Vic Carmen Sonne made a bold choice for her very first Oscars: orange sequins, courtesy of Louis Vuitton. We speak to the Danish star of Oscar-nominated film The Girl with the Needle about the origins of her daring look and the insider tip that saved her evening
“If you would have asked me a month ago if I would be wearing orange sequins to the Oscars, I would have been like, ‘Probably not’,” says Vic Carmen Sonne with a laugh. “But there’s something about that dress.” There is something about that dress – a custom Louis Vuitton gown of top-to-toe sequins with asymmetric draping and a gentle mermaid silhouette – that hit just right. Set against the red carpet, Carmen Sonne looked equal parts Old Hollywood and impossibly modern; the perfect look for an of-the-moment actor attending their very first Oscars as the star of Danish nominated film The Girl with the Needle.
It was a bit of a process to arrive at this dress. Working with stylist Rose Forde, Carmen Sonne looked at a few unquestionably beautiful Louis Vuitton options to work from – both sketches and physical dresses – but nothing felt quite right for the moment. “Then Rose said something that was quite inspiring,” says Carmen Sonne. “She said, ‘What’s the story?’ And that was a bit of an epiphany.”
Photo: Getty
With that question in mind, Carmen Sonne was presented with this dress less than a week before the ceremony and knew immediately that it told a story. “She’s a woman who’s a permanent resident at a very bougie hotel,” she says. “She’s always on vacation.” As soon as she landed on the dress, she began carving out a little extra tanning time in the days leading up to the awards so she would have a “sun-kissed” glow on the big day. “Luckily, I tan easily,” she says.
To complete the moment, Carmen Sonne opted for sleek Old Hollywood hair with a deep side part, realised by hairstylist Miguel Martin Perez. Makeup artist Kali Kennedy, who Carmen Sonne has been working with since the Golden Globes (“She’s my new BF, and she’s so f***ing talented”), created a soft, rosey look, characterised by a sharply outlined eye (the nude manicure was courtesy of Mel Shengaris). Funnily enough, the primary source of inspiration for the hair and makeup came via images of her friend and fellow Dane Helena Christensen storming runways in the 90s. Whilst getting ready, Carmen Sonne blasted “Sports Car” by Tate McRae. “I met Tate later and got to compliment her,” says Carmen Sonne, noting she crossed paths with the pop star at the Vanity Fair party.
A closer look at Vic's modern Old Hollywood glam. Kali Kennedy did her makeup and Miguel Martin Perez did her hair. Photo: Getty
Though Carmen Sonne looked unmistakably glamorous, arriving at the Oscars isn’t a particularly glamorous affair. “It doesn’t matter if you’re nominated or if you’re friends and family, you all just gather in a queue,” says Carmen Sonne, noting that everyone is super kind as you navigate the logistics of entering the Dolby Theatre. “I got separated from the team because my passport wouldn’t fit into my little clutch, so I had to show a photo of my passport,” she says. “They had to look at my Instagram to see if I was really me.”
Carmen Sonne’s lifesaver for the evening? Foot-numbing cream, a trick introduced to her by the team at Louis Vuitton for long evenings. However, midway through the ceremony, she got a bit “too excited” about the foot cream and slathered on a huge amount. “My feet got so slippery in my shoes, I was sliding all over the place,” she says. Following the ceremony, before heading to the Governor’s Ball, she popped into the bathroom to wash off the cream. Overall, the experience was “glamorous and incredibly dreamlike”, yet, thanks in large part to the team who made her look the part, Carmen Sonne felt surprisingly at ease. “With the preparation and the look, I felt like an altered version of me,” she says. “I still felt very at home in my look.”
After a quick makeup touch-up with Kennedy and a change into another Louis Vuitton dress – a structured silk champagne-hued cocktail dress – it was off to the Vanity Fair party, where she participated in a beloved Hollywood tradition. “I had my first In-N-Out burger,” she says. “It was really good.”
Vic's second Louis Vuitton look for the Vanity Fair party. Photo: Getty