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The Most Talked-About Looks at the Cannes Film Festival of All Time

Those looking to make a statement on the red carpet of the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival have a lot to live up to. Here, a look back at the ensembles that have turned the most heads.

by Steph Eckardt

Photo by Marc Piasecki/FilmMagic via Getty Images
Vanessa Redgrave

Legging-shoe hybrids are par for the course these days (thanks in no small part to Balenciaga’s Demna), but entirely out of the ordinary when Redgrave attended the 1967 premiere of her film Blow-Up.


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Princess Diana, 1987

The late royal worked with her go-to designer, Catherine Walker, on a gown that would have her channeling Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch A Thief.


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Madonna, 1991

When it comes to surprises, though, Madonna took the cake in 1991. She wore a silk cape to the premiere of Madonna: Truth or Dare, but upon reaching the top of the stairs, dropped it to reveal a Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra.


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Milla Jovovich, 1997

According to red carpet lore, the star of The Fifth Element had to be sewn back into her beaded loincloth in the midst of her red carpet appearance.


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Laetitia Casta, 2000

Casta (seen here with fellow red carpet risk-taker Milla Jovovich) was miles ahead of the “naked dress” trend.


Photo by Pool Benainous/Duclos/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Cameron Diaz, 2002

It’s thanks to pioneers like Diaz that these days, it isn’t that big of a deal to go sheer.


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Unknown Icon, 2013

Somehow, the public has yet to learn the name of the attendee who unforgettably turned up in a Larisa Katz dress made of biscuit trays.


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Angelina Jolie, 2008

In case you couldn’t tell, the Academy Award winner was pregnant with twins when she attended the 2008 festival with her then-husband, Brad Pitt.


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Naomi Campbell, 2010

The super’s chainmail Roberto Cavalli dress has long been considered one of the best looks to hit the festival’s carpet.


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Bella Hadid, 2016

The model’s cherry-red Alexandre Vauthier was held together with just a few inches of silk. Years later, she admitted to feeling embarrassed that she wore a look so “va-va-voom.”


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Rihanna, 2017

Has anyone ever looked as cool in Cannes as Rih did in Dior?


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Kristen Stewart, 2018

K-Stew established her hatred of high heels when she infamously—or iconically, depending on who you ask—complied with and then broke the festival’s dress code by removing her Louboutins and exiting the carpet barefoot.


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Kendall Jenner, 2018

The model embodied the #freethenipple hashtag when she turned up to the premiere of Girls of the Sun in sheer Schiaparelli couture.


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Sharon Stone in 2021

Stone took up some major red carpet real estate last year when she turned up in a giant Dolce & Gabbana dress with enough flowers to fill a small garden.


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Bella Hadid, 2021

The model stole the show in 2021 when she hit the red carpet in Schiaparelli fall 2021 couture, just barely covering up her nipples with a gold necklace reminiscent of a lung.


Photo by Mike Marsland/WireImage via Getty Images