Julia Fox's Style Evolution, From Downtown Party Girl to High Fashion Muse

Julia Fox has lived many lives: dominatrix, party girl, designer, artist, muse. The actor, who made her film debut in the Safdie brothers’ Diamond District thriller Uncut Gems, seems to revel in the power of the mercurial. “I think we are always evolving and changing and I love that I have experienced so many different sides to myself,” she told the Huffington Post on the topic of her 2017 art show. Titled R.I.P. Julia Fox, the exhibition -- which featured silk-stretched canvases painted in Fox’s own blood -- symbolized the metaphorical death and rebirth of the former club kid, a sloughing off of the old self and a slipping into the new.

As Julia has reinvented herself over the years, her style has morphed with her, from the slinky glitz of the downtown party girl, to the polished glamour of the indie bombshell to, finally, the leather-clad cool of the Ye muse.

Fox was born in Italy, but was raised in New York City, where, in her teenage years, she came up in Manhattan’s downtown scene. (Fox counts Lucien as one of her favorite spots and, in a New York Times interview, close friend Briana Andalore recalls nights spent with Fox at 1 OAK.) During the aughts and early 2010s, the would-be actor’s wardrobe took in the kind of hedonistic, disco-leaning garb that wouldn’t look out of place on the dance floors of Studio 54. Think strappy jumpsuits, jersey tube tops and low-lung lurex skirts, all in shimmering tones of silver.

In 2018, Fox was cast in Uncut Gems by longtime friends, the Safdie brothers. In the role, which the duo had written just for her, the actor plays Julia, a saleswoman and mistress to Adam Sandler’s jewelry-dealing Howard Ratner. The film -- and Fox’s debut performance -- received massive critical acclaim, with the actor being nominated for the Gotham Awards’ Breakthrough Actor prize. During the awards season that followed, which took her from the Golden Globes' to the Oscars’ after parties, Fox donned a series of jet-black, curve-hugging gowns, dark homages to the dresses worn by icons from Marilyn Monroe to Jayne Mansfield, which solidified the actor’s reputation as indie film’s emerging bombshell.

Now a newly minted actor with sights set on Hollywood, Fox refined her look, polishing the insouciant sparkle of her club kid days into an elevated, directional glam. To the premiere of Uncut Gems, the actor wore Paco Rabanne crystals (always a signifier of the It girl) atop a silk turtleneck bodysuit; to an event for Louboutin, she donned a Jean Paul Gaultier illusion dress, another It piece.

Earlier this year, Fox struck up a highly publicized, whirlwind romance with Kanye West. In addition to giving us tabloid-worthy tidbits of performance art proportions (Ye staging a photoshoot for Fox in the middle of Carbone, Ye reportedly buying Fox and friends baby Birkins for her birthday), the relationship has served up some incredible outfits -- and a whole new look for Fox. Of course, that’s no surprise, when Ye’s involved. According to Fox, the couple’s first date culminated in a styling session (“a whole hotel room full of clothes… a Cinderella moment,” Fox recounts). In the suite hung racks and racks of rugged, acid-washed denim from Glenn Martens’ revamped Diesel.

Since becoming Ye’s girlfriend and muse, Fox’s sartorial staples have run the high-fashion gamut from colourful Sies Marjan to the requisite Balenciaga, while always returning to black leather and PVC looks, which, perhaps, harken to the actor's dominatrix days. To the aforementioned birthday party, Fox sported her signature low-rise leather pants with a matching bandeau. On the duo’s second Interview-documented date, she donned a long-sleeved version of the outfit, a custom look designed by friends-and-stylists Andalore and Peri Rosenzweig and inspired by sexploitation classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Before their recent breakup, Fox and Ye attended Paris’ back-to-back menswear and couture weeks, both a first for the actor. Naturally, in honor of the occasion, Fox wore two looks by Schiaparelli, couture week’s buzziest house. To attend Kenzo’s men’s show, Fox and Ye wore matching Canadian tuxedos -- Fox’s look was fitted with a conical bustier that threw back to Madonna’s Blond Ambition tour. While front row at Schiaparelli, the actor wore a Matrix-inspired leather look custom designed by Daniel Roseberry. Both outfits were paired with the brand’s massive, surrealist jewelry and a bold, Black Swan-esque eye.

In just the last few weeks, Fox’s style has taken us from downtown It girl in low-rise leather to couture queen in Schiaparelli. As her style continues to evolve, with new and unexpected looks on the daily, we do know one thing for certain: In the eternal words of Fox, herself, “We’re loving the ride.”

Zoë Kendall is a writer and editor specializing in fashion and culture. You can find her at her website and Instagram.