Katie Holmes Swaps Sleek Suits for Sculptural Adam Lippes Drama

Katie Holmes just made the case for a different kind of power dressing. At a Bulgari event in New York, she stepped out in Adam Lippes’ black Sitara dress from the fall 2026 collection, and the whole look felt like a pivot away from her recent run of streamlined suiting and into something softer, but far more sculptural.

The dress did the heavy lifting. Its wide, padded neckline wrapped across Holmes’s shoulders and sat off the body on one side, leaving just enough skin exposed to keep it from feeling stiff. The torso stayed close, then the shape opened into a full bell skirt from the waist, giving the black silhouette real movement and a little old-school drama without tipping into costume. Brie Welch, who has become one of Holmes’s most reliable style partners, kept the styling tight: a Bulgari collar necklace with a blue pendant sat right in that open neckline, with coordinating earrings finishing the frame.

What makes the dress feel modern is restraint. The color stayed black, the line stayed clean, and the volume was concentrated in one sharp gesture rather than spread everywhere. That is the move right now among women who usually live in minimalist tailoring: less boxy suiting, more deliberate shape. Holmes has been leaning into that shift for a minute. In April, she wore another off-the-shoulder look to the “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary” gala, pairing a white Brunello Cucinelli bodice with a high-waisted black embellished skirt. Later that month, she snapped back to tailoring in a custom GapStudio tuxedo while presenting Zac Posen with Designer of the Year at the American Image Awards.

Adam Lippes also knows how to keep drama under control. His fall 2026 collection drew on vintage automobiles, with the references showing up in color, texture and slick fabrics rather than obvious car motifs. That matters here: the Sitara dress has the polish of something engineered, not overworked. It’s the kind of evening piece that reads expensive because it understands proportion.

Bulgari has been using New York as a similar kind of stage. Its Tubogas launch in Williamsburg in 2024 unfolded at Refinery at Domino, the 1884 waterfront venue Laura Burdese pointed to as “the perfect setting” for a brand built on being “eternally reborn.” The event even came with a kinetic light sculpture made from 252 moving lights. Holmes’s look fit that setting exactly: polished, architectural and just soft enough to feel effortless.