A 50 Year History of Graphic Tees at the Cannes Film Festival

Jordan Firstman promoted his directorial debut, Club Kid, one of the buzziest films at Cannes this year, with an array of NSFW t-shirts, seemingly referencing the movie.

French-Canadian actor Niels Schneider attended the photocall for his film, The Unknown, wearing a t-shirt featuring a sketch of Bob Dylan and the singer’s legal last name, Zimmerman. But Schneider wasn’t simply showing his support for Dylan; he was likely also referencing The Unknown, in which he plays a character named David Zimmerman.

Not all t-shirts make it to the red carpet. French actress Adèle Exarchopoulos landed at the Nice Airport ahead of the festival this year in a t-shirt featuring her Blue Is the Warmest Color co-star Léa Seydoux and the phrase “Léa Forever.” The two famously won the festival’s highest prize together in 2013 when the jury made the unprecedented choice to award the Palm d’Or to the film’s actresses alongside their director.

While 2024 was Brat Summer, Charli XCX predicted 2025 would be “Joachim Trier Summer” during her Coachella set that year. Elle Fanning was inspired by the announcement, tapping the 12-year-old son of her stylist, Samantha McMillen, who has his own brand called Dylan’s T-Shirt Club, to put the phrase on a top for her to wear to the photocall of her film, Sentimental Value, directed by Triem.

During his first public appearance following his release from British prison, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange attended the photocall for the documentary about his life, The Six Billion Dollar Man. He did so in a white t-shirt featuring the names of the 4,986 Palestinian children under 5 killed in Gaza since 2023.

Spike Lee wore a shirt and hat from the collab between his apparel line, 40 Acres, and Supreme to the photocall for his film, High 2 Lowest. The two specific pieces he chose for the French Riviera-set event featured the logo from his 1992 film, Malcolm X.

Alexander Skarsgård really embraced the theme of his biker BDSM film, Pillion, while attending the festival in support of it in 2025. At the Pillion photocall, he paired tight leather pants with a t-shirt from the South London store Jerks, featuring a leather boot hovering over a man’s face.

Then-Vice President (and now President) of Japanese animation studio Studio Ghilbi, Kenichi Yoda, showed off a t-shirt of the 2023 Studio Ghilbi film, The Boy and the Heron. He was attending the festival that year in order to accept the Palme d'Or given to the studio.

Josh O’Connor wore a pink graphic tee under a blazer at the photocall for La Chimera in 2023.

Ukrainian model Alina Baikova only had a brief moment to show off her shirt disparaging Russian president Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine before she was removed from the red carpet by security.

While promoting The French Dispatch at the 2021 festival, Timothée Chalamet donned a pink tee featuring Richard Pryor as God in the 1980 comedy In God We Trust.

While Lee did wear a graphic Air Jordan shirt to the jury photocall in 2021, it was actually his hat that made more of a statement. The director’s headwear is from a collaboration between 40 Acres and Mitchel & Ness. The year on it, 1619, refers to the first arrival of enslaved Africans in Jamestown, Virginia, over 400 years ago.

British comedian and filmmaker Terry Gilliam paid homage to his sketch comedy roots when he attended The Man Who Killed Don Quixote photocall in 2018, wearing a shirt featuring Mr. Bill from Saturday Night Live.

Jessica Chastain arrived to the Cannes Film Festival in 2017 wearing the graphic tee of the moment. Her shirt, which read “We Should All Be Feminists,” came from Maria Grazia Chiuri’s debut collection for Dior. The show featured many politically adjacent slogan shirts, but it was this phrase that really seemed to hit a nerve, and the shirt was also spotted on Rihanna, among others.

British costume designer Sandy Powell attended the How to Talk to Girls at Parties during its Cannes premiere in 2017 in a Sex Pistols t-shirt. The choice was likely made to pay homage to the film she costumed, which takes place in the punk rock world of 1970s London.

Japanese director Takashi Miike posed for a photocall for his 2017 film, Blade of the Immortal, wearing a t-shirt featuring artwork by Shohei Otomo.

Captain Fantastic has often been described as a fictional manifestation of left-wing idealism, and the cast of the movie doubled down on this idea at the photocall for the film in 2016. There, Viggo Mortensen was joined by the rest of the film’s cast as they showed support for Bernie Sanders with the help of a red tee.

No, Maïwenn’s shirt doesn’t say “Beverly Hills,” it actually says Belleville Hills. The French director shouted out Paris’s hilltop artistic community while promoting her film, My King, in 2015.

Jack Black posed with Angelina Jolie wearing a shirt bearing John Lennon’s face and the name “Juan” at the photocall for Kung Fu Panda 2 in 2011.

In 2006, Lee took the opportunity to show his support for Barack Obama ahead of his first election that fall.

Natalie Portman went casual at the jury photocall in 2008, showing up in a magenta tee featuring a drawing by illustrator Jess Rotter.

Not every graphic tee needs to have a message. In 2007, director Gus Van Sant attended the Paranoid Park photocall in a tee from the popular restaurant Blue Hour in Portland, Oregon, which he has been known to frequent.

Korean director Kim Ki-Duk celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival with a t-shirt marking the occasion.

Michael Pitt wasn’t promoting the 1983 film Sudden Impact at Cannes, but he did wear a shirt bearing Clint Eastwood’s famous quote from the movie, “Go ahead, make my day.”

Penelope Cruz arrived to the festival in 2004 wearing a bedazzled Dolce & Gabbana Mickey Mouse tee.

In case you were wondering, Gilliam revealed in 2001 that he can, in fact, be bribed.

Lee repped the Knicks, as well as his production company 40 Acres and a Mule, at the Girl 6 photocall in 1996.

Neil Young, Jim Jarmusch, and Johnny Depp made quite the trio in their t-shirts at the photocall for Dead Man in 1995. Young supported the movie he composed music for in a Fishbone band tee, while director Jarmusch opted for a top bearing a sign for the gothic Route 666.

In case you were curious what movie Kenneth Branagh was promoting alongside Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington at the festival in 1993, just look at his shirt, and you’ll see the trio starred in Much Ado About Nothing.

Three years before he made Malcolm X, Lee was hinting at his interest in the activist with a shirt, which he wore to promote Do The Right Thing in 1989.

Derek Jarman dressed up his t-shirt with a striped suit, but he made sure the top, which bore the name of his film, Aria, could still be clearly seen.

Dennis Hopper attended the Cannes Film Festival in 1976 to promote his film Tracks. He was very casual at the event, attending in a cowboy hat, jean jacket, and a tee featuring Napoleon on the front.