Wearing a leather jacket and joined by Greta Gerwig at Stella McCartney’s Spring-Summer 2025 show
(Photo: Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Wearing a Dior ensemble at the 2024 premiere of 'Lady in the Lake'
(Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Wearing AHLEM sunglasses and a Dior dress at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival
(Photo: Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Wearing a Celine dress at the Los Angeles premiere of \Thor: Love and Thunder' in 2022
(Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
At Dior’s Fall-Winter 2024-25 show
(Photo: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Shining in a Dior dress at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival
(Photo: AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
Wearing a sheer Dior dress on the red carpet in 2019
(Photo: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
From 'Léon' to leading lady
Natalie Portman launched her acting career at 13 in the 1994 cult film "Léon: The Professional.” Since then, she’s won an Oscar for “Black Swan,” picked up two Golden Globes, earned a psychology degree from Harvard, married, divorced and become a mother to a son and a daughter. She also resembles fellow fashion icon Keira Knightley.
Natalie Portman looks increasingly French with each passing year
(Illustration: Erez Amiran)
When she’s not on screen, Portman travels the world as a global ambassador for Dior, as the face of the brand’s iconic fragrance Miss Dior, named after the beloved sister of founder Christian Dior, Catherine, who was a WWII French resistance fighter against the Nazis. Portman has become a mainstay in the perfume's campaign, through viral ads showing her in red and black, wearing the perfume and commanding attention.
Wearing a Dior haute couture gown at the Academy Museum Gala in 2023
(Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
From Jerusalem to Hollywood
Born in Jerusalem to a Jewish family, Portman lived in Israel until the age of four before moving with her parents to the U.S. She speaks Hebrew and once dated Israeli actor Liron Levo, more than enough, at the time, to label her “our Israeli representative abroad” and celebrate her success as a collective achievement.
Making a statement in an Oscar de la Renta dress at the 'Lady in the Lake' screening in NY, 2024
(Photo: CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
But over the years, Portman has adopted a more critical stance on Israeli politics, not in extreme terms, but enough to shift her public image from a national sweetheart and symbol of Israeli pride to a Gal Gadot equivalent, one who draws fierce backlash for any comment that doesn’t align with the wartime narrative.
In today’s sharply divided society, not being entirely “with us” often means being cast as “against us.”
Wearing a Schiaparelli dress with a triangular neckline, 2024
(Photo: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
A romantic take on fashion
If Jennifer Lawrence represents Dior’s edgier, rebellious side, Portman is its romantic classic. She wears Dior almost exclusively, though she occasionally incorporates pieces from other high-end labels. Her best looks blend modern interpretations of Dior’s iconic silhouettes with a balance of bare legs and restrained necklines.
Wearing a Dior dress at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards
(Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
And also at the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party
(Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
In Dior haute couture design at the 2025 premiere of 'The Fountain of Youth'
(Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
At the Cannes Film Festival, she wore a strapless black-and-silver gown inspired by Dior’s 1951 design, featuring crescent moons on the skirt and a bow at the chest. She also appeared in a short version of Dior’s legendary bell silhouette, with black chiffon embroidered in white and cape-style shoulders.
In a black and silver strapless Dior gown at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival
(Photo: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Sticking with Dior at another event during the 2025 Cannes Film Festival
(Photo: Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
In a commercial for Miss Dior, she runs through the streets of Paris in a red dress with black straps, a corset with a zipper, and black boots. Another standout outfit, a one-shoulder black suit, nods to Dior’s cinched-waist jackets from the 1950s, updated with shorts in place of a pencil skirt.
In a Miu Miu suit on the red carpet in 2023
(Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Tailored and covered up, 2023
(Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Though she occasionally embraces a boho, floral look, Portman is rarely seen out of black, often paired with short skirts and boots.
In a Dior dress at the 2023 Gotham Awards
(Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
She knows how to go floral and colorful when she feels like it; on the red carpet, 2024
(Photo: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Recently, she brought back the bob haircut she wore in her breakout role at the age of 13, further enhancing the French aesthetic she’s embraced with age: a bob, red lips and unwavering loyalty to Dior.
In a Dior dress at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival
(Photo: AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
Wearing a mini dress and boots at Dior’s Spring-Summer 2025 show
(Photo: Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Her fashion resurgence has landed her back on magazine covers. In May, she appeared on the cover of Vogue Australia, followed by Elle Sweden in September and Elle UK in October, where she modeled “decade-inspired fashion” and, for once, stepped outside her Dior comfort zone, proving that every decade suits her.
In a deep heart neckline at Stella McCartney’s Spring-Summer 2025 show
(Photo: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
In a Dior haute couture design at the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar Party
(Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Looking ahead
Perhaps the current ceasefire will soften her critics and return her to the Israeli mainstream. After all, if there’s one thing Israelis appreciate more than blind loyalty, it’s a prodigal daughter who returns. Professionally, Portman is expected to continue evolving, take on more mature roles, and raise her Jewish children with the values she holds dear.
In Balmain suit at the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards
(Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Applause or tomatoes?
Applause for her loyal partnership with Dior, which suits her as much as she elevates it. Also for her graceful growth from child star to adult without detouring into scandal or self-destruction, and for her increasingly refined fashion sensibilities. While some may wish she pushed more boundaries, Portman proves that elegance and style don’t require provocation to make a statement.
Wearing a Schiaparelli dress at the 2023 premiere of 'May December'
(Photo: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Wearing a Dior hat at the 2025 French Open
(Photo: AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
In a dress and jacket by Magda Butrym on the red carpet in 2022
(Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
In black and a bob haircut at Fountain of Youth event in Paris, 2025
(Photo: Thomas Padilla/AP)
In a Dior dress at the London premiere of 'Thor: Love and Thunder' in 2022
(Photo: Scott Garfitt/AP)
In an unconventional deep neckline at the 2019 premiere of 'Lucy in the Sky'
(Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)