Korean director Bong Joon-ho may have gone home with the Golden Palm for his dark comedy, Parasite, but we had our eyes on the seafront carpet of La Croisette. The Cannes Film Festival has a reputation for being a bit backwards – especially after heelgate in 2015, when women were being kept off of the red carpet for not wearing high heels – but the walkway of the competition has come a long way. It turns out that some of the best fashion happens when you don’t try to enforce arbitrary and sexist rules, instead, just letting people wear what they want.
Here are some of our favourites:
Kiddy Smile
In the tradition of Billie Porter, who has been crossing gender lines by arriving at high profile events, like the Met Gala and the Oscars wearing gowns with the greatest of ease, French DJ Kiddy Smile took to the Cannes carpet in a Cher-style indigo, sequin, bell-bottom catsuit, complete with pearl hoops, and a flouncy floral half-dress, with black denim in the back. It is always refreshing to see a daring look from men, who too often get away with unimaginative suiting.
Elle Fanning
The younger Fanning, who sat on the festival’s jury this year, donned an iconic look that could have been straight out of Christian Dior’s 1947 New Look collection. While the silhouette was pure, mid-century glamour, it was actually made by Dior’s current creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri, especially for Fanning. Reportedly, the garment took 450 hours and 50 meters of tulle to complete.
Jari Jones
Trans actress Jari Jones took to the carpet of Cannes as an actor and producer of Danielle Lessovitz’s New York Ballroom feature Port Authority (2019). The glamour was regal, complete with deadly nails and a single lace red glove. Although it was Jones’ first time, you may have caught a glimpse of her on FX’s Pose.
Marion Cotillard
The French actress was at the film festival to present Guillaume Canet’s latest film La Belle Epoque. Instead of going with a traditional gown, she went for something a little sportier, but equally as glam. Marion Cotillard paired black shorts and a crop top with a floor-length distressed denim kimono by Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing.
Deepika Padukone
If you are going to show in a traditional gown, it better be good. Deepika Padukone, the highest paid Indian actress, shut down the red carpet as she lived all of our couture dreams in a lime green Giambattista Valli gown. The sheer volume of the tulle dress made it so that no one was getting in her shot. And just to go the extra-mile, the Bollywood star paired her look with a silky turban.
Chirawan Lewis
We admit that we have never heard of the Thai designer before, but it wouldn’t be a list of the most extra if we excluded someone who literally went on the carpet with a gilded five-headed dragon.