Kristen Stewart wore a sheer Chanel set with vintage Nike saddle oxfords to the “Full Phil” photo call — a look her stylist told Vogue “looked more revealing than it was.” Getty Images
If Cannes has a rebel in residence, it’s Kristen Stewart.
The Chanel ambassador, 36, has spent a decade defying the festival’s strict dress code — and her two latest looks from the Cannes Film Festival 2026 are no exception.
At the Saturday photo call for her new comedy “Full Phil”, Stewart wore a Chanel spring 2026 couture set: a sheer gray tweed polo shirt layered over a skin-toned tank top with a coordinating knee-length skirt over shorts. She finished the look with vintage Nike Swoosh saddle oxfords and a Chanel Lune ring.
The actress’ longtime stylist, Tara Swennen, told Vogue the lightweight underpinnings made the set look “more revealing than it was.”
For the evening premiere, she chose a red-and-black knit Chanel gown with high-top Ruby Brown sneakers from her closet. WireImage
In 2018, the actress pulled off her Louboutins on the Palais steps to protest the festival’s unwritten heels-only rule. AFP via Getty Images
Stylist Tara Swennen, who has dressed the Chanel ambassador since she was 14, told Vogue she thinks Cannes’ rules are “malleable.” WireImage
Last year’s Cannes wardrobe included a nearly fully unbuttoned tweed jumpsuit and a baseball cap with a shorts suit. Corbis via Getty Images
While she may have gotten away with her sneakers at the photo call, the casual shoe is specifically verboten at Grand Théâtre Lumière gala screenings.
That didn’t stop Stewart; for the evening’s premiere, she changed into a red-and-black knit Chanel gown from the house’s fall 2026 collection, the loose knit showing off a black bra and high-waisted briefs underneath.
She paired it with a Chanel Premiere Ribbon red watch ($6,050) and a Comete Harmonie ring — plus black Ruby Brown 3306 Dames high-top sneakers that she flashed as she made her way across the red carpet.
Both pairs of kicks came straight from Stewart’s own closet, Swennen told Vogue.
The festival’s controversy over women’s footwear dates back to 2015, when several women were turned away from a screening for wearing flats. Corbis via Getty Images
“Things have to change immediately,” Stewart said of the gendered dress code in 2018. “You simply cannot ask me to do something that you are not asking him.” WireImage
Stewart’s dress-code dodges have become a Cannes tradition. In 2016, she ditched her Christian Louboutin heels at the “Personal Shopper” premiere, changing into a pair of beat-up Vans after finishing the step-and-repeat. She kicked off the festival in a series of red-carpet T-shirts and returned the following year with a bleached buzz cut.
Her most pointed protest came in 2018, when she pulled off her Christian Louboutin heels on the Palais steps. At the time, the festival’s unwritten dress code required women to wear high heels.
“Things have to change immediately,” Stewart told IndieWire. “If [a man and I] were walking the red carpet together and someone stopped me and said, ‘Excuse me, young lady, you’re not wearing heels. You cannot come in’ — then [I’m going to say], ‘Neither is my friend. Does he have to wear heels?’”
Cannes’ 2026 charter bans naked dresses, voluminous trains and sneakers at gala screenings. Getty Images
The festival now permits “elegant shoes and sandals with or without a heel” — a concession after years of backlash. Getty Images
Cannes has since loosened its footwear stance but tightened others, banning naked dresses, voluminous trains and sneakers at gala screenings.
That hasn’t slowed Stewart down. Last year, she skirted the dress code by layering a sheer skirt over shorts at the premiere of her directorial debut, “The Chronology of Water,” and also turned up in a nearly fully unbuttoned Chanel tweed jumpsuit and a baseball cap with a shorts suit and tie.
Swennen — who has dressed Stewart since the actress was 14 — told Vogue she thinks the guidelines have room for interpretation.
“If it’s not trashy and people remain polished, I think [the rules are] malleable,” Swennen said. “People should feel free to go and enjoy themselves and promote their art — and be authentic to themselves.”
