Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet: The 50 Most Memorable Looks of All Time
Look back at all the times stars attended the festival in style—from Princess Diana to Rihanna, and everyone in between.
The Cannes Film Festival is any fashion lover’s dream. For two weeks in May, the world’s biggest stars dress up to the absolute nines and hit the red carpet day in and day out. Picking from their favorite couture moments or ready-to-wear gowns, the festival is a time for some of fashion’s most extravagant pieces to shine. No precise aesthetic defines the festival’s red carpet aside from a penchant for statements and a bit of adventurous glamour.
Models and actors alike have nailed the assignment over the years, wearing a range of designers including big names like Lanvin, Givenchy, and Alexander McQueen, and relatively more niche labels like Haider Ackermann (Tilda Swinton’s Cannes go-to), Narciso Rodriguez, and Ralph & Russo. As stars begin to descend on the south of France for the 2024 edition, we’re highlighting a few of our favorite statements from the Cannes Film Festival red carpet.
Isabelle Huppert, 2024
Isabelle Huppert broke the tradition of Cannes red carpet gowns in 2024 when she wore this elevated bathrobe from Balenciaga.
Naomi Campbell, 2024
It’s one thing to wear archive Chanel, and an entirely different thing to wear archive Chanel you modeled on the runway two decades prior. Naomi Campbell did all of that and more in 2024 when she wore this vintage couture look from 1996.
Hunter Schafer, 2024
Hunter Schafer looked breathtaking in this sculptural Armani Privé design.
Jennifer Lawrence, 2023
Jennifer Lawrence loves a flat, and her decision to wear flip-flops underneath her red Dior dress was one of the more memorable pieces of footwear to hit the Cannes red carpet.
Natalie Portman, 2023
For the Cannes premiere of May December, perennial Dior muse Natalie Portman brought the house’s archives to the red carpet. She sported a recreation of one of Dior’s most famous designs, the Junon dress, which was originally created for the house’s fall 1949 collection.
Lily-Rose Depp, 2023
There’s LBDs and then there’s archival LBDs like the one Lily-Rose Depp wore to Cannes in 2023. The actress, in town for the premiere of The Idol, sported a vintage Chanel mini dress, a take on a dress that was first modeled by Helena Christensen back in 1994.
Bella Hadid, 2022
Bella Hadid brought many archive looks to the 2022 festival, but this Tom Ford-era Gucci dress from fall 1996 absolutely takes the cake.
Elle Fanning, 2022
Elle Fanning looked like a modern day princess in a pale pink Armani Privé gown with Chopard jewels fit for royalty.
Viola Davis, 2022
Viola Davis radiated beauty in a canary yellow Alexander McQueen dress, which she accessorized with Boucheron jewels.
Anne Hathaway, 2022
Some would say this Armani Privé dress Anne Hathaway wore to the Armageddon Time premiere began the actor’s current red carpet streak, as she’s hardly had a miss since.
Deepika Padukone, 2022
As a jury member, Deepika Padukone attended many red carpets during the 2022 festival, but the sculptural orange Ashi Studio dress she wore to the 75th-anniversary screening of L'Innocent was our favorite from the event.
Bella Hadid, 2021
The model stole the show in this Schiaparelli fall 2021 couture dress which features a gold necklace shaped like a pair of lungs.
Gemma Chan, 2021
The beautiful details of this Oscar de la Renta gown are what made it a standout during the premiere of OSS 117: Alerte Rouge en Afrique Noire in 2021.
Regina King, 2021
Regina King brought major regal energy in this black Schiaparelli ball gown to the festival’s amfAR Gala.
Jodie Turner-Smith, 2021
All eyes were on Jodie Turner-Smith in Gucci at the Stillwater screening during the 2021 festival.
Isabelle Huppert, 2021
Huppert, ever the ultimate cool girl, showed up to the Tout S'est Bien Passe (Everything Went Fine) screening in head-to-toe Balenciaga.
Elle Fanning, 2019
Fanning looked like a modern princess in this caped Gucci gown at the screening of The Dead Don’t Die in 2019.
Bella Hadid, 2018
Hadid’s halter neck silver Elie Saab dress stole the show at Cannes in 2018.
Rihanna, 2017
Rihanna stunned in Dior at the premiere of Okja in 2017.
Kirsten Dunst, 2016
Kirsten Dunst made a marigold statement in custom Maison Margiela at the premiere of The Neon Demon.
Liya Kebede, 2016
Liya Kebede opted for something a little different—a green velvet Haider Ackermann dress with one leg hole—at the premiere of The Unknown Girl at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Amal Clooney, 2016
Amal Clooney made one of her first red carpet appearances with her husband George at the 2016 festival.
Jessica Chastain, 2016
Jessica Chastain radiated old Hollywood glamour in an Alexander McQueen gown at the premiere of Money Monster during the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Chanel Iman, 2015
Chanel Iman stunned in Zuhair Murad at the amfAR gala at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015.
Fan Bingbing, 2015
This Ralph & Russo gown was just one of a number of stellar red carpet looks from Fan Bingbing at the 2015 festival.
Lupita Nyong’o, 2015
At the 2015 Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony, Lupita Nyong’o made it her show in an emerald green Gucci dress.
Julianne Moore, 2015
The Mad Max red carpet drew all the best looks, including Julianne Moore’s Givenchy couture in velvet.
Liya Kebede, 2015
It wasn’t her film, but Kebede, in Proenza Schouler, still stole the show at the premiere of Mad Max: Fury Road during the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
Blake Lively, 2014
Blake Lively revealed she almost wore this Gucci dress to the Met Gala in 2014, but last minute decided to save it for The Captive premiere later that same month at Cannes.
Zhang Ziyi, 2014
Zhang Ziyi wore this unique Stéphane Rolland dress on the red carpet of the Grace of Monaco screening during the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Tilda Swinton, 2013
Tilda Swinton, in her go-to Haider Ackermann, at the premiere of Only Lovers Left Alive at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Jessica Chastain, 2013
Chastain’s ivory, caped Versace gown was classically beautiful, but more importantly, it acted as the perfect base for her Bulgari diamond-and-sapphire pendant. The necklace was a gift from Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor, making it an appropriate accessory for an anniversary screening of Cleopatra at the 2013 festival.
Carey Mulligan, 2013
For the 2013 premiere of her Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis, Carey Mulligan selected a black-and-white Vionnet look.
Diane Kruger, 2012
This Vivienne Westwood dress looks like it was basically poured onto Diane Kruger’s body.
Naomi Campbell, 2010
Campbell reminded us why models are a fixture on the Cannes red carpet when she stepped out in this custom gold Roberto Cavalli halter dress back in 2010.
Cate Blanchett, 2010
Cate Blanchett wore an Alexander McQueen gown for the premiere of Robin Hood at the 2010 festival.
Angelina Jolie, 2008
Then pregnant with twins Knox and Vivienne, Angelina Jolie looked ethereal in 2008 in a green Max Azria gown.
Linda Evangelista, 2008
Models descend on Cannes every year, but few can pull off supermodel Linda Evangelista’s statement Lanvin at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
Natalie Portman, 2005
While Portman’s beaded black gown was nice, the major statement of this look was the debut of her V For Vendetta buzz cut.
Tilda Swinton, 2003
Swinton walked Viktor & Rolf’s fall 2003 runway show, acting as the design duo’s muse, so it was fitting she wore a look from the brand’s fall 2002 collection to that year’s Cannes festival.
Cameron Diaz, 2002
Cameron Diaz brought the naked dress to Cannes all the way back in 2002 with the help of Versace.
Naomi Campbell, 2001
Naomi Campbell, a fixture of the festival, attended the annual amfAr gala in a sheer, paneled gown in 2001.
Tilda Swinton, 2001
Per usual, Swinton stood out when she hit the red carpet, this time in a quirky fruit-printed dress by John Galliano for Dior.
Bjork, 2000
Marjan Pejoski, the designer of Bjork’s pink tulle gown for the 2000 festival, would go on to make the Icelandic singer’s famous Swan Dress for the Oscars just a year later.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, 1999
Catherine Zeta-Jones looked like the prom queen of Cannes in this pink Thierry Mugler gown with a structured bodice.
Sharon Stone, 1995
Sharon Stone had some fun showing off her beaded Valentino romper with a skirt overlay at the 1995 festival.
Madonna, 1991
Madonna, in Jean-Paul Gaultier, with Alex Keshinian, the director of the film In Bed With Madonna, at Cannes in 1991.
Elizabeth Taylor, 1987
The legendary actor really brought the ’80s energy in this red Nolan Miller gown with a cinched waist and some over the top shoulders.
Princess Diana, 1987
All eyes were on Princess Diana when she walked out in this baby blue, strapless Catherine Walker dress at the festival in 1987.
Jane Birkin, 1974
Jane Birkin opted for a dancerly dress in 1974.
