Bianca Balti Enters the Dune Universe at Vogue World 2025

Is this Arrakis or Vogue World 2025: Hollywood?

Italian model Bianca Balti steps into Rebecca Ferguson’s role in the Dune series. Balti swapped the Pierpaolo Piccioli Balenciaga look she wore on the Vogue World cover of Vogue Italia (in which she starred alongside her daughter, Matilde, who is also walking the show) for one of costume designer Jacqueline West’s most memorable looks from Dune.

Balti hits the runway in the “Brave New World” section of the show wearing the resplendent mustard yellow hooded dress that Lady Jessica dons for her arrival on the desert planet, Arrakis. Lady Jessica, a member of the powerful Bene Gesserit sisterhood, is often seen in veils and face coverings. Balti walks the Paramount Studios runway wearing the gold veil and sleeves made of chains and beads. And, like Ferguson’s character, whose split train is carried by ladies in waiting, Balti is also trailed by models who keep her impressive flowing train off the ground.

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In a 2021 interview, Ferguson told Vogue that her costumes—specifically the veils—are representative of Jessica’s complicated status as a concubine and a Bene Gesserit. “She gets to wear the regal clothes, but when we meet her, she’s still in chains,” she said. “Jessica gets to be in the big room, but there are no other women there. Still, she has power and can kill anyone with a snap of her fingertips.”