Aja Naomi King 'Felt Like a Princess' in Her Zac Posen Ballgown at the Cannes Film Festival
Actress Aja Naomi King had “the time of [her] life” wearing a romantic coral Zac Posen ballgown on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet.
“I felt like a princess,” the L’Oréal Paris brand ambassador tells PEOPLE of her statement-making ensemble, which she teamed with Casadei heels and Messika jewels at the premiere of A Hidden Life on Sunday. “You know all eyes are on that carpet and you don’t want to come up shorthanded.”
Although the How to Get Away with Murder star, 34, thought her dress was “beautiful” and “loved” her hair and makeup, she still feels the nerves kick in the second she pulls up to the event.
“Of course you get there and it’s like, ‘Ooh, this is kind of scary. This big carpet,'” she says. But one she started posing for the photographers, King immediately found her confidence.
“All of a sudden, I don’t know, like the sense of like calm came over me, and I literally thought to myself like, ‘This is fun!'” King says.
She continues: “One photographer was like telling me to spin and I started spinning and that was just the moment of my life right there. I’m like, ‘I’m spinning on the Cannes carpet in this insanely beautiful gowns and having the time of my life.’ I hope at least one person gets a good picture of it.”
King says her confidence, on the red carpet and off, has been uplifted ever since she started working with L’Oréal Paris.
“They emboldened me. It’s too easy for us to want to doubt what we’re capable of but [they’re] here saying you’re beautiful,” King says. “I feel bolder and more committed to celebrating myself than before.”
— with reporting by Mary Green
