How Spike Lee, Bella Hadid, and Tilda Swinton Rocked the Cannes Red Carpet

Have you missed seeing rich, privileged people make a big deal about enjoying themselves on the French Riviera, while you stare at their antics through a smudged phone screen? Probably not, but the Cannes Film Festival has returned from its pandemic slumber anyway. And remarkably, the red carpet looks pretty much the same as it did before.

Timothée Chalamet wore things! He held hands with Tilda Swinton on the red carpet! Supermodels swept through events wearing feathers and tulle—and in Bella Hadid’s case, a gold lung-shaped chest piece. After more than a year of Zoom award shows and at-home step and repeats, celebrities are back celebrity-ing. It’s almost as if they picked up right where they left off in March 2020.

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Cannes fashion has always epitomized glamour, sometimes to a rigid degree—remember, this is the same festival that infamously forced women to wear heels at its premises until the late 2010s. Dated dress codes can be seen as reflecting archaic morales, but actresses like Sharon Stone in her voluminous Dolce & Gabbana gown hardly seemed to mind.

But then there were others like French model Tina Kunakey, who showed up to the Croisette in a hooded Valentino creation—think couture sleeping bag—that squashed any stereotypical French male gaze. And so the Cannes red carpet remains a sartorial battle ground, a very chic fight of old versus new.

It was one of the most talked-about looks of the festival, and for good reason. Bella Hadid wore a daring Schiaparelli look from the French house’s fall-winter 2021/22 collection, designed by Daniel Roseberry, to the premiere of Tre Piani (Three Floors). Special kudos should go to her shoulders, which held up the very heavy-looking brass bronchi and lungs.

Salma Hayek left her pet owl at home and dressed up in a sequined blue gown for the Kering Women in Motion Award. It was somewhat of an old-school look that could have worked if the same event were held five, 10, or 15 years ago. But it was heartening to see the return of that timeless type of all-out glitz.

Jodie Turner-Smith opted for custom Gucci, as one does, with a black vinyl corset and ostrich-feather skirt, for the Stillwater premiere. The actress also happens to be the face of the Italian line, so this was some obligatory red carpet promotion. She was later the victim of a jewel theft that took place in her Croisette hotel room, and tweeted about spending her last day in Cannes talking to police. At least she got to wear the jewels first.

Thoughts and prayers to everyone else who bravely kept walking The French Dispatch red carpet after Timothée Chalamet and Tilda Swinton ate it all up in their little outfits. Swinton wore a pink and orange Haider Ackermann gown (with gold sleeves!), so never let anyone else try to tell you those two colors don’t match. Chalamet wore iridescent Tom Ford. OK fine, we missed this!!

In the middle of all that, their co-star Adrien Brody brought his partner, Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman. Shockingly, she wore Marchesa. The former wife of Harvey Weinstein, who went into a self-imposed exile after he was accused of numerous sexual assaults in 2017, has made no attempt of a style rebrand for her next chapter. Her dress exudes the type of fussy femininity that initially ushered Marchesa to stardom; it looked out of place alongside Chalamet and Swinton’s more modern looks.

Another potentially eyebrow-raising pick: Sharon Stone in Dolce & Gabbana at the premiere of The Story of My Wife. There’s no denying the gown’s dreaminess—or how refreshing, and potentially subversive, it is to see a 63-year-old actress wearing something so princess-y. But the Italian label has been hard at work attempting some brand rehab after a racist 2018 incident, and has lately been seen on everyone from Jill Biden to Megan Fox.

Spike Lee in a pink power suit and matching sunglasses! No words are necessary here.

Tina Kunakey showed up to the Benedetta screening in couture Valentino, which also looks like the fancy version of burying oneself in a comforter.

Jodie Foster, who won a Golden Globe while wearing her pajamas earlier this year, finally got a proper red carpet moment at the Annette screening in Givenchy. She looked edgy, but comfortable, and very, very French. Two other things: Foster walked the red carpet with her wife, Alexandra Hedison, and conducted a press conference speaking fluent French.