Angelina Jolie turned heads at the 20th Rome Film Festival, not just for her striking style, but for the deeply personal story inked across her back.
The star arrived at the premiere of her new film 'Couture' wearing a midnight-black Alberta Ferretti gown from the Fall/Winter 2025 collection.
From the front, the piece showcased understated elegance, featuring a clean column silhouette with draped cape sleeves. But from the back it showed a dramatic teardrop cutout that revealed what might be her most enduring accessory, her expansive collection of tattoos.
The backless gown provided the perfect frame for Jolie’s collection of tattoos, each showing a permanent chapter in her life story. A majestic Bengal tiger spans her lower back inked in 2004 in Bangkok, a tribute to her Cambodian citizenship.
Above it, the actress showcases a Buddhist blessing for her son Maddox, a cartographic design representing the four elements and continents, and a bold proclamation. “Know Your Rights”, inspired by The Clash.
For her, tattoos are an act of self-preservation. “It was one of many things I did in my life that was separate from film and being on camera—that was me and not a character,” she told Backstage earlier this year. “To have a self is very important when a lot of your job is to transform into other selves.”
She accessorized the ensemble with sheer black stockings, stiletto booties, oversized jewel earrings, and a polished beauty look, long, straight hair and minimal makeup.
The event was held at Rome’s Auditorium Parco della Musica, and Jolie wasn't alone on the red carpet. She was joined by co-stars Anyier Anei and Louis Garrel, as well as French director Alice Winocour.
In 'Couture,' Jolie plays Maxine, a filmmaker tasked with producing a fashion week short in Paris, while simultaneously navigating a divorce and receiving a breast cancer diagnosis. The character's emotional journey mirrored some of Jolie’s own life experiences.
The Oscar-winner famously underwent a preventive double mastectomy in 2013 after testing positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation. Her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died at just 56 from ovarian and breast cancer, a fate shared by Jolie’s aunt and grandmother.
“I did choose to have that [surgery] because I lost my mother and my grandmother very young,” she recently told Hello! magazine. “I have the BRCA gene, so I chose to have a double mastectomy a decade ago... and then I’ve also had my ovaries removed, because that’s what took my mother.”
She added, “Those are my choices. I don’t say everybody should do it that way, but it’s important to have the choice. And I don’t regret it.”
Jolie reflected on the emotional weight of the film during a Q&A at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, where she first premiered 'Couture.'
“I knew signing on to the film would bring up many personal things,” she admitted to Variety. “But I have always found the heaviest films tend to have the most loving sets... It was quite healing in many ways.”
When asked if she had a message of hope to share, Jolie became visibly moved. “I think I will say that one thing I remember my mother saying when she had cancer — she said to me once... ‘All anybody ever asks me about is cancer,’” she recalled. “So I would say, if you know someone who is going through something, ask them about everything else in their life as well, you know? They’re a whole person and they’re still living.”