- Hi, "Vogue," I'm Halle Berry, and today,
I'm gonna be looking through my Life in Looks.
[gentle music]
Whoa. [laughing]
Oh God, this was Miss World.
I was wearing my prom dress. [chuckles]
I couldn't afford a real one.
That dress got me far, I became Miss Ohio.
I became Miss Teen America, and then,
Miss USA for the World Pageant in this dress.
Hair was like, big, fluffy hair, a lot of Aquanet.
You'd move your whole head and the whole hair,
the whole head [laughs] just goes with it.
That's how hair-sprayed it was.
But it was fire at the time.
Oh, [laughing] this is back in the day
when you carried your makeup around in a kit,
and that was okay to do.
That's what was in that kit, that was my makeup.
And this was like, oh,
this is where my love of the leopard print was born.
I still love a good leopard print.
And I can see the high-waisted jeans,
the chunky heel boots, all this is so 90s.
Some of these things I do wear from time-to-time
because they are coming back.
And like, every decade, honestly,
can come back and it's happening.
And that lets you know how old you are
when your old stuff comes back, [chuckles] you realize,
I still have some of these things
and I saved them for that reason.
So some of these things I do wear.
[Halle laughs]
Oh God, yeah, this was somewhere in Atlanta,
I can tell you that, this was my Atlanta look.
Just 'cause I know, I remember the look, the belly out,
the shorts, the big belt, the clunky shoes,
like this was very Atlanta for me at the time.
I had the Halle Berry haircut.
As an actor, I was a young actress,
and I was going on auditions, and every audition,
I saw another Black girl just like me, big, curly hair.
And I felt like the casting director just went, "You."
And then, that's who got the job.
So this was on purpose.
It was very much designed to set myself apart
from the other women that I was going up against
on my auditions.
And the first audition I had since I cut my hair,
I got that job.
And that was my first job on television called,
"Living Dolls," so it worked.
[laughing] Oh my God, Niecy, this movie is "B.A.P.S."
It's called, short for "Black American Princesses."
This is iconic, especially in the Black community.
And these characters are beloved.
And it was so on point for the time.
The nails have come back now, you know,
these three-inch long nails, it's all part,
it was all so relevant and current at that moment.
I often feel like this movie was
a little bit before its time,
but it was so on point and I love this.
I remember I would have to lather my whole body
in talcum powder just to be able to pull this rubber suit up
and then, try working in it for about an hour or two.
Then it was just like a sauna inside
and just sweat rolling down my legs, but I was so happy.
I was so happy to be in it and it was just fun.
Oh wow, this is from "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge."
This role was so important to me.
and so special to me,
to bring the life of Dorothy Dandridge to the screen.
Her clothes were very sexy and very shimmery.
So it was a lot of sequence and a lot of jewels,
you know, icy diamonds.
And hair was always very quaffed and very tight.
You know, very 50s, very together.
There is this foreshadowing and I always felt it.
Dorothy was the first African-American woman to be nominated
as leading lady at the Academy Awards.
And she lost that night.
And when I did "Monster's Ball,"
and then, I found myself being nominated,
I had this knowing that somehow it was connected.
I felt so supremely connected to her somehow.
Like when I first tried on her very first dress
that her manager gave me, it fit like a glove.
It didn't need any alterations, right?
And I tried on her shoes, they fit perfectly,
nothing needed to be done.
And that night when I won, I felt,
I woke up the next morning feeling like,
"Wow, I think I finished that for her.
"I think that's what I was supposed to do."
[chuckles] So this is the 2000 MTV Awards,
and a big shift has happened here.
I've obviously gotten way more comfortable with my body
because it's like, pow, I'm out, it's out.
And I had on a beaded,
a beaded half-frock, let's call it. [laughs]
I remember putting this on and being like,
"Oh no, this is it," and thinking, you know,
some part of my mind, "Well, this could be risky.
"Maybe people will hate this."
But I also started to realize during this time
that I had to be authentically myself,
and wore something that, one, I could carry,
and that I felt good in.
Oh, this is another one I really love.
This is a really great one.
This was the Golden Globes, and this was so romantic.
And I thought it was a beautiful color.
It was almost the color of my skin.
It was such a compliment to my skin color and my hair.
And I just remember loving the lace bodice
and the shoulders,
and just feeling very feminine in this dress,
and very classy.
Valentino has always worked for me.
Valentino cuts for my body.
Usually when I put on a Valentino dress,
it's money, it works.
Oh my gosh, the iconic Jinx, Bond bathing suit. [chuckles]
We tried on so many bathing suits,
so many bikinis, and so many belts,
and this looks effortless,
but this was a whole situation getting this,
[chuckles] this little bathing suit right
in choosing the color and the right fit.
And we had a knowing that it would maybe,
because it was in a Bond movie,
end up being an iconic situation
or something that would live a very, very long time.
The biggest acting challenge I had was to make,
it looked like the water was warm
and I was having a grand old time,
when I was freezing my butt off.
This was sort of a bad-ass Bond girl.
She was on par with Bond.
She was very much his partner.
And that was really exciting for me to be,
if I'm gonna be a Bond girl,
I was grateful that I got to be one like that.
And so, bam, there it is!
I just remember feeling really great in this dress.
The top was very open and free,
and just had these little flowers that sort of covered
all the right bits that it needed to cover.
But the bottom was very regal and very grand.
And I remember this was Elie Saab,
and he wasn't the Elie Saab we know now.
He was a young designer who was just starting,
and at the time,
it wasn't the biggest name I could have worn,
but there was something about this dress
that felt like it made me feel uniquely myself.
All that walk up to the stage, name called, it's a blur.
I really had an out-of-body experience.
I only know what happened 'cause I've seen it
over and over, [laughs]
but I was sure I wasn't gonna win because back then,
the Golden Globe was the precursor for the Oscars.
And Sissy Spacek had won the Golden Globe.
So I was sure that I wasn't gonna win.
And so when my name was called,
I think I was truly stunned and shocked.
And I think I left my body.
But one thing I do remember is Russell Crowe
looking at me saying, "Breathe, mate, breathe, mate."
And then I checked out again
and I don't remember what else happened
until I was behind the stage and I was carrying the Oscar.
And I remember looking at it going,
"Oh, shit, I won this thing.
"I think I won it, that's why I have it."
When I look at this photo, you know,
it reminds me that I am
a part of history in some way.
I am a part of history, no one ever takes this moment away.
And so therefore, there's a soft spot.
I'm filled with pride because I was
the first African-American woman to win this Academy Award.
And as I said before, I think that was a full,
I came full circle for Dorothy.
And I knew that, that next morning.
I was like, "Ah, I think I did it for her.
"We, together, had this mission and I finished the loop."
Oh!
My first "Vogue" cover.
I'm wearing Tom Ford for YSL Rive Gauche.
You knew you made it when you made the cover of "Vogue."
And as being a Black woman, you really made it.
I mean, I'm shooting with Annie Leibovitz, right?
I mean, that's, doesn't get better or bigger than that.
And I was shooting with Pierce, who had become a dear,
sweet friend at that point, so that was the fun part of it.
But, you know,
we knew that we were trying to create something special.
It was to highlight our work together on Bond.
And Bond is such an iconic series.
I remember the first time walking by
in an airport and seeing,
going into an airport just to get a snack before a flight
and seeing all the "Vogues" lined up.
And it was, it was pretty arresting.
[chuckles] "Catwoman," oh my God, this is, this is,
this is truly one of my favorite looks,
mainly because it was just so much fun to play Catwoman,
to put on this whole outfit, the headpiece, the pants,
the gloves that were studded in jewels,
these gloves were so heavy.
This was just a fun, it was a challenge, you know?
As a woman of color to be playing Catwoman
in her own comic book movie was something
that hadn't been done before.
This bra top was connected to my body
within an inch of its life.
So there was no mishaps,
but the hard part was I had to do capoeira
in four-inch heels, and so that proved to be a challenge.
I think the difference in my Catwoman was,
I think I worked really hard trying
to actually embody the movements of a cat.
A lot of that was integrated into the script,
acting like a cat, walking like a cat, moving, slinking.
My version had a bit more of that,
because I actually learned capoeira
and that helped me move like a cat.
That was my signature to it.
And now, so many people come up to me
and tell me that they loved the movie.
Forget the haters, whoever you are, who cares,
Saweetie just did it paying homage to me and Catwoman.
And she made a beautiful one.
And I just love seeing all the other women
try on this costume and bring their inner Catwoman out.
I love it.
Oh my goodness, this was recently.
This was this year's Academy Awards.
And this is Dolce,
and Dolce & Gabbana.
And this was made especially for me,
this award show.
I was doing something different with my hair.
I tried this little short wig just to have some fun,
you know, to mix it up.
And I thought it had such a great chance
for me to show my shoulders and it was so bare.
And I thought it'd be really cool to have
little short, little bob like this,
and sort of play with baby bangs.
And I love the color of this.
I loved all the fabric, it's very romantic
and it was very fun.
I wasn't so sure I could pull a bow off across my belly,
but my whole team said, "You can do it, you can do it."
So I took their, I took their advice.
[laughing] I should have practiced the pose.
No, but it was fun.
You get out there and that's just what I felt like doing
because there was so much fabric, it was so flowy.
It was just beautiful.
"Vogue," thank you so much.
I so enjoyed looking through all these looks.
I hope you did too.
See you next time.
[bright music] [pen scratching]