Minnie Driver made a welcome return to the red carpet as she attended the Vanity Fair and Amazon MGM Studios Celebrate Awards Season 2026 event at Bar Marmont in Los Angeles, effortlessly proving that understated elegance never goes out of style.
The Goldeneye actress looked radiant in a sleek black satin mini dress, opting for a minimalist silhouette that perfectly highlighted her natural beauty.
Featuring long sleeves and a softly draped neckline, the asymmetric hemline added a modern edge while keeping the overall look timeless and refined. Minnie paired the dress with delicate black strappy heels, allowing the ensemble to speak for itself.
Wearing her signature brunette curls loose and glossy, Minnie kept her beauty look refreshingly pared back.
A glowing complexion, softly defined eyes and a hint of rosy lip colour enhanced her fresh-faced appearance, giving the impression of effortless glamour rather than high-octane red carpet drama.
Posing confidently against the golden Vanity Fair backdrop, Minnie appeared relaxed and joyful.
Buster Knight, the mua behind Minnie Driver’s youthful look at the recent Emily in Paris red carpet premiere, swears by affordable products with maximum impact. In fact one product he describes as his “non-negotiable” skincare treatment - not just for his celebrity clients, but for himself too.
"Minnie is a dream client to work with," Buster told us. "She has amazing skin and is aging beautifully. For the Emily in Paris world premiere, we kept the look natural, sophisticated and fresh - it was all about glowing, toasty bronze, healthy skin"
He added: "A snatched glow is so on trend right now, and that’s exactly what I wanted for Minnie. I went a little heavier on the bronze blush to bring out her bone structure and add dimension to her face."
In her personal life The Good Will Hunting star has been busy raising her teen son Henry between London and Los Angeles, and the Malibu coast where she purchased a two-bedroom home over 20 years ago, which she previously described as an "utter retreat".
During the COVID-19 pandemic Minnie and Henry spent time at the home, especially as the pair found it challenging, like many other parents and their children.
"We had a really rough day – we were both feeling sad," Minnie told People magazine in 2021 of one such moment.
"And we have this gigantic speaker in the kitchen, and I just hooked it up and we played "Love's In Need Of Love Today" by Stevie Wonder, and we were just dancing. Then I was about to get a bit tearful and I was like, 'No, it's Stevie Wonder. Nobody cries at Stevie Wonder. Dance!' And we just danced.
"We danced around the kitchen with the dog barking, and we both felt better at the end of it. We collapsed in the pile on the beanbags on the kitchen floor and we felt a lot better."
At the age of 18 the Good Will Hunting actress was told she would not be able to welcome children, but she celebrated her son's birth at the age of 38, adding: "I always loved an adventure, and here was this great late stage adventure."
She had always kept her son's father's identity private but in 2012 she revealed it was Timothy J. Lea, a writer on her 2007 TV show The Riches. "I don't need to protect him any more," she told The Observer "He can fend for himself. He's a grown-up."