After a whirlwind 12 days, the 74th edition of Europe’s biggest film festival has finally drawn to a close. Cannes is a celebration of cinematography, but it was the celebrity fashion that gripped everyone’s imagination. And before the stars went home, they went big, treating us to a parade of the most stunning gowns and suits and the most outlandish of haute couture from 6 to 17 July. Long after the red carpet has been rolled up, people will still be talking about that Bella Hadid-Schiaparelli look.
Hadid has been a long-time Cannes style icon, but it seems like the fashion stakes have been raised across the board this year. Perhaps to make up for all the lost photo opportunities during Cannes’s 2020 hiatus, the dramatic looks on the red carpet are enough to rival the theatrics on the silver screens. This year’s jury president Spike Lee showed up at the opening ceremony in a hot pink Louis Vuitton suit, then took his sartorial daringness even further at the closing ceremony with a rainbow-coloured skyprint suit. At least the bold look helped distract from Lee’s gaffe when he mistakenly announced the Palme d’Or winner, Titane, at the start of the ceremony instead of at the end as per tradition.
Lee missed the memo to save the best for last when it came to the awards, but other industry veterans did just that on the fashion front: Rosamund Pike made her red carpet debut at the closing ceremony in a scarlet tulle Dior dress, while Gemma Chan put in her first-ever Cannes appearance a couple of days ago in a Valentino two-piece. And although Lee’s penchant for playful suits bookended his Cannes sojourn, there were stars who showed greater variety in their outfit choices. Tilda Swinton, for instance, swapped out her vibrant colour-blocked ensemble at The French Dispatch premiere for a white nightgown-like Chanel dress a few days later. Sharon Stone made a splash in a massive periwinkle blue Dolce&Gabbana dress bursting with three-dimensional flower embellishments, but opted for a much more classic white column gown from the same brand for the closing ceremony.
While Stone’s final look bore a simple silhouette, it offered a touch of whimsy with its glittery silver bodice. Metallics has always been a perennial awards show style favourite, but it seems as though more celebrities than ever before are wearing it this year—an inclination towards party vibes that reflect the general optimism the world is finally opening up again. Cannes opened with both Carla Bruni and Marion Cotillard opting for one-shoulder silver gowns from Celine and Chanel respectively, and at the closing ceremony, metallics was seen on everyone ranging from Géraldine Nakache in her sparkling gold Dior set to Mélanie Laurent’s sequinned Armani Prive sheath. It wasn’t just the women with a penchant for bling either, as Timothée Chalamet showed up to the premiere for The French Dispatch in a reflective silver Tom Ford suit.
Titane, this year’s provocative recipient of Cannes’s most prestigious award, features a complicated father-daughter relationship, but it was a much more harmonious affair for families on the red carpet. Sean Penn and his daughter Dylan showed up to the Flag Day premiere in a colour-coordinated front—he in a sleek black suit and she in a Chanel asymmetrical dress with a statement belt. Mother-daughter duo Jane Birkin and Charlotte Gainsbourg also caught our eye with their matching suits from Saint Laurent and Celine, but so did contrasting looks on the Lapidus sisters: Koukla dared to bare in a gold Dior dress with a see-through top, while Milla was more covered up in a waistcoat from the same brand.
The stars might be gone from the south of France, but the celebration of their best style moments need not end just because the festival has. See our choices for the most eye-catching looks over the 12 days of Cannes 2021 in the gallery below.
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Camille Razat in Balmain
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Rosamund Pike in Christian Dior
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Celine Locks in Giorgio Armani
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Geraldine Nakache in Christian Dior
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Kat Graham in Jean Paul Gaultier
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Adele Exarchopoulos in Jacquemus
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Gemma Chan in Oscar de la Renta
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Sharon Stone in Dolce & Gabbana
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Stella Maxwell in Alberta Ferretti
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Poppy Delevingne in Dolce & Gabbana
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Melanie Thierry in Valentino
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Melanie Laurent in Giorgio Armani
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Maria Bakalova in Louis Vuitton
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Mari Fonseca in Pinko
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Gemma Chan in Valentino
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Leonie Hanne in Georges Hobeika
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Kat Graham in Nicolas Jebran
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Dylan Penn in Balmain
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Natasha Poly in Valentino
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Maggie Gyllenhaal in Chanel
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Spike Lee and wife Tonya Lee, both in Louis Vuitton
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Marta Lozano in Lorenzo Caprile
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Tilda Swinton in Chanel
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Didi Stone in Jean Paul Gaultier
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Camille Cottin (centre) in Dior
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Noemie Merlant in Louis Vuitton
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Hana Cross in Rami Kadi
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Amy Jackson in Atelier Zuhra
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Melanie Laurent in Balmain
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Denise Tantucci in Gucci
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Sharon Stone in Dolce & Gabbana
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Alejandro Speitzer in Boss
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Karen Wazan in Tony Ward
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Mahlagha Jaberi in Eman Alajlan
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Huang Miyi in Christian Dior
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Leïla Bekhti in Givenchy
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Coco Rocha in Christian Dior
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Isabeli Fontana in Rami Kadi
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Isabelle Huppert in Balenciaga
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Timothée Chalamet (left) in Tom Ford and Tilda Swinton in Haider Ackemann
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Bella Hadid in Schiaparelli
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Reika Kirishima in Valentino
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Jodie Turner-Smith in Gucci
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Tina Kunakey in Valentino
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Anja Rubik in Saint Laurent
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Beatrice Valli in Zuhair Murad
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Koukla Lapidus in Dior
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Soo Joo in Mugler
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Vanessa Paradis in Chanel
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Haley Lu Richardson in Rodarte
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Sean Penn (left) and Dylan Penn in Chanel
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Marion Cotillard (centre) in Chanel
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Charlotte Gainsbourg (left) in Saint Laurent and Jane Birkin in Celine
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Lou Doillon in Gucci Aria
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Nur Fibak in Dior
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Carla Bruni in Celine
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Jessica Chastain in Dior
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Maggie Gyllenhall in Celine
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Soko in Gucci
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Lena Mahfouf in Valentino
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Naama Preis in Valentino
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Leonie Hanne in Nicole + Felicia
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Elena Lenina in Nika Shaboshova, with a wig-hat
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Elisa Sednaoui in Alberta Ferretti
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Candice Swanepoel in Etro
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Bella Hadid in custom Jean Paul Gaultier
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Noemie Merlant in Louis Vuitton
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