Isabelle Huppert on Her Dior Wardrobe in New Film, Love of Shoes and Those Viral Balenciaga Looks

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Mike Marsland/WireImage

ForIsabelle Huppert, fashion reigns supreme.

“It was nice to be nicely dressed up and made up in the beautiful, old Dior dresses I was wearing,” she says, joking too that she wishes she “could have taken with me the makeup girl and the hairdresser” after filming wrapped. (Shout out to her personal stylist for the film, Szandra Bíró.)

The French actress tells PEOPLE that to her, fashion is all about self-expression.

“Clothes either make you more visible or more discreet. It says a lot about how you want to be seen and what you want to say about yourself. In a way, clothes and fashion is so fascinating and fascinates people because it defines a human being,” she explains.

RELATED GALLERY:Every Outfit on the Cannes 2022 Red Carpet

Lesley Manville inMrs. Harris Goes to Paris(2022).focus features

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

First and foremost is the shoe, she says: “The shoes are very important — even more so when you’re an actress, because I think you find a role in your shoes. Whether you work with flat shoes or whether you work with high-heeled shoes, it gives you a different body attitude. It says a lot about who you are and who you have to play, in a way.”

The star’s been rocking Balenciaga looks of late, stepping out on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet in a sleek, all-green dress with heels, for example. “I feel great when I wear all of Balenciaga’s dresses and outfits. Especially that green dress was wonderful.”

She adds that the “genius” Balenciaga looks are “very easy to wear” and applauds the “smart” designs for blending elements “from the past and from the future.”

Anthony Ghnassia/Getty

“She’s not always very sympathetic because she’s full of a little power. But of course, she’s very funny too because the way she talks to people. Through Mrs. Harris' insight, her own life is going to be changed. She becomes really aware of something because she only talks to very rich, very wealthy people.”

The actress says on the inside, Colbert is “quite fragile,” and “her inner life, private life is completely different from the appearance of the life she has in the Dior house” — something she says most can relate to.

“In a way, that’s very universal. Everybody has always a double — sometimes a triple — layer of who you are. You are a certain person when you relate in a social position and a certain person within yourself, if you are completely alone with your fragility, with your weakness, with your needs, with your unaccomplished wishes,” says Huppert. “This is exactly what we find out about Madame Colbert. She has a certain appearance, and deep inside she’s completely different.”

Mrs. Harris Goes to Parisis in theaters Friday.

source: people.com