DUBAI: German model Leonie Hanne wore a strapless ivory gown by Syrian designer Rami Al-Ali to the screening of “Succedera Questa Notte” at the Venice Film Festival this week, the most recent in a run of Arab labels on the Lido this year.
The bodice was worked in champagne metallic thread, its fine vertical lines fanning out from a narrow waist and continuing down over the hips. Below it, the skirt fell in overlapping panels of pale blush silk, layered like petals and gathering into a short train on the carpet. Hanne wore it with a narrow diamond collar, a bracelet at one wrist and her hair in a low twisted bun.
The gown came from Al-Ali’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection. The designer, who was born in Damascus and works from Dubai, showed on the official Paris haute couture schedule last year.
A day earlier, American actress Geena Davis walked the carpet for “The Basics of Philosophy” in a black sequined gown by Lebanese couturier Elie Saab, the Beirut house that has dressed the festival for two decades.
Italian model Paola Turani opened the festival in an archival Tony Ward gown, a dark design with a long train and embroidered detailing from the Lebanese house’s Fall/Winter 2014-2015 couture collection, worn to the “Ink” screening and opening ceremony on Sept. 2.
She was not the only one reaching back. American actress Sydney Sweeney wore Georges Chakra from the Beirut designer’s spring 2003 couture line, pairing a sheer lace halter with sand-colored silk shorts in place of a gown, and model Stella Maxwell wore an Elie Saab from fall 2003, a black column in sheer patterned fabric worked with fine embellishment.
Elsewhere on the carpet, Lithuanian model Simona Jakstaite wore a silver-blue gown by Aleen Sabbagh, beaded across the bodice and cut with a deep neckline.
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, whose documentary “Four Daughters” was nominated for an Academy Award, wore a gold embellished gown by the Tunis label Nee a Tunis. She is serving on the main competition jury, chaired by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
