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Sophie Okonedo’s Vogue World: London dress is fit for a queen.
The Tony Award-winning actor took the stage at Vogue World: London to perform Shakespeare’s famous “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” monologue from Henry IV: Part II. For her highly anticipated performance of one of King Henry IV’s most well-known monologue, Okonedo wore a recreation of the voluminous dress from Vivienne Westwood, which was previously modelled by Alek Wek on the brand’s autumn/winter 1997 runway.
The white gown has a full skirt; exaggerated hips that extend from a cinched, drop waist; and upturned neckline, creating plenty of surface area to cover the fabric in a pattern of colourful lilies and sea monsters, which were hand-painted by the Vivienne Westwood Ateliers.
“We thought immediately of our ‘Five Centuries Ago’ collection which looked to the clothes of Shakespeare’s time,” Westwood’s widower and creative partner Andreas Kronthaler tells Vogue. “The original dress was inspired by Elizabeth I. She looks powerful.”
While Wek’s runway look was complete with a black velvet jacket with a grand collar that wrapped behind her head, Okonedo’s will feature a white lacy jacket with a nipped waist and an equally impressive collar.
Okonedo is one of several renowned actors to take the stage at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane for Vogue World: London. The night, which will feature odes to Britain’s most quintessential cultural contributions, will also raise money for a variety of performing arts charities in the United Kingdom’s capitol, including the National Theatre, the Royal Opera House, the Royal Ballet, Southbank Sinfonia and Rambert.
The cause is certainly not lost on the Westwood team. “The arts are fundamental to the human race,” Kronthaler says. “It’s important to know the past, it’s an anchor and it gives you power. Your duty to your life is to understand the world you live in. The art lover is a freedom fighter.”
Between the Westwood’s Elizabethan silhouette and Okonedo’s knockout performance, Vogue World: London guests surely felt transported back to the Queen’s rule.
