Yesterday, Carey Mulligan was at Windsor Castle to receive a CBE—Commander of the Order of the British Empire—from King Charles III for her services to drama.
Fresh from starring in Prada’s spring 2026 campaign, Commander Mulligan, with a little help from stylist Danielle Goldberg, sidestepped the event’s standard-issue fascinator-midi-dress-nude-pumps formula in favour of an embroidered, stand-collar ivory jacket and barrel-leg trousers from The Row with oversized Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses–a look that tracks with her personal style mantra: staying comfortable. “I just feel my best when I’m comfortable,” Mulligan told Vogue at Prada’s spring 2026 show. “Not just when I’m slouching around the house, but for dinner or going to an event, too. I always want to feel like a slightly more polished version of myself.”
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It’s the latest reminder that Carey Mulligan remains one of Hollywood’s most successful, and yet under-the-radar dressers. Take her run across the 2024 awards season—when she was variously nominated for her role in Maestro—culminating in that waist-cinching, mermaid-tail Balenciaga gown, originally designed in 1951 and painstakingly recreated for the 96th Academy Awards. Mulligan herself called it her “favorite” dress to date, while British Vogue’s fashion news and features director Alice Newbold went further, naming it the look of the season. Expect more where that came from when Greta Gerwig’s Narnia–in which Mulligan plays Mabel Kirke–lands in theaters later this year.