The designs of Sydney-based wunderkind, Christopher Esber, have become catnip for ‘It’ girls. It often feels that not a day goes by without seeing his slinky, skin-tight creations adorned by an exclusive member of the celebrity style set, be it Hailey Bieber on a beach in Barbados or Dua Lipa gallivanting around the Greek Islands.
Indeed, donning a piece from Australia’s King of Skin is almost a rite of passage that cements a star’s indoctrination into the illusive ‘It’ girl club—a ritual Cailee Spaeny completed overnight at the Los Angeles premiere of her new film Civil War. Though Spaeny’s endorsements from Miu Miu and Sofia Coppola had already preceded her, the Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy-inspired minimal dress has sealed her X-factor.
The Priscilla actress opted for a cut-out slip dress from Christopher Esber’s debut Paris Fashion Week show presented during the Spring/Summer 2024 season. The piece featured a structured silhouette courtesy of the basketweave suiting fabric utilised for the ankle-grazing piece.
Sleek straps and sharp angles provided contrast to the decisively simple shape, with a triangular cut-out elevating the timeless cut and applying Esber’s signature body-conscious zeal to it.
Spaeny was joined by her co-star, and fellow member of the Sofia Coppola muse club, Kirsten Dunst. The 25-year-old actress revealed that Dunst inadvertently played a major role in her casting as Priscilla Presley in Coppola’s ethereal biopic. “I found [Kristen Dunst’s] work with [Sofia Coppola], and that was really the key that unlocked me realising I wanted to be an actress,” she revealed.
“So the fact that I ended up, after all these years, starring in a movie with her, and then she was the person that recommended me and got me the role that changed my life with my all-time favourite director, it’s just hard to put into words.” “It’s just really serendipitous,” Spaeny added. “It’s sort of spooky.”
Civil War is the antithesis to Coppola’s whimsical explorations of girlhood, with Dunst and Spaeny portraying photojournalists capturing the unfolding dystopian American following a fictionalised second civil war. Safe to say, Spaeny cleans up well, especially in Esber’s hands.
Civil War will be released in Australian theatres on April 11. Watch the trailer for the film, below.
