Undoubtedly the most anticipated star of the event, Julia Roberts at the 2025 Venice Film Festival embraces the Exhibition for the first time: the details of the looks she has chosen, including the accessories

Julia Roberts arrives at the 2025 Venice Film Festival with a Celine bag and Superga sneakers: all the details of the actress’s first look, her first time at the Festival

The most beautiful smile in cinema, that of Julia Roberts, arrives at the 2025 Venice Film Festival. The most anticipated star of the 82nd Venice Film Festival arrived on Wednesday, August 27, on the eve of the presentation (Out of Competition) of Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, which will see her in the spotlight.

For her grand arrival at the festival (her first time), Julia Roberts confirms herself as a style icon, restrained and practical: her look is a declaration of the new chic Minimalism, made up of smart elements, such as sneakers and a maxi bag, but with a touch of irony, the jacquard cardigan.

Julia Roberts at the 2025 Venice Film Festival: the details of her look

With her disarming naturalness and a refinement that never yields to ostentation, Julia Roberts stepped off the ship as if she were playing one of her most iconic roles. Her look was pared-back, elegant, and studied without appearing contrived: an aesthetic manifesto that combines the sobriety of a diva with the self-awareness of an actress who has spanned decades of cinema without ever losing her authenticity. The crowd greeted her with thunderous applause, but what was most striking was the way Roberts transformed that moment into something intimate, almost familiar. Far from the impenetrable aura of certain stars, her presence was warm, human, and vibrant. And her look reflected this naturalness thanks to a sporty, minimal styling by stylist (and friend) Elizabeth Stewart.

Julia Roberts entered the 82nd Venice International Film Festival wearing a look that blends comfort and iconic style, perfectly in line with her relaxed yet never boring style. Her appearance rewrote the rules of Lido glamour, confirming that sporty minimalism can be the chicest choice.

Celine’s new Luggage Phantom bag immediately caught the eye, the key accessory of the look and already a coveted item for next season. First spotted at the Spring/Summer 2026 show, the bag revisits a cult classic from the house—the original from 2010—with a trapezoidal silhouette in black leather and a front pocket with a contrasting zip. A return that blends nostalgia and innovation, creating a bold statement of style.

Julia Roberts’s look for her arrival at the Venice Lido (Getty Images)

Julia Roberts, in addition to her Celine bag, completes her look with another refined tribute: black canvas Superga 2750 sneakers, a classic of Italian design that lends a casual yet refined allure. The sneakers’ black and white duo is reflected in the entire outfit, consisting of cotton Bermuda shorts and a black T-shirt, perfect for Venice’s September temperatures.

The key piece? A jacquard cardigan brimming with personality, featuring Luca Guadagnino’s (it goes without saying, director of After the Hunt) stylized facial expressions, a tongue-in-cheek detail that cleverly breaks up the look’s linearity. Finally, the oversized cat-eye sunglasses are a must-have for her arrival at the Lido, a Roberts signature.

After the Hunt: The Guadagnino-Roberts Challenge (Toward the Oscar)

Luca Guadagnino’s film, which is making its world premiere at the Festival, marks a new artistic challenge for Julia Roberts. In After the Hunt, she plays a seemingly solid and respected university professor who suddenly finds herself engulfed in a tangle of secrets, passions, and uncomfortable truths. This role allows her to explore dramatic and intimate territory, playing with the fragilities and strengths of a complex character. Guadagnino, known for his hypnotic and sensual gaze, seems to have tailored the perfect narrative for Roberts: a psychological journey that allows her to express the emotional range that has made her famous. It’s no surprise that there’s already talk of a possible 2026 Oscar nomination: the combination of Guadagnino’s direction and Roberts’s profound performance promises to be one of the most intense surprises of the film year.

Returning to Venice, almost 30 years after Everyone Says I Love You

This isn’t the first time Julia Roberts has intertwined her personal and professional history with Venice. In 1996, almost thirty years ago, she was here to film Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You, a musical comedy that depicted an intimate, dreamlike, and ironic Venice. Back then, Roberts was still in the midst of her rise, the young and radiant actress who enchanted Hollywood and the entire world. In the film, she played Vonnie, an elegant, cultured, and sensitive young American woman who is in Venice with her daughter. She is a very unique character within the ensemble mosaic constructed by Woody Allen: Vonnie is the object of desire of the protagonist Joe (played by Allen himself), a fragile and disillusioned New York intellectual who, during a stay in the lagoon, falls madly in love with her.

Vonnie embodies a sophisticated, almost ethereal idea of ​​femininity: she’s not naive, but still capable of being surprised by life. Her relationship with Joe stems from a chance encounter and develops with the romantic lightness that characterizes the entire film. Allen creates a role for her that, while not as central as other characters in the ensemble comedy, becomes essential in imbuing the narrative with a nuance of longing, idealization, and melancholy.

EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU, Woody Allen, Julia Roberts, 1996. ©Miramax / courtesy Everett Collection©Miramax/Courtesy Everett Collection

In the Venetian scenes, Vonnie is the protagonist of moments that blend irony and lyricism: the narrow streets, the palaces overlooking the Grand Canal, and the city’s rarefied atmosphere become the perfect backdrop for Allen’s character’s infatuation. Their relationship, however, remains suspended between dream and reality, with that typical vein of uncertainty that runs through many of the director’s love stories.

Thus, almost thirty years ago, Julia Roberts linked her name to Venice through this female figure: a fascinating and seemingly elusive woman, who at the same time revealed her ability—even then—to give depth and authenticity to a character who could easily slip into the caricature of a romantic “muse.” And in that film, Woody Allen used Venice not only as a picturesque setting, but as a real additional character, which interacts with the love story between Joe and Vonnie.

Julia Roberts: The Icon and the Woman

Julia Roberts’s strength lies in her ability to be both an unattainable star and an authentic woman. She has embodied roles that have marked the collective imagination—from Pretty Woman to Erin Brockovich—and yet she has never stopped appearing vulnerable, accessible, and authentic. She is a diva without complacency, an icon without artifice. Her career, studded with awards and accolades, has never yielded to nostalgia: every choice seems like a step toward a new evolution, a new story. Whether the future brings an Oscar or not, it matters little. Julia Roberts at the Venice Lido 2025 is already a legend. She is the living example of how a career can span generations and remain intact, of how a smile can still light up an entire festival.