Red-carpet glamour returns to Cannes Film Festival.
The beauty of fashion at the Cannes Film Festival is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are black-tie celebrities in Wayfarers. Sun-soaked red carpets. Foliage and chandelier-swathed galas. Megayachts bobbing cheerfully along the French Riviera. It all looks like an awful lot of fun. In this post #TimesUp and #MeToo season, maybe that’s just what we need.
Fashion-lovers are starved for drama. It’s been years since an Academy Awards show delivered the kind of glamour that made Joan Rivers and Ryan Seacrest household names. The Met Gala, for all its quirk and meme-able themes, took a questionable turn into costume territory with its recent campy motif. Fashion Week is fading into existential dust, dragging street style with it. And Instagram is overrun by enough influencers, sponsored content and #ads to make even marketing types raise an eyebrow.
But Cannes — Cannes, we can count on.
“The grandeur is not like anything I’ve ever been to before,” said Hallie Vanderhider from Hotel Barrière Le Majestic Cannes. The Chronicle “Best Dressed” honoree and SFC Energy Partners managing director attended the 2019 festival’s famed amfAR Gala and closing festivities as a guest of Chopard, the Swiss jewelry and watch manufacturer. “I’m not easily impressed. I attend the Paris shows, and Chanel is always my favorite because of the production value alone. But there’s such a wide range here and the scenery is gorgeous.”
“I mean, (Giorgio) Armani’s yacht is parked right in front of my hotel.”
Leonardo DiCaprio is another Armani fan. The Oscar-winning actor sported a tuxedo by the Italian designer and Clubmasterstyle sunglasses to match his photo-call buddy, Brad Pitt.
When’s the last time those two cameoed at a Stateside awards show? And yet, there they were, posing gamely with “Once Upon a Time” co-star Margot Robbie, who channeled her Sharon Tate-inspired character into a sequined ’70s Chanel pantsuit. Groovy, baby. Where else can Helen Mirren rock a bubblegum pink hairdo, just for the heck of it? How often is Bill Murray within hand-kissing distance of a Louis Vuitton crop-top-wearing Selena Gomez? Who knows why model Bella Hadid keeps popping up at film premieres in gowns that leave literally nothing to the imagination, and who cares?
The spectacle is fabulous with a capital “F.”
And the queen of it all is 21-year-old Elle Fanning, the youngest member of this year’s Cannes jury and arguably the festival’s best dressed star. She’s already fainted in a too tight vintage Prada frock. Worn a custom Gucci cape to screen “The Dead Don’t Die.” And caused a scene in a two-piece archival Christian Dior “New Look” ensemble complete with black wide-brim millinery.
Awards shows and costume galas, take note: No fashion police, no selfies allowed, no problem. Cannes is making style great again.