Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz Show Off Their Decades-Long Friendship in Coordinating Designer Corset Dresses
Forget friendship bracelets—they have red carpet gowns.
Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz have been besties for more than two decades now. Although they're both married—to luxury fashion billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault and actor Javier Bardem, respectively—Hayek told Vogue Arabia earlier this year that she considers Cruz her lifelong "partner." And they certainly made quite the pair at WSJ. Magazine’s 14th Annual Innovator Awards on Tuesday, Oct. 29. Held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Bandidas co-stars spent most of the night chatting and posing arm-in-arm. They even walked the red carpet together before Cruz presented an award to Hayek later in the evening.
Hayek wore a strapless bustier gown crafted from red crepe twill and black leather Knife Pumps, both from Balenciaga. The dress, which capitalized on last year's cherry red color trend, featured a boxy bustle to create an exaggerated hip silhouette. The 58-year-old bombshell accessorized her look with a gargantuan diamond cocktail ring, a black leather clutch, a sleek blowout, and a naked manicure. Her makeup stuck to peachy nude hues on the lips and eyes.
Cruz opted for a shimmering silver cowl-neck gown with a thigh-high slit from Dolce Gabbana. She paired the draped dress with a matching silver clutch, silver climber earrings, and silver platform sandals. Her brunette waves featured caramel highlights that carried over into her smoldering brown eye makeup. Like Hayek, Cruz's nails also tapped into the naked manicure trend.
Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz hold hands on the red carpet at WSJ. Magazine’s 14th Annual Innovator Awards.
When Cruz conducted the interview for Hayek's May 2024 Vogue Arabia cover, the duo tenderly discussed their friendship origin story.
“The Spanish press asked me who I would like to work with, and I said, Penélope Cruz,” Hayek told the outlet. “We started talking and you were supposed to come to Los Angeles to do auditions and meet agents. We were starting out in our careers, and I said ‘Why don’t you just stay in my house? I can come and pick you up at the airport.’ I went to pick you up and I remember the first time I saw you, we smiled. And it’s been more than 20 years of a solid friendship. We clicked instantaneously. It felt like we had known each other for a lifetime.”
The two would later collaborate on the 2006 film Bandidas as well as the 2011 animated movie Puss in Boots.
Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz pose in a cherry red Balenciaga grown and a shimmery silver Dolce Gabbana dress, respectively.
I know I'm not only one begging these two to do another movie together. They already done a bank-robbing partners-in-crime style flick, but their coordinating designer corset dress have me dreaming of a Gentleman Prefer Blondes or First Wives Club-inspired turn. Hollywood, take note.
