Last night, the Museum of Modern Art honored Academy Award-winning writer, director, and producer Sofia Coppola at its seventeenth annual Film Benefit presented by Chanel here in New York City. In one of the first speeches of the night, Elle Fanning opened by recounting what she wore to meet the young director at age 11. She was up for the part of Cleo in Coppola’s upcoming film Somewhere. The budding actress selected blue jeans with ballet flats—”very Sofia”—a lavender top with ruffled sleeves worn over a white tank, light pink glasses, and a sparkly retainer, all of which she fretted over beforehand. Fanning had just had her mind blown by Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette, and it was important that she make an impression on this queen of cool.
Coppola took girlhood and cracked it wide open with style as her medium, as documented in clips of her first film, 2000’s The Virgin Suicides to The Bling Ring to The Beguiled to 2023’s Priscilla. Her leading ladies, Luxe Lisbon, Priscilla Presley, the aforementioned Antoinette, portrayed the hot and cold sides of youthful languor—and it was intoxicating, especially when set to one of Coppola’s indulgent soundtracks. She dissected the imperfections of humanity and lensed them through her uniquely feminine yet tomboyishly cool point of view. As Fanning said, she created the “aspirational Coppola girl: effortlessly cool, chic, intelligent, creative. But even that archetype is just a reflection of the woman herself.”
Fanning’s speech, along with the rest of those given last night by Josh Hartnett, Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola, Bill Murray, and more attested to the quality of her output, of course, but also that of her character. They called her authentic, bold, empathic, respectful, and unafraid.That was important to note because, as Hartnett pointed out, “the ink spilled to commemorate her work could fill a swimming pool.”
Sofia Coppola gives her closing speech
When Coppola ascended to the microphone to close the evening with a speech of her own, she began by thanking the incredible people who have buoyed her career and creative output. “Most people didn’t think I had something to say that mattered but I found a few that did,” she said. “When I started it was such a different time, I remember an executive telling me that you couldn’t have a story with a female main character. Girls would go see stories about boys, but boys wouldn’t go see a story about a girl. It’s so gratifying to see stories about girls and women and to see so many young women filmmakers today.”
We’d be remiss not to note the fashion: Coppola wore a black sequinned, long-sleeved Chanel evening gown for the evening—look 14 from Matthieu Blazy’s debut Spring 2026 collection. A brand ambassador, her relationship with the brand is longstanding, as evidenced by her endlessly copied signature uniform, which often features Chanel flats and tweed jackets in tandem with T-shirts, crewneck sweaters, and jeans. Of course, this was a night of incredible people watching in a crowd peppered with Chanel tweeds and classic flaps. (Fanning also wore a slouchy sequinned look from Blazy’s new Chanel.)The fabulous list of attendees included Rose Byrne, Lupita Nyong’o, Derek Blasberg, Larry Gagosian, Lauren Santo Domingo, Anna Sui, Anna Weyant, and Olivia Wilde.
Lupita Nyong’o wears Chanel spring 2026
The evening closed with a surprise performance by Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer, Elvis Costello, introduced by David Letterman. As Coppola prefaced the performance, she reverted back to her own relics of girlhood. After looking back over a celebrated career, the night’s guest of honor painted a picture of sitting in her older brother’s room listening to Costello’s great new records, proving that the idea of youthful excitement she captures in her films and her life is universal no matter your age.
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