Letitia Wright attended the world premiere of Avengers: Infinity Warlast night wearing a bespoke Prada suit symbolic of her fictional character, Shuri, the whip-smart teen princess-cum-scientist and breakout star of Marvel’s cinematic universe.
“It was important for me to align Letitia with a designer who represents strong women,” stylist Ade Samuel told Vogue of the intergalactic tailoring that took three weeks to come into fruition. An army of “totally iconic” women, including Bianca Jagger, populated Samuel’s mood board. “I love what Miuccia [Prada] does, but I also looked at what Yves Saint Laurent and Coco Chanel did back in the day, because Letitia wanted to represent the fact that young women can look strong and also be smart.”
Prada fans will be quick to note that the digitally-printed suiting fabric is very close to looks 35 and 38 in the autumn/winter 2018 collection. The dimensions, however, play on the feminine-masculine aesthetic that Samuel and Letitia discussed over numerous FaceTime calls. “Her outfit is like two worlds colliding,” Samuel explained. “You see tulle in a double-breasted suiting world, which is uncommon. It’s almost a dress mixed with a suit.” Look even closer and you can see tiny rain drops embedded into the fabric – a product of more FaceTime calls trying to nail the exact density of the material.
“She’s extremely involved,” Samuel said of her cross-Atlantic client (Wright is based in London, and Samuel works from Los Angeles). “She has a young, fresh take on clothing and she’s not glued to the idea that a woman has to wear a dress or heels on the red carpet. She enjoys mixing things up and seeing an idea come to life.”
The one caveat she has when dressing for the red carpet? Every look must stay true to her Guyanese-born British roots. “She’s always talking about ‘UK style’!” And that is why Letitia Wright, Marvel’s mischievous, wickedly-quick genius, is a bona fide Vogue girl