It’s around this time of year that Keira – “I look quite pretty” – Knightley begins to reenter the subconscious. Screenshots of the British actor grinning in baker boy caps proliferate newsfeeds, and people start to write think pieces about how the women in Love Actually deserved more. But there is one role for which she is perhaps better known: the adrenaline-seeking Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean.
And did Knightley not look a little swashbuckling when she was photographed last night in New York? She was attending a screening for the Netflix drama Black Doves, in which she plays a secret agent infiltrating the top levels of the British government, dressed in a naval-inspired jacket and a high-necked lace blouse with velvet Bermuda shorts and musketeer boots. Chloé’s full-look policy – a strategic move that ensures stylists stick to that which was seen on the catwalk, compounding the designer’s intended vision, and minimising any sort of aesthetic risk-taking – was in full effect. (See: look 11 from Chemena Kamali’s Resort 2025 collection.)
This subtle, seafaring look seems to be on the rise. I not long ago spotted the fashion consultant Jodie Hill wearing drainpipe jeans and Vivienne Westwood Pirate boots in the Condé Nast offices, and there has been lots of chatter about the resurgence of Alexander McQueen’s skull-print scarves – though few seem brave enough to realise a comeback – not to mention all the nautical stripes, swaggering belts, pantaloons and antique jewels that propagated Talia Byre, Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu’s recent collections. “I wanted something that was soft, feminine, comfortable,” Kamali said of her Resort proposal. “And they had to be real. All the women in the office have been test-wearing them.” She’ll be making them walk the plank next.
