Selects: Actress May Elghety Makes a Case for Cottagecore

May Elghety has spent much of her life being dressed as somebody else. The Egyptian actress began working in childhood and has since moved between cinema and television, from Mohamed Diab’s 2016 film Clash, which screened at Cannes, and the series La Totfe’ El Shams to her recent role in Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. Years of stepping into other people’s clothes have inevitably altered the way she reads her own.

“I think being an actress has definitely made me more conscious of the fact that clothes are stories,” May Elghety says. Her wardrobe contains rather a lot of them. The result is “quite eclectic,” moving between cottage girl, bohemian and whatever slightly surprising character happens to appear next.

That range draws from the places she has lived and observed: Egypt and the United Kingdom, cities and the countryside. “It is modern, bohemian, cottagecore,” as El Ghety puts it. Satin and silk meet linen, floral prints and embroidery, though romance stops wherever physical discomfort begins. "if I cannot breathe in my trousers after a good meal, I just don’t wear them."

Her greatest stylistic acquisition has been confidence. Elghety once avoided colour because it made her too visible; she now reaches instinctively for bright pieces, tempering them with earthier shades. The point is not to dress as though she has wandered out of a pastoral costume department, but to borrow cottagecore’s softness without submitting to its uniform. “Soft, eclectic, romantic and slightly unexpected.” The description fits both the wardrobe and the woman choosing it.

LOOK 1 | Velvet After Dark 

Reformation | Camille Velvet Dress

Golden Goose | Wish Star Western Boot

Jimmy Choo | Cinch Medium Shoulder Bag, Deep Merlot Suede

Azza Fahmy | Mismatched Floral Earrings

LOOK 2 | Lace & Little Luxuries

H&M | Cropped lace-trimmed top

Zara | Lace-Trim Satin Midi Skirt

Reformation | Inez Flat Mule

Liffner | Buckled Suede Bucket Bag

Azza Fahmy | Happiness Diamond Ear Cuff, 18kt Yellow Gold

Azza Fahmy | “We Shall Never Part” Necklace with Diamond, 18kt Gold

LOOK 3 | A Country Afternoon 

Sézane | Romeo Cardigan, Natural Beige

Nobody’s Child | Silsoe Clean Shorts, Cream Linen-Blend

Velasca | Ameda

Chloé | Marcie Saddle Bag in Grained Leather, Boyish Brown

Dower & Hall | White Luna Pearl™ & Disc Earrings, Sterling Silver

Dower & Hall | Wide Waterfall Ring, Sterling Silver

LOOK 4 | Pink Wellies, Obviously 

KOTN | Women’s Shrunken Tee, White

Free People | Meet Me In The Middle Mini Slip Skirt

Hunter | Downpour Tall Wellington Boots, Pink

Free People | Misty Solid Tall Socks

Jude Benhalim | Anchor Ring

Jude Benhalim | Cascade Necklace

LOOK 5 | The Modern Debutante 

Stella McCartney | Bead-Embellished Mini Dress

Christian Dior | Black Wool 2022 Cropped Peacoat

Reiss | Mules, Style SU571843

Erdem | Micro Bloom Bag

Jude Benhalim | Interchangeable Gravel Earrings

Jude Benhalim | Floway Ring