The coven assembled at Directors Village in Los Angeles on Monday evening for the American premiere of Practical Magic 2, and the wardrobe honored the assignment. Sandra Bullock arrived in Louis Vuitton, Maisie Williams in Maison Margiela, Joey King in Ilya Migmoon, while Nicole Kidman wore Atelier Versace, which sounds unremarkable until you learn that the gown constitutes the first thing Pieter Mulier has designed for the house since taking up the role, arriving months ahead of any runway and entirely without warning.

A Debut Delivered Sideways

Mulier was named chief creative officer in February and formally began on July 1, having spent the previous years building an intensely personal vocabulary at Alaïa. His first collection remains scheduled for 2027, since he has elected to skip the Spring 2027 shows next month, which leaves this single dress carrying the whole weight of expectation. Choosing a movie premiere rather than a red carpet awards ceremony to make that statement suggests a designer comfortable with arriving on his own terms. The gown itself is worked entirely in hand-intarsia lace, cut asymmetrically with a deep rounded neckline finished in black satin ribbon and a thigh-high opening along one side. A matching lace choker sits at the throat, Manolo Blahnik Milandra pumps and Parure Atelier earrings complete the arrangement, and the hair falls in soft waves from a dramatic side part. The effect belongs squarely to John William Waterhouse, whose The Magic Circle of 1886 established the visual grammar of the enchantress with her loose hair and her indifference to being watched.

Why the Timing Matters

There is something clever about staging this preview at the premiere of a sequel to a film that was dismissed on release in 1998 and spent the following decades accumulating a devoted following. Both the movie and the house are engaged in the same project, which involves persuading an audience that what comes next deserves attention. What the dress tells us about Mulier’s Versace is legible enough. The romance is intact, the sensuality has been retained, and the vulgar exuberance that defined the house under its previous stewardship has been replaced by something considerably more restrained. Lace instead of prints, ribbon instead of hardware, and a woman who looks entirely capable of leaving whenever she chooses.