Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

The fashion world was all agog once with the announcement a day before opening that the Cannes Film Festival was banning nude dresses and giant trains for evening shows. It sent stylists, designers and the big fashion houses into a tizzy – after all outfits on the red carpet are meticulously planned for months.

For the Grand Théâtre Lumière gala screenings, they declared: “For decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the Red Carpet, as well as in any other area of the Festival. Voluminous outfits, in particular those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theater are not permitted. The Festival welcoming teams will be obligated to prohibit Red Carpet access to anyone not respecting these rules.”

Further guidance states: “Evening wear (long dress, tuxedo) is required. Alternatively, you may also wear ‘a little black dress’, a cocktail dress, a dark-coloured pantsuit, a dressy top with black pants; a black or navy-blue suit with bow-tie or dark-coloured tie”.

Some speculated that organisers of the 12-day festival may be taking a pot shot at Hollywood. “Have u ever seen a French actrice in a train? I think not,” remarked French fashion influencer Camille Charrière on Instagram.

Halle Berry had to abandon a Gaurav Gupta gown at the last minute because it had “too big of a train”. “I’m not going to break the rules,” she declared. “The nudity part is also probably a good rule.” However, she sported a large train at the premiere of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning two days later.

Model and reality TV judge Heidi Klum also managed to break the rules with her pink organza gown by Elie Saab.

The women are in good company: in 1953, Pablo Picasso obtained special dispensation to wear a sheepskin coat in violation of the evening dress code.

Most brands dressing the actors may be unwilling to take the risk of being turned away. Last year, Cannes Film Festival garnered €78m in earned media value (EMV) on Instagram, according to influencer marketing platform Lefty. The nude chocolate coloured Saint Laurent dress worn by Bella Hadid to The Apprentice premiere reportedly resulted in €6.4m in media impact value (MIV) for the fashion brand.

It’s not the first time the festival – which has become the unofficial fashion week capital of Europe – has irked the glitterati.

In 2018, the festival’s artistic director, Thierry Frémaux, banned selfies along the red carpet because it slowed the procession down too much – there are up to 3,000 people aiming to get into the theatre for the big premieres.

Three years earlier organisers turned women away for wearing flats, prompting Juliet Roberts to go barefoot in 2016 and Kristen Stewart to remove her Louboutins while walking along it, exclaiming: “If you’re not asking guys to wear heels and a dress, you cannot ask me either.”

“Elegant shoes and sandals with or without a heel” are now permitted according to the dress code. But “no sneakers” s’il vous plaît. Well, I’d certainly agree with them on that one.

Pictured: Bella Hadid’s 2024 nude dress