Usually, when we call Sophie Okonedo to chinwag about fashion, she’s mid-Sussex field, fresh off her bike, after cycling from her rural home in search of signal. Today, she’s holed up in the Sea Containers, preparing for her turn on the London Film Festival red carpet to promote wearing Prada.
God, it’s a good look. And no, it’s not one of the 63 skirts from the spring/summer 2027 runway (Hunter Schafer was the first to snap one of those up.) Rather, it’s the antithesis of the formal bras and skirts we saw celebrated at Milan Fashion Week. Sunshine in dress form, the liquid silk crepe satin bias-cut slip, with its draped foulard neckline, looked defiant in the face of the city’s drizzle. “I immediately loved it,” says its wearer. “I wanted to bring some colour to the carpet, because is such a celebration for me. It’s a project that I’ve been attached to for a long time and I’m thrilled that it’s coming to the London Film Festival. This dress expresses that happiness.”
Okonedo, who just wrapped A Month in the Country at the Donmar Warehouse and also brings another movie, , to the festival, describes her collaboration with stylist Nell Kalonji as “life changing”. Before meeting Kalonji on a shoot for this magazine, Okonedo used to “dread all this”. Now the red carpet is the perfect excuse to dress up. “I love clothes and Nell’s taste is very aligned with mine, so I still feel like I’m myself on the carpet as opposed to being dressed up by someone.”
The rest of the tour fashion is “in Nell’s hands” while Sophie snatches snippets of spare time to daydream. “It’s the way I relax,” says the avid theatregoer, who usually spends her evenings in the stalls. We won’t see any method-dressing from the 58-year-old: “That’s not Nell’s way.” Anyway, the modern-day Lagos adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s , sees Sophie play a society wife dressing for a party while ruminating on her past wearing a single archival Maki Oh dress. “Sadly she doesn’t design anymore,” says Okonedo of Amaka Osakwe’s made-in-Africa label that garnered international recognition for her joyful prints and lush fabrications inspired by Osakwe’s Nigerian heritage.
For now, Prada has Sophie’s heart: “As soon as I put it on the dress, I just felt really effortless and light, but at the same time sumptuous. It’s an honour to be dressed by the brand.” With fresh make-up (Okonedo admits she’s too impatient to sit in front of a mirror for long) and braids (“If I can get away with saving time, I will”), a subtle frosting of Cartier jewellery is all she needed to continue her winning streak brightening up London with her signature flair.