The connection between Alicia Vikander and Nicolas Ghesquière is far more than model and muse.

Call it sartorial synergy.

“It’s a little bit of Nicolas’ magic, within the sense that he knows what I like and what’s ‘me’ before I do — which is incredible,” said Vikander.

The Oscar-winning actress is fearless on the red carpet, and far of that comes from the Louis Vuitton womenswear creative director’s designs, which she likens to “armor” that offers her added confidence when facing photographers.

They’ve developed a deep friendship since Vikander joined the home of Louis Vuitton as brand ambassador in 2015, bonding over film, design and architecture. The 2 have shared several significant skilled milestones, in addition to her very private wedding to actor Michael Fassbender in 2017.

Next might be the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Vikander’s “Firebrand.” Though she has been to the film festival before, it’s the primary time she has had a movie within the official competition.

In “Firebrand,” Vikander portrays Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of England’s Henry VIII, played by Jude Law. It’s the primary time Parr’s story has been portrayed on the large screen.

“It’s sort of brutal, since it’s like, yeah, yeah, she’s the one who survived,” Vikander said of the historical concentrate on the opposite, doomed queens in Henry’s queue. Parr was the primary woman to publish a book under her own name within the English language.

“She was a feminist and loved fashion, but she spent lots of tax money on clothes. It was just fabric, fabric, fabric. She did all those good things, but you’ll want to find the true human, and I like that,” she said.

Vikander portrays Parr in what she describes as “badass” costumes that required layers of dresses and jewels, only to be covered up by additional layers of dresses and jewels. Examining the imbalance of the Tudor court and the way women were locked away, Vikander said she responded by filming some scenes laying down. “I feel you’ll in the event you were in those day and night,” she said.

Her Cannes dress is certain to be lighter, though she hadn’t yet stepped into the ultimate version when speaking on a rainy Paris afternoon. Nonetheless, first fittings for her red carpet dress were proving easy and natural, she said.

Vikander looked back on the varied gowns Ghesquière has created for her over time, from the sweet and sunny yellow frock she wore winning her best actress Oscar in 2016 to a few of the tougher, warrior-like gowns, corresponding to a beaded column she wore to the BAFTAs that very same yr, which she swears weighed upward of 30 kilos.

“To see the very different versions of myself that he’s let me be over time is amazing,” she said.

Even the one which only her nearest and dearest are aware about: Vikander as a bride.

When the staunchly off-social-media star told the designer about her wedding plans, including her biggest wish that the dress would never be seen by anyone outside of her closest circle, Ghesquière volunteered to design it and promised to take the utmost precaution, no PR involved.

Much to Vikander’s delight, the dress design has remained a secret outside of her closest circles to today. “By some means, magically, not one photo exists online. We even had killer drones. I feel 4 paparazzi ended up in jail that night,” she said of the incredibly tight security.

Vikander joked that the dress is much more beautiful now — with an extra element. It’s been through a dry cleansing, but has a band of gray on the underside, and he or she holds that detail dear. “It’s so pretty now since it looks the way in which it does. Now after I take a look at the dress, it’s like, you may see my night, because I danced!” she said.

“It says rather a lot concerning the fun of the night,” Ghesquière said, adding that as much as Vikander has a boyish side, she’s a giant romantic at heart.

“I recognize myself rather a lot in that, too, and in what I do. It’s romanticism with a story,” Ghesquière said of embracing many sides.

That balance was on display on the Oscars in 2016. The pale yellow princess style flounced with a pouf skirt, however the bodice was covered in a subtle lightning bolt design that kept it from crossing into saccharine territory.

The dress not only holds significance because she took home her best actress trophy that night, but due to memories it created. Her mother, actress Maria Fahl Vikander, passed away in December, she shared.

“It’s been a really emotional yr, obviously. A photograph of my mother on the Oscars, hugging me, has been shared so repeatedly over the past few months from family and friends. And he or she looked so beautiful that night. So now that Oscar dress, which was a part of one in all the largest moments of my life, now has an excellent deeper intending to me,” Vikander said.

“Of all the photos I even have as a grown up, it’s like me and my mom – we looked like one million bucks. And that image might be stuck with me perpetually. It’s one other huge, sweet moment.”

Vikander and Ghesquière collaborated on costumes for HBO’s “Irma Vep” last yr, directed by French auteur Olivier Assayas. “We’ve been doing crazy things together,” joked Ghesquière. He had been a longtime fan of Assayas’ work and the 1996 film version of “Irma Vep.” It was a moment of kismet when Vikander reached out concerning the project.

The three fed off one another throughout the shooting — creatively after all, despite it being a vampire story — while Vikander temporarily relocated to Paris. Ghesquière said he’s inspired by watching her work. Ideas from her movies are pulled into his collections, which then encourage Vikander, who imagines herself in Ghesquière’s sometimes futuristic worlds.

“It was a unprecedented example of our artistic dialogue in real time,” Ghesquière said of Vikander approaching him concerning the series, as unconventional because it may need seemed. “I think strongly in loyalty — I mean, let’s call it what it’s. We all know there’s rather a lot in that word, however it’s not at all times easy to behave in that way. And I actually appreciate that we built this relationship and built that project and dream together. That’s what we’re.”

When not on set or the red carpet, Vikander lives in a small farm within the French countryside, mucking about in boots, and is more obsessive about all things home than high fashion.

She said she skipped the teenage ritual of shopping for fashion tomes, as a substitute collecting interior design magazines because the age of 11.

“I might construct dollhouses and make my very own furniture, that was my passion,” Vikander said. Now she and Ghesquière share photos of buildings — they cite Frank Gehry and Lina Bo Bardi as favorite architects — or structures that they see while traveling.

Ghesquière reflected on Vikander’s childhood dollhouses, drawing a comparison to his fashion shows.

“When we expect of an area, after all the gathering has a story, however it’s often the character that I imagine could evolve in that environment that’s inspiring. It’s so necessary, when you’ve got the set to assume all of the fantasies of who’s going to be the girl who will wear the garments on this space,” said Ghesquière. “While you construct a set, the set doesn’t come last. It’s the shell of the story you ought to tell.”

Ghesquière has told some fantastical fashion show tales over time, most recently taking on the Han River’s Jamsugyo Bridge in Seoul for its pre-fall show.

“Squid Game” director Hwang Dong-hyuk served as a creative adviser on the show scenography, and star HoYeon Jung opened the show. Pulling in those cultural signifiers was necessary for Ghesquière. “I desired to capture the spirit of the town and understand. I didn’t need to arrive there and just say, ‘OK, that is Louis Vuitton and we’re setting it on such an iconic bridge,’” he said. “We desired to be connected.”

The corporate arrange big screens on the river bank to make the show publicly accessible and inclusive, and the soundtrack played traditional Korean music in addition to more current K-pop songs.

Ghesquière said the fascination flows each ways between Korea and France, and he desired to play on each perceptions with the gathering.

Vikander attended the show, and said it’s been a dream to work in South Korea since attending the Busan Film Festival in 2010.

Soon it should come true, as she’ll be working in South Korea on the upcoming film “Hope,” costarring Jung and husband Michael Fassbender. The project might be directed by Na Hong-jin. One notes that’s two Louis Vuitton global brand ambassadors within the film.

Vikander hints that she and Ghesquière are discussing further film work for an additional project, but demurred from giving any details.

“Fashion and cinema have at all times had a really big love relationship,” added Ghesquière. “It’s a love story between cinema, the actor and designer, the artist and director. I strongly imagine that it’s nourishing.”