Sometimes, at the very last minute, a look finds its way to you that is so well-suited for the occasion it’s like kismet. You know instantly that it’s the one. That’s what happened to Freya Allan for the Los Angeles premiere of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. The pressure was on to make a statement for the red carpet event—it was a big moment for the film—and after an endless search for the perfect dress, a gorgeous sheer number in a bronze tone showed up that was almost too good to be true.

“I’m wearing YSL, which is the dream,” Allan tells us from her hotel room earlier that day. Having just finished a full day of press for the sci-fi adventure blockbuster, in which she stars opposite Owen Teague, she was feeling a bit zonked and a little nervous, which is to be expected before any big red carpet,. Mostly, she was excited to get into her look for the evening. “It just so happened that I put it on, and when I put my arms out, it looked like an eagle,” she says of the spring/summer 2024 look. “In the film, one of the central parts is eagles, and I had always wanted there to be a nod to the movie in some way. That was the only gown we tried on from YSL, and when I put it on, I was like, ‘Wait, guys, it’s like I’m an eagle!'”

Allan has been eager to work with the Parisian fashion house for some time, as she feels the brand aesthetic aligns well with her personal tastes. When we ask about her style icons, she replies, “The reference that always comes up is Kate Moss. I love ’90s fashion. … I feel there was a simplicity to it.” The actor, who broke out in Netflix’s Witcher series, gravitates toward pieces that have a cool, timeless, and lived-in feel. “There’s something about YSL that feels sexy, but it’s not overtly so,” Allan says. Subtly sexy is Allan’s sweet spot. Exhibit A: the peekaboo fabric of this look. Exhibit B: the plunging neckline of the archival Giorgio Armani look she wore to the film’s London premiere last week.

With her ideal dress sorted, we’re keen to know what Allan and her beauty team—hairstylist Bobby Eliot and makeup artist Kate Synnott—have planned for glam. She tells us she and her stylist Aimée Croysdil agreed that a pulled-back hair look would be best since the top of the dress is quite busy. “I’m going to be having a low bun and have some bits falling out, but not perfectly,” she tells us, adding that she usually likes her hair to have that “ironically perfect, imperfect look.”

With makeup, she leaned into the vibes of the dress, using bronzey tones throughout in a way that would make her blue eyes really pop like an eagle.

We ask Allan to metaphorically take me inside her getting-ready suite. What are the vibes? She tells me “Chocolate” by The 1975 or her latest obsession, “Dollar” by Electric Guest, will most likely be playing. Her playlist spans an array of musical styles and artists, but she tends to get hooked on songs and will play them over and over. “There are some I’ve listened to about 1000 times in the last month,” she laughs. Her mother, father, and younger brother are in town for the big event, so she’s hoping to have a drink with them in the room before heading to the premiere.

It’s almost time for Allan to start hair and makeup, but before we hop off the phone, we have to ask about Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. It’s the reason for the night’s fashion festivities, after all. Allan tells us she fell in love with the story and character pretty early on in the audition process, but it was her chemistry read with Teague over Zoom that really sealed the deal for her. “We kind of locked in on each other, and we both say that we forgot there was even a screen between us,” she says. “[Director] Wes [Ball] gave such insightful thoughts. It was that moment where I was like, ‘Okay, I really want it. I’ve got an eye into who would be my teammates in this, and they are both amazing and intelligent.'”