From Barbie Pink Ballgowns to Elevated Street Style: Fashion at the Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes Film Festival is known almost as much for its fashion as for its films. The 79th Cannes Film Festival is underway in the south of France, and people around the world are keeping an eye on all the fashion from le tapis rouge, along with the film reviews emerging from the festival.

The festival kicked off last week, and celebrities weren’t the only ones packing their suitcases with their finest outfits. Everyone – from stars to photojournalists to producers – turns out, fashion-wise, for Cannes.

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Actress Demi Moore is on the festival’s jury this year, and her outfits have set the internet ablaze, especially as she champions new and old fashion houses, from the newer Paris house Matières Fécales, to storied houses like Gucci (which has been infused with fresh energy with the arrival of new creative director, the mononymous Demna), and beloved French favorites like Jacquemus. Moore wore the Jacquemus “confetti dress” on day one of the festival and for the jury press conference. Her Matières Fécales-created look was a large-than-life Barbie pink ballgown. She wore a stunning, glittery white Jacquemus gown with a peplum silhouette at the start of the festival.

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The acclaimed film festival is the kind of place where it’s perfectly normal to see multiple people walking down the sidewalk wearing tuxedos and ballgowns in the middle of the day. Here are some fabulous looks found during the Cannes Film Festival.

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Red Carpet Style

It’s easy to spot who is on their way to a red-carpet film premiere; it’s usually the men in suits and women in glamorous dresses. At Cannes, there are no real fashion rules, except for: dress up. Even press screenings at Cannes require a level of dress.

The above look was worn by a woman on her way to a premiere. She went with a monochromatic style with a white dress, and pointy white heels. At the film festival, most women opt for floor-length dresses, which give an added sense of elegance to the occasion.

A bump on the red carpet is to be celebrated, and Barbara Palvin dressed up her beautiful baby bump in a baby blue dress by Miu Miu.

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Isabelle Huppert wore a stunning red Gucci dress with red gloves on the red carpet at the premiere for her newest film, Histoires Parallèles.

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Palais Style

Inside the Palais, which is where all the screenings take place at Cannes, along with business meetings, activities in the press room, and the high-profile press conferences – people opt for functional fashion. High fashion, like Louis Vuitton purses, is everywhere. But so are more stylish but functional looks, like breezy summer dresses, stylish button-ups, and more.

Street Style

Street style at the festival is similarly a mix of styles, but always on the more dressed-up side. This year, brilliant colors like pops of bright purple and colorful jackets were spotted on the street. The weather is famously beautiful in the south of France, so almost everyone has a pair or two of sunglasses in tow, too.

Long coats were a necessity for the early mornings, which were a little chilly down by the water. Long animal print coats gave extra flair to a woman in the garden at the famous Carlton Hotel, following the Kering Women in Motion discussion at the Kering Suite inside the hotel. (The Carlton is also famous for being featured in the Elton John music video for his song “I’m Still Standing.”)

Baggy pants and sneakers make long Cannes days easier and more comfortable, especially due to all the walking during the festival. Butter yellow trousers and rainbow-colored vests, pops of jewel-tone blue, daytime sparkles, and cutout dresses with sneakers (plus a Dior tote) are all perfectly appropriate and Cannes-level fabulous.