In 2018, Kristen Stewart was a member of the Cannes Film Festival jury. She also—gasp!—took off her heels, contesting a historic ban on flat shoes at the famed red carpet.
This is one of many unforgettable moments at the Cannes Film Festival, where Sharon Stone served as muse to the mononymous designer Valentino at the premiere of a documentary on his life. Cannes is also where Yseult, the French singer, broke through when she wore a custom recreation of the famed Dior New Look from 1947, tailored entirely to her proportions. It’s also where, last year, Alexander Skarsgård wore those Saint Laurent thigh high boots on the red carpet, you know the ones.
Despite being known for its strict red carpet dress code, Cannes is also where many stars bare the most skin. There’s Cameron Diaz in 2002, wearing a sheer dress that if at the time was scandalous today is, merely, standard. That may be because in 2021, Bella Hadid broke the internet when she took the red carpet in a Schiaparelli couture fabrication by Daniel Roseberry, which exposed her decolletage under a gilded sculpture that resembled both an upside down tree and the inner workings of our human lungs. If we throw it all the way back to 1977, there’s also the time when Arnold Schwarzenegger attended the premiere of Pumping Iron, the documentary on bodybuilding that effectively launched his Hollywood career. He posed, and flexed, at the beach in between red carpet duties wearing a tiny speedo.
Cannes is also where Cate Blanchett seemed to make a political statement in 2024 when her dress, together with the deep scarlet of the red carpet, seemed to put together the colors of the Palestinian flag. It’s where fashion stars like Hadid and Naomi Campbell go to cement themselves as style oracles and honest to goodness super models. Cannes is also where a dog can take the carpet as a “serious actor,” most famously Messi, the French Border Collie best known for his role as Snoop in the Anatomy of a Fall.
Anything can happen in Cannes. This year, the 79th Cannes Film Festival will premiere films by Wes Anderson, Spike Lee, Kristen Stewart, and Harris Dickinson. Stay tuned!
