The Los Angeles premiere of Wicker on 20 October had no shortage of star power, with Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård and Elizabeth Debicki arriving at the DGA Theater. Yet one of the looks that got people talking belonged to a guest who is not in the film at all: Sister Mary Blaze, the 78-year-old social media personality who dresses as a Catholic nun and treats every red carpet as a chance to have some fun with fashion.
A look woven for the occasion
Few guests have ever taken a film title quite so literally. Sister Mary Blaze arrived in a balconette-style bra made of wicker, worn over a simple black long-sleeved top, and carried a matching wicker handbag finished with a small red cross charm. Her veil, naturally, stayed firmly in place. The outfit was a playful nod to the film itself, a comedic fable based on Ursula Wills’s short story “The Wicker Husband”, in which a lonely fisherwoman played by Colman commissions a husband woven by the village basketmaker, played by Peter Dinklage. Skarsgård plays the wicker husband, and the film opened in US cinemas on 23 October.
It is the kind of styling that works because it commits completely. Natural textures such as wicker, rattan and raffia usually belong to summer holidays, so seeing them on an autumn red carpet, paired with black and a single red accent, felt both witty and surprisingly chic. If you want to borrow the idea in a wearable way, a structured crossbody bag with an interesting texture and one bold detail, such as a red stone pendant, does much of the same work.
Who is Sister Mary Blaze?
Off the carpet, Sister Mary Blaze has built a large following online, with close to a million followers on TikTok and more than 300,000 on Instagram, according to Vanity Fair. As Vanity Fair also notes, there is nothing to suggest she belongs to a religious order. She is an actress and content creator, and the nun persona has become her signature. She has been a regular at premieres for a while, including the 2024 premiere of the horror film Immaculate.
Behind the humour sits a message she has repeated on social media: she wants to break down the barriers society places on women and show that they can feel feminine at any age. That idea is a welcome one. Style does not come with an expiry date, and the most memorable outfits are often the ones worn with the most confidence rather than the most caution.
For anyone planning an evening look of their own, the lesson from the Wicker premiere is simple: choose one striking element and let the rest stay quiet. A statement pendant necklace or a pair of bright earrings against plain black can be every bit as eye-catching as a wicker bustier, and rather easier to sit down in.
Sources: Vanity Fair Italia, Vanity Fair France, Deadline, WWD.
