Max Mara Raises a Glass to Adria Arjona at Chateau Marmont

Adria Arjona was somewhere in Montana, surrounded by a group of bikers, when she learned she would be honored by Max Mara and Women in Film. “Oh my god, I was over the moon,” recalled the actress, beer in hand, at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles , where the Italian house hosted a cocktail party on the eve of Thursday’s WIF Honors, the annual awards ceremony celebrating women’s achievements in the entertainment industry.

Arjona is the 21st recipient of the 2026 WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award, which spotlights an actress on the rise in Hollywood. The news came while she was out riding with friends, she explained. “I was in the middle of Montana riding motorcycles,” she said.

“I got off, and I got a call from my agent, and I was with all my friends.” Her fellow bikers were just as enthusiastic, even if the significance of the honor wasn’t entirely clear to them. “I had all these amazing human beings clap and applaud,” she continued. “They have no idea about anything, and it was really surreal.

They were so excited. They’re all these big motorcycle dudes, and they know nothing about fashion, but they’re, like, the coolest humans, and they dress so f–king cool, and it was amazing.” She has a soft spot for bikers. “That’s why I’m with one,” she smiled, nodding toward her partner Jason Momoa, who was by her side.

Among those who turned out to celebrate Arjona were Brittany Snow, Jessica Alba, Marta Pozzan, Natalia Bryant, Julianne Hough, Shay Mitchell, Zoey Deutch and Yara Shahidi, with Deutch and Shahidi both past recipients of the award. Kirsten Schaffer, chief executive officer of WIF, was also in attendance alongside other representatives from the organization, which has spent more than five decades advocating for gender equity in entertainment.

Guests mingled over cocktails and martinis as the music thumped inside the hotel’s courtyard. Arjona was at the center, wearing a sleek black Max Mara two-piece ensemble. “I just wanted to be comfortable and to be able to hug people, and it’s sexy and it’s elegant and it’s beautiful,” she said of her look.

Her appreciation for Max Mara goes back to her early days in New York, when she earned a sizable paycheck from a waitressing gig and splurged on a piece she had her eye on. “I would have to pass Max Mara, and I was looking at this coat, and I was just like, ‘One day I’m gonna own a Max Mara coat,’” she said.

As soon as she got paid, she headed to the store. “I still have it. I still wear it.

It’s still cool. It’s probably still one of my favorite pieces,” she said. “So, going from my first paycheck to now, this...” She held out her arm to show goosebumps.

Arjona, 34, has been keeping busy. She’s earned acclaim for Disney+’s “Andor” and Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man,” while expanding her work behind the camera as an executive producer on “Los Frikis” and “Splitsville.” She stars in Adam Wingard’s action thriller “Onslaught,” out now, and is set to appear opposite Michael B.

Jordan in Amazon MGM’s “The Thomas Crown Affair” next year. “I have a really cool year full of women that I love playing,” she said of her roles. “So, I’m excited to share them with the world.”