All of Rachel Zegler’s red carpet looks are dedicated to stand out Hunger Games moments.
Premieres have long been an arena for actors to show off looks dedicated to their films. These nods not only show the actors’ love and pride for their films, but also serve as a marketing tactic to raise even more attention towards the movies. Actors that have done it best include Zendaya from the Spider-Man: No Way Home premiere, Margot Robbie’s original Barbie look for Barbie promotions in Australia and Halle Bailey at The Little Mermaid world premiere. Recently, Timothee Chalamet’s first Wonka premiere look consisted of a full purple set to pay homage to Willy Wonka’s classic purple coat. These actors and more have understood the assignment of fashionably promoting their movies, but we have a new name to add to this fashion-forward bunch: Rachel Zegler.
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Playing Lucy Gray Baird in the prequel movie The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (BSOS) Rachel Zegler, along with co-star Tom Blyth, spearhead the return to Panem. The movie takes place during the 10th Hunger Games and Coriolanus Snow’s journey that ultimately led him to become the President Snow we all know and despise. Without any intense spoilers, the movie shows Snow’s participation in the 10th Hunger Games as a mentor to Lucy Gray. Within this mentorship, the audience watches as Snow’s good intentions quickly turn into an obsession with the games and making them even more entertaining. There is no feature of characters from the previous movies besides Snow’s cousin Tigris who is seen for a short period of time in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. However, there are a lot of correlations and connections that relate to the previous books and series that I won’t spoil. During promotions and premieres of the movie, Rachel Zegler wanted to make some connections of her own.
Berlin Premiere:
The first BOSAS premiere took place in Berlin where Zegler came out with a bang. Her dress was Alexander McQueen and was meant to pay tribute to the classic Katniss Everdeen fire dress from her interview with Caesar Flickerman. It is a reverse sweetheart neckline with a sleek black bodice to help lead the eye to the vibrant red base of the dress. The base is the same fabric as the rest of the dress and features a symmetric design that I can only describe as a calla lily. The styling is simple with curled slick back hair and a red lip to match the dress. This look perfectly embodies Katniss’s fire dress without being over the top.
London Premiere:
Zegler hit home again in the London premiere of the movie. She is dressed in an all black lace detailed dress from Dior. The top of the dress has a high neck neckline with bigger floral lace, while the skirt is a mix of lace and mesh. The styling matches the look with a dark eye and a pinkish-nude lip. Again, the dress is inspired by the second coming of the mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen. It specifically pulls from the commencement dress she wore in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as she and Peeta ride the chariot through City Circle. While Zegler’s dress cannot be lit on fire, it still does a great job at replicating the girl on fire.
Los Angeles Premiere:
The last look is by Elie Saab and is from the movie’s Los Angeles premiere. It is a completely nude colored dress made with a flowing chiffon like material and gems on the bodice. The simple v neck neckline helps keep the dress clean and elegant. The styling, again, is very simple, completing the vintage, elegant look. The most important piece in this look is the matching veil that connects to the mid section of the dress. The veil is what connects this look to the series. In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, highly beloved Finnick Odair is pictured getting married to Annie Cresta, his love interest introduced in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. While the clip of the actual ceremony is not very long, we do get to see Annie and Finnick saying their vows. Annie’s wedding dress in this scene is the inspiration for this Rachel Zegler look.
Related: The Revival of the Hunger Games
While Rachel Zegler is simply joining the trend of embodying films on the red carpet, these looks meant a lot to Hunger Games fans. The now four book series made up a lot of peoples’ childhoods, as did all young adult dystopian series back then. The battle between Divergent and The Hunger Games was unlike any other and created lifelong fans of both series. Readers often fully invested in the books by dressing up as characters, referring to themselves as the “mockingjay” or “dauntless” and even learning archery. With this dedication, it meant a lot for Hunger Games fans to see Rachel Zegler, one of the new faces of the series, appear in looks inspired by moments from the previous films.