Nicole Kidman is not only an Academy Award-winning actress but also a global style icon, taking fashion risks few others would take — and mastering them with ease.
And, as it turns out, she has used her powerful wardrobe to do more than earn a spot on the best-dressed list over the years.
Kidman recently opened up about what clothing means to her in a cover interview for the Nov. 2025 issue of Vogue magazine.
The Australian star poses on one of three covers for the month, the other two featuring actors Ayo Edebiri and Greta Lee.
Standing against a blue background in an obvious studio setting, Kidman looks towards the camera wearing a brown silk Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello slip dress with a voluminous crinoline underneath to create a bubble-like shape.
Inside, Kidman discusses her relationship to fashion, as well as its deeper meaning.
Raised by a mother and grandmother who would make her clothing as a child, she shared, “They’d stand me up on the table…doing the hem and checking the collar. And they could embroider.”
To that, she added that being fitted for a dress “makes me feel like I’m four … I feel pretty, and I don’t always feel pretty.”
Kidman goes on to describe her wardrobe choices, saying, “Sometimes it’s armor … sometimes it’s playful, sometimes it’s sexy. It just depends on my mood. Sometimes it’s androgynous, sometimes it’s kind of, screw you.”
Costume designer Catherine Martin, a friend of Kidman’s who has worked with the A-lister for decades, elaborated. “If you’re walking a red carpet, it’s a theatrical moment. It’s incredibly frightening to be under that kind of scrutiny and expectation,” she shared. “I think it’s because she’s someone who is, at the heart of it, very shy … she finds confidence in putting a role on—whatever the character she is performing.”
Amid headlines about her recent split with country music singer, Keith Urban, with whom she shares two children and 19 years of marriage, it’s understandable why Kidman could use a little bit of armor right about now.
In fact, she seems to have used her recent appearance sitting front row at Chanel during Paris Fashion Week in that exact way.
Upon the announcement of her return — 20 years later — as a brand ambassador for the French fashion house, Vogue followed Kidman as she got ready for the Chanel show in Paris on Monday afternoon. This collection marked Creative Director Matthieu Blazy’s first collection for the brand.
Taking a classic approach to her look, Kidman dressed in what — on the surface — looked like casual jeans and a white button-down. But she wasn’t wearing just any pair of jeans and a button-down.
Stylist Jason Bolden shares that Kidman was given two pieces from the collection that appeared on the runway of the show she was about to witness.
The shirt was a “quintessential, classic button-down,” trimmed on the interior hemline with Chanel’s iconic woven chain, along with the “coolness, the edge, the sophistication of the most beautiful pair of cashmere jeans,” he explained.
That’s right — cashmere jeans.
Even Kidman was shocked, sharing, “Literally, I’ll be wearing cashmere jeans. I would never have imagined cashmere jeans. So… there we go.”
Kidman described her latest Chanel armor as “very chic and simple. Understated in a way, but luxe.”
And that’s exactly who Kidman is; cool yet commanding, no matter the setting.
