Gabrielle Union Goes Bold and Braless in a Chocolate Fendi Naked Dress | Marie Claire

Gabrielle Union at her premiere wearing a sheer Fendi naked dress and a diamond necklace

(Image credit: Getty Images)

By Hanna Lustig

published 27 February 2025

It's a beautiful day indeed when Gabrielle Union chooses to serve spicy minimalism. On Feb. 26, the Bring It On alum stepped out in New York City to attend a screening of Riff Raff: a crime comedy in which she stars as the wife of an ex-criminal whose past comes back to haunt him.

For her special night on the town, the 52-year-old went braless in a matte chocolate brown slip dress with a scoop neckline and dainty straps from Fendi's Spring 2025 collection. Whereas the bodice of the frock looked semi-sheer, the floor-length skirt was almost completely transparent. A contrasting rose-gold hem, meanwhile, tapped into the colorblocking trend revival. No, that's not a typo: Colorblocking—an intentional form of color clashing millennial women will surely remember well from the 2010s—is back thanks to designers like Christopher John Rogers and Brandon Maxwell.

Gabrielle Union wearing a brown Fendi dress with a pink contrast hem. — Gabrielle Union wears a brown Fendi dress with a pink contrast hem.

Fendi Viscose Dress

In her manicured hand, Union carried a beige Fendi Mamma Baguette mini bag covered in floral bouquet embroidery crafted from clusters of metallic sequins and beads. For added sheen, she accessorized with a gold pair of Santoni platform ankle-strap sandals, along with a dazzling diamond choker.

A photo of Gabrielle Union accessorizing her dress with Christian Louboutin sandals and an embroidered Fendi bag. — Gabrielle Union accessorizes her dress with Christian Louboutin sandals and an embroidered Fendi bag.

Fendi Mamma Baguette Suede Embroidered Mini Bag

Santoni High-Heel Sandal

The She's All That actor also traded her French bob haircut for a sleek ponytail that fell to her waist. In a move that would have made fellow Y2K icon Jennifer Lopez proud, a glossy nude lip completed Union's look. It may not be true minimalism given the amount of exposed skin her Fendi gown showcases, but this look nonetheless proves that less—in the literal, naked dressing sense of the word—really can be more.

Hanna Lustig is a staff writer at Marie Claire, where she gets to gab every day about the topics she holds most dear: fashion, beauty, and celebrity. Hanna’s editorial journey began with formative internships at Elle and InStyle, where she was lucky enough to work for some of the smartest women in media while she was still in college at the University of Tennessee. Hanna then accepted a digital culture reporting fellowship at Insider, where she helped carve out a new beat dedicated to covering influencers. Those experiences later served her well as a staff writer at Glamour, where she developed a knack for spinning quick turnaround celebrity news and trend reporting into juicy feature stories. Some of her greatest hits include an earnest ode to the no-pants trend, this meticulously reported feature exploring the rise of endoscopic facelifts, this snappy take on the Chanel-designed fantasy of Sofia Richie’s wedding, this tribute to WAGs past and present, and this timeline of Katie Holmes’s life and career as told through her denim collection.

Diane Keaton once hung up on Hanna during an interview, but thankfully that mishap did not derail what has otherwise been a deeply fulfilling career writing for and about women. As one of Marie Claire's resident experts on style and culture, her current coverage ranges from exploring TikTok's contrast makeup theory and the return of the boat shoe trend to interviews with costume designers for hit shows like Nobody Wants This and The Penguin. When she’s not at work, Hanna can probably be found listening to pop music, talking to her dog, and gossiping with her best friends. For more of Hanna’s perfect opinions on pop culture, you can follow her on Instagram and X.