cannes: film, but actually fashion
I love the Cannes Film Festival. It makes fashion slow down in the best way. There is nothing like a red carpet photograph against the South of France sunset, the flash bouncing off diamonds somewhere along the Riviera. Cinema, absolute cinema through silhouette, chic and glamour.
And Cannes has always been intentional. Since the festival began in 1946, the red carpet has operated almost like its own private fashion institution. Glamour is expected, but so is discipline. In 2015, the festival faced backlash over alleged high heel requirements after multiple women reported being turned away from screenings for wearing flats. By 2025, Cannes publicly tightened its dress code even further, officially discouraging βnaked dressingβ and oversized trains that disrupted the carpet and theater seating.
This makes Cannes fashion even more interesting to me. In an era where celebrity fashion often feels engineered for virality first and style second, Cannes still asks for restraint. The challenge is not just to shock people. It is to understand glamour well enough to control it. The best Cannes looks never scream. They linger.
Ikram Abdi Omar in Stella McCartney
This is one of the cleanest looks of the entire festival. Perfect for the opening ceremony.
The monochromatic white styling against the dramatic silhouette creates incredible sculpture and the simplicity is what makes it powerful. The high neckline, the precise draping, the fitted sleeves, the hijab flowing seamlessly into the gown, everything feels intentional and uninterrupted. No detail breaks the visual line. Thereβs also something futuristic about it. Very modern couture. Very editorial.
The beauty styling deserves praise too. The sharp eye makeup against the softness of the white fabric creates the perfect amount of contrast.
Quietly one of the strongest fashion moments at Cannes this year.
Souheila Yacoub in Jean Paul Gaultier
Souheila Yacoub wearing archival-inspired chaos by Jean Paul Gaultier and Duran Lantink was one of my favorite reminders that Cannes fashion does not always need to look traditionally βprettyβ to be effective.
I love when designers treat formalwear like character development. This look feels disruptive against a carpet full of expected glamour, and that is exactly why it works. The exaggerated tuxedo structure, exposed shirting, striped tie, knee-high socks, and heavy loafers create this strange, rebellious prep-school silhouette that feels theatrical without losing its swag.
Very Miu-Miu girl meets French art-house-cinema energy.
Gaultier has always understood the power of distortion in fashion. Duran Lantink brings that same experimental attitude, so together the look lands somewhere between couture uniform and performance art.
What saves it from becoming costume is the styling. The wet, slightly disheveled hair and almost bare face keep the look grounded in realism instead of parody. She looks like she wandered out of an avant-garde film premiere at 2 a.m. somewhere along the Riviera.
Cannes carpets can sometimes blur into one long montage of one and the same.
This interrupted the frame.
SIMONE ASHLEY in ALEXANDER McQueen
One thing about Simone Ashley is she understands color.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 actress attended the Cannes Film Festival wearing a vintage crimson red taffeta gown by Alexander McQueen. Originally from the designerβs Fall/Winter 2005 collection, the gown was famously worn by Gisele BΓΌndchen to the 2011 Met Gala, and honestly, its return to Cannes feels right at home. The dress features a fitted strapless bodice with a dramatic pleated fishtail skirt that moved like liquid against the Riviera backdrop. She paired the look with jewelry by Chaumet.
This shade of red against her skin tone, the Cannes coastline, and the camera flashes⦠perfection. The entire look feels cinematic before you even begin to register the actual construction of the gown itself.
And then the details slowly reveal themselves. The richness of the taffeta, the subtle texture throughout the fabric, the way the silhouette remains restrained through the torso before exploding into pleated volume underneath. It carries the kind of drama McQueen understood better than almost anyone: romance with a slight sense of danger lurking underneath it.
What I also appreciate is that the styling never competes with the gown. The diamond necklace, the softer glam, the effortless hair. Everything was handled with restraint. Which is important with a dress like this because overstyling would have immediately ruined the look.
Instead, it stayed elegant.
Perfectly Cannes.
And then Barbara Sprouse arrived and quietly stole the show.
The Hungarian model and actress stepped onto the carpet with her adoring Disney alum husband. Their Cannes carpet pregnancy announcement became one of the strongest style narratives of the year and in the history of the festival.
The icy powder blue Miu-Miu dress against Dylan Sprouseβs dark tuxedo created this celestial, maternal softness. I love the romantic styling; it feels like the opening scene of a European love story.
The gown moved delicately around her body, allowing pregnancy to become part of the silhouette rather than something hidden underneath it.
Gorgeous.
Boy or Girl?
Where the pale blue leaned into softness and Hollywood romance, Barbaraβs second pregnancy look; a striking, bubblegum pink Willy Chavarria gown was more playful. This feels fashion-focused while maintaining that traditionally delicate maternity look.
The exaggerated sleeves are what make the look memorable. They create this dramatic cocoon-like shape around her body while the off-the-shoulder neckline keeps the styling feminine and light instead of overwhelming.
Itβs doll-like in the best way.
Also Dylan staying consistently classic in the dark tailoring throughout both looks makes HER the emotional color story. He is grounding while she becomes the visual narrative.
I especially loved the subtle conversation between the blue and pink looks. They played with the visual language of a gender reveal without becoming gimmicky.
Impressive.
mom & dad!
After the splashes of color, we get the Karl effect. She strips everything back into something black and white; quietly authoritative. The contrast is incredible. in this custom Karl Lagerfeld two-piece. The oversized white button-down with the elongated black skirt feels βoff-duty icon,β and thereβs also something deeply intentional about putting a pregnant body into tailoring language instead of romantic fantasy. It reads like: motherhood without surrendering modern identity. And because the shirt is styled slightly undone and effortless instead of sharply corporate, it still feels sensual. She looks like herself first, pregnant second.
The Final Act.
Mythological. Styled by Marc Eram Barbara is channelling Ilithyia, the Goddess of Birth. The soft ivory, the medieval draping, the ribboned empire waist, the flowing sleeve tiesβ¦ itβs like she stepped out of a Renaissance painting. Ending the rollout in a romantic cream instead of another loud color was such a smart decision because it creates emotional stillness after all the visual experimentation. What I really love is about this look is the soft fabric movement giving the whole look this floating fairy quality.
Barbara Sprouse brought a timeless maternal romance to Cannes through her fashion. Kudos to her and her team.
Four acts. Four versions of femininity. One beautifully constructed fashion story.
Hoyeon in Louis Vuitton
Hoyeon continues to dress like someone who understands fashion photography better than most people.
This look feels delicate while still commanding attention; which is harder to accomplish than people think. The beaded floral detailing almost disappears into the fabric from far away, but up close it creates texture that catches movement beautifully.
The silhouette itself is intentionally simple, which allows the embroidery to do the work. Nothing is fighting for attention.
It feels very reminiscent of the kind of effortless elegance that used to dominate early 2000s carpets before everything became about shock value and βviral moments.β
Cate Blanchett in GIVENCHY
Nobody understands Cannes quite like Cate Blanchett. At this point, she is part of the festivalβs fashion history. She never simply wears clothes on the Riviera. She inhabits them.
This dramatic Givenchy gown, inspired by the surreal floral paintings of artist Olan Ventra, is cinematic. The embroidered florals already carry incredible visual intensity against the black fabric, but in motion the gown becomes something way more emotional.
And on the Cannes carpet movement still matters.
I also love that the silhouette remains relatively restrained while the texture does all the storytelling underneath. Very old Hollywood. Very Cate.
Beautiful.
CANNES, CONTINUED.
While I would love to break down all of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival fashion looks. I am only one person. Here are a few more looks I adored.
BELLA HADIDβS REIGN ON THE RIVIERA.
There are certain women who eventually stop feeling like guests at Cannes and start feeling like part of the Riviera history itself.
Bella Hadid reached that status years ago.
At this point, she isnβt just one of the best dressed women at Cannes. Sheβs become its reigning fashion figure.
Bellaβs white Schiaparelli lace gown is a modern reinterpretation of one of Jane Birkinβs most iconic Riviera fashion moments.
In 1969, Jane famously wore her crochet gala dress backwards, transforming it into that now-legendary plunging silhouette held together with a brooch at the center. Bellaβs version reimagines that same instinctive sensuality through Schiaparelli couture but intentional this time and just as provocative.
The intricate lace, the corset running down the back, the black ribbon detailing, the slicked-back hair against such romantic fabric⦠everything about the look feels vintage French cinema.
βitβs free palestine until palestine is freeβ - bella hadid
What makes Bella especially interesting is her understanding that fashion can also communicate identity, symbolism, and politics without losing glamour in the process. Bella has repeatedly shown that political fashion statements do not have to abandon beauty or sensuality to remain powerful.
For one of Bellaβs more recent Riviera moments, she wore a sleek black look from Haider Ackermannβs Fall 2026 debut for Tom Ford. The high neckline, elongated sleeves, and subtle sliver of exposed midriff created this dark, controlled sensuality Bella does so well.
But the most important detail was the key-shaped pendant resting against the look, a powerful and unmistakable symbol connected to the Palestinian right of return.
Even in minimalism, Bella understands how to make fashion communicate a deeper message.
This isnβt Bellaβs first time declaring freedom for Palestine through her film festival fashion. Two years ago, today (May 23, 2024) Bella wore the now iconic keffiyeh dress walking through the Riviera in Cannes, France.
Video by Matthieu Jehanno
The dress was originally designed in 2001 by Michael & Hushi. The archival piece was constructed using traditional keffiyeh fabric, the patterned textile long associated with Palestinian identity, resistance, and solidarity.
For Bella, whose father Mohamed Hadid is Palestinian, the symbolism is personal rather than performative. Styled by Molly Dickson, the look remained undeniably Bella. Sleek sunglasses, effortless glamour.
Nothing about the styling abandoned beauty in order to communicate the message.
And that balance is what made the look resonate so strongly culturally. A political statement woven naturally into Bellaβs already established Cannes fashion legacy.
MORE BELLA, CANNES 2026.
Symbolism aside, Bella continued to dominate the Riviera this year.
Her opening Prada look especially felt like modern Hollywood royalty. What I loved most was seeing her arrive alongside her brother. Bella has always given us Cannes glamour but this felt like a real Riviera memory unfolding in real time.
Queen of Cannes
Bellaβs 2026 Cannes run was exactly what I expected. She is the modern Queen of Cannes for a reason. The sleek Prada barely-there champagne gown paired with futuristic sunglasses feels very signature Bella. The romanic archival Elie Saab moments were very Riviera. From the lace-trimmed daytime look outside Hotel Martinez to the liquid beaded archival Saab gown overlooking the coast, Bella moved through Cannes this year (actually every year) like an old Hollywood star.
Bella Hadid and Cannes feel inseparable. And while every year adds another iconic Riviera moment to the supermodelβs archive, nothing may ever fully compete with that unforgettable Schiaparelli lung necklace dress she wore in 2021. The image is already fashion history. But what makes Bella so fascinating at Cannes isnβt just one dress. Itβs the consistency. Year after year, she understands the assignment in a way that is effortless, cinematic, and completely her. Few women have built a Cannes fashion legacy this distinct this quickly.
The Queenβs Archive
And thatβs a wrap on Cannes 2026.
Safia So Fly
