Jane Birkin pairing her beaded dress with a basket. Madonna in a Jean-Paul Gaultier cone bra and a garter set. Kristen Stewart barefoot in Chanel chain mail. Spike Lee in a sunset-inspired suit.
The Cannes Festival, with its sheer preponderance of red carpets and boardwalk photo ops, its blockbuster films and art house flicks, has given the world more indelible fashion moments than any other festival. In 2002, Sharon Stone made so many dramatic red carpet entrances as a member of the Cannes jury that she managed to revive her flagging career through the power of clothes alone.
The festival, held on the French Riviera, is taking place from May 14 to May 25 this year. It has been off to a glamorous start — and some attendees didn’t even wait for its official opening ceremony last Tuesday to throw down the fashion gauntlet.
The actress Anya Taylor-Joy, who came to Cannes to promote “Furiosa,” the latest “Mad Max” movie, made waves the day before the ceremony by stepping out in a Jacquemus straw hat so large it doubled as a portable sunshade. The filmmaker Greta Gerwig, whose job as president of the festival’s competition jury means packing 10 days’ worth of outfits, stopped by a photo call the morning of the ceremony in an hourglass-effect, blue-and-white-striped milkmaid dress straight from the latest Maison Margiela couture collection.
Indeed, what makes the Cannes Festival such irresistible eye candy is that it’s not only a parade of grand gowns and tuxedos, but also a panoply of accessible sunshine style.
The fashion show only heated up with the opening ceremony, attended by stars like Lily Gladstone and Meryl Streep, who was honored with a lifetime achievement Palme d’Or award. As the fashion editor Miranda Priestly in “The Devil Wears Prada,” Ms. Streep gave the world a description of the trickle-down fashion effect that has yet to be beaten. Today the Côte d’Azur, tomorrow your closet? It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.
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