Lupita Nyong'o's Star Wars Press Tour Style: 3 Things to Know

Secrets straight from her stylist!

Published on December 23, 2015 03:30 PM

Lupita Nyong’o has had yet another memorable chic streak, hitting the Star Wars: The Force Awakens red carpet in one memorably bold look after another. And no, you’re not imagining things: Her longtime stylist Micaela Erlanger saysthat the looks were picked with an eye to the film’s setting. “We were joking the whole time, saying ‘galaxy glamour’,” she tells PeopleStyle. “It’s such an iconic franchise, we really wanted to do something fun and special to honor that.”

Fun definitely was on the menu, as Nyong’o experimented with light-up dresses and blue lipstick. And Erlanger gave us all the scoop on how it came together. Read on for three behind-the-scenes secrets of Nyong’o’s style!

Lisa O’Connor/Zuma; Sara De Boer/Startraks

•That sparkling Alexandre Vauthier Couture gown was as heavy as it looked.
“I had to bring that to LA — I was like Oh, my God, checked baggage!” Erlanger tells PeopleStyle of the dress, which sources estimate to be nearly ten pounds of crystals and beading. But to Nyong’o, who wore a fully-beaded “pearl” gown to the Oscars, it was a breeze: “She joked, nothing was heavier than my Oscars dress — this was nothing!”

RELATED VIDEO: Where in the world is Lupita Nyong’o’s Oscars dress?

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•All that red carpet charm? That’s 100 percent Lupita.
When asked if Erlanger gave Nyong’o posing tips to pull off a bold looks like her Proenza Schouler skirt set, Erlanger laughs. “She owns it on her own!” she says. “She’s got it down pat, she doesn’t need me. You have to be confident when you wear something like that and she certainly was and I think it showed.”

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•When you put your client in a light-up dress, there’s even more planning than goes into a regular red carpet.
“We made sure it was charged! And we had an extra battery pack just in case,” Erlanger says of the coded circuit that powered 500 LED lights. “Only she could pull it off — it was like it was meant for her.”

Which promo tour look was your fave?

–Alex Apatoff