, with a glimmer of Bella’s idiosyncratic verve. That played out as a diaphanous yellow Louis Vuitton dress, a jeweled orchid worn on the neck with a Degas-style ribbon, raspberry lips and pearlescent eyes, and the actor’s back-to-red hair twisted into a deconstructed knot. It helps to have a creative team that has shepherded Stone throughout her career. “Since 2007—Superbad, her first film,” says makeup artist Rachel Goodwin, speaking in the car as she and hairstylist Mara Roszak shuttled from Stone’s hotel room to the screening. Together with stylist Petra Flannery, the three women have the push-pull of collaboration down. “I always say we’re kind of like a band,” Goodwin says. 

From left: The array of makeup used for the New York premiere included a new shade of Pat McGrath Labs ChromaLuxe Artistry Pigment, arriving December 15. The hand-embroidered dress by Louis Vuitton is encrusted with crystals and mother of pearl.

From left: Courtesy of Rachel Goodwin; Courtesy of Louis Vuitton.

In tracing the trajectory from Poor Things to premiere, Stone credits the film’s hair and makeup designer, Nadia Stacey, for such beautiful work—raw skin and runaway hair lending to that unbridled quality. “Because Bella, my character, is so without shame and self-judgment, I think that applies to beauty in a huge way, and confidence around beauty,” Stone explains via email. “So with this press tour, Rachel and Mara and Petra and I have been talking about a kind of inspiration of Bella and that sort of simplicity but still having fun with color and youthfulness.” 

The evening’s violet-tinged mouth played off the chartreuse yellow of the tulle dress. Goodwin enhanced Stone’s freckles for an ultra-natural effect, while the handmade Louis Vuitton choker dialed up the glamour.

Courtesy of Rachel Goodwin.