Rooney Mara Somehow Made the World’s Sheerest Dress Look Very Demure, Very Mindful

She wore the look to the Academy Museum Gala, which is held every year and has a red carpet worthy of the Oscars. As cool and modern as her look was, the dress is actually vintage and dates back to the 1990s. The Givenchy gown is from the haute couture fall-winter 1996–97 collection. There are many ways to describe the dress, but we’ll stick with the simplest: It’s beautiful.

The empire-cut dress has embroidered floral details around the chest and on the train, and the completely transparent muslin fabric exposes what is perhaps the most essential garment of the outfit: a pair of lace panties.

Even Rooney Mara’s husband—the Joker to some; Joaquin Phoenix to the rest—couldn’t resist stretching the tail of the dress to make it look perfect for the photos. She, for her part, flashed a smile worthy of the gown and posed.

A version of this story was previously published in Glamour Spain.