Screen Siren

The 74th Cannes Film Festival was a show of glamour as celebrities turned out in full force. Among the parade of standout looks on the red carpet, one dress made a moving statement.

Clockwise from far left:

The dress on Marion Cotillard at the 74th Cannes Film Festival; it took 322 hours to make the dress; silicone is enclosed in glass plates, then heated on the lace to produce the mirror aluminium effect; the dress shot by Mikael Jansson for Chanel’s lookbook; to hide the seams, petites mains created an inlay composed of three types of lace and four types of ennoblements on the entire silk dress.

When Chanel presented its haute couture collection for Autumn/winter ‘20 last year, the world was in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic. The house had to pivot from its usual audience-filled runway show to a video format, accompanied with photographs. A year on, one of those looks reappears, this time in the open as an unexpected visual symbol of resilience and renewed hope. French actress and producer Marion Cotillard chose the silver gown to grace the opening ceremony of the 74th Cannes Film Festival, where her new film Annette was screened.

“When I first saw this dress in July 2020, I immediately wanted to wear it. I didn’t know what the occasion would be, but as soon as we heard that the festival was going ahead, I thought Cannes was the best place to wear such a spectacular dress,” explained the Chanel ambassador. “It has a very artistic, feminine feel to it, as if that silver material has been poured over the lace. It’s almost more like a work of art than a dress, and that’s what I love about it.”