AAt night, the Croisette in Cannes lights up with 1,500 deep pink LED lights. This happens throughout the year. But during the film festival that ends this weekend, these lights turn the boulevard into a red carpet. It’s where industry types with lanyards for parties, fashion types to be seen, and fans in blue chairs sit and watch — and that explains why the festival is fast becoming an unofficial fashion week.
The Cannes Film Festival is no stranger to high fashion. After the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest award, was redesigned by luxury jeweler Chopard in 1998, entrance-making gowns and jewelry are almost mandatory.
But this year, it has inspired new levels of fashion hysteria – miles away from the writers’ strike that brought the film industry to a halt. Chopard and Donatella Versace have hosted fashion shows, Naomi Campbell had a model-heavy birthday party at the seaside Villa Julia, and former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and fashion house Céline have hosted the exclusive Hotel du Cap-Eden. hosted a starry evening. Rock. Even the movies have high fashion baked in – newly minted saint laurent productions Collaborated with Pedro Almodovar on costumes for a short film A Strange Way of Life.
‘People take the maximum step’: Heidi Klum arrives for the screening of La Passion de Dodin Bouffant (The Pot au Feu). Photograph: Valerie Hatche/AFP/Getty
Speaking ahead of his show, Versace said: “[Cannes] It’s not just about the film. It’s about the culture – the actresses, the ’60s, the glamour… It makes sense that the two things should sit side by side.
“From a red carpet perspective, it feels like the first proper return to form since the pandemic,” said Emma Spedding, Vogue’s acting executive fashion news and features editor, who calls the red carpet “bolder than we’ll see during an awards season.” describes as.
At a film festival, you don’t need “the mass appeal of a classic ballgown or a pretty princess dress,” Spedding said. Kahn prefers to dwell on old-world glamor or “anti-viral fashion”.
The focus is on the film first, which has shifted the goalposts of traditional red-carpet wear. With many events come many costume changes. Natalie Portman, who wore a “reimagined” Dior dress from 1949, told Vogue: “[Cannes fashion] It seems to exist in this other age, where you can be really wild and extreme.
Natalie Portman wears a 1949 Dior dress ‘reimagined’. Photograph: Gisela Schober/Getty
It’s also about the weather. Mixed skies aside, it’s the first big summer festival and the red carpet outside the Palais des Festivals is wider and shorter, so there’s more camaraderie. “People do too many steps in oversized gowns [photograph well from behind] tend to be more dramatic,” Spedding said.
The festival is not without controversy. Isabelle Huppert, who appeared in the Balenciaga advertising campaign in which The children were photographed holding teddy bears in the Bonded Gear, wearing two looks by the French brand. she’s one of the biggest stars to wear something most recent collection of post-scandal (by contrast none of the celebrities wore the brand to the Oscars).
Meanwhile, some people winked at Chanel’s decision to design the costumes for Johnny Depp’s comeback film, Jean du Barry, which opened the festival.
One fashion insider, who works for one of the most prominent labels on the Cannes red carpet, said: “I’ve noticed that the main American awards are more financially backed – with fees of $100k+ for red carpet looks. With – that’s why there’s so much pressure. Brands want to ensure there’s a return on investment, with the focus being on looking attractive rather than looking good.
While red carpets tend toward stylist-led predictability and, at best, calculated risk-taking — think Kim Kardashian in Marilyn Monroe’s dress at the Met Gala — “at Cannes, there’s less obligation. [to wear certain brands and certain things],
“As everyone stays in hotels across the street from the main red carpet, and every bar is full of people actually doing things, there’s a reason to be there other than just showing up wearing the right thing,” she said. Said.
Viola Davis and Julius Tennon attend the premiere of Monster. Photograph: Gisela Schober/Getty
Naturally this closed-door glamor attracts people from outside its inner circle. Clarissa Rosato is a Brazilian designer who has come to Cannes “with a dress, an actress and a dream”. Wearing one of her own designs on the Croisette on Tuesday night, she described Cannes as a festival “led by haute culture, not fashion.”
American model Olivia Culpo arrives for the premiere of the film Asteroid City. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
“At American festivals, they wear beige and black – but here there are more risk-takers and you can have your clothes seen by more people,” she said. “That’s where a lot of designers stand out.”
Rosato’s dress, a diaphanous blue gown based on her artist mother’s artwork, was worn by actor Priscilla Vaz — and has been a hit. “We were being held up on the red carpet for 45 minutes,” Rosato said. “it was crazy!”
Zarif Zagheb, a fashion expert for the Middle Eastern magazine Hiya, thinks it’s important to separate red carpet from Croisette street style. Beyond the Red Carpet “There are too many people dressing and behaving like celebrities who just want to be a part of it. People actually kill to live here.
