What does the naked dressing ban actually mean for the Cannes red carpet?

Quelle horreur! Ahead of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, the grande dame of cinematic showcases has done the unthinkable—it has banned what many consider to be its bread and butter: namely, naked dressing on the red carpet. The festival’s dress code for its evening gala screenings at the Grand Théâtre Lumière—always a bit of a minefield—has, this year, been updated, and now states that, “For decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as in any other area of the festival.” Shocked? Just wait. It continues: “Voluminous outfits, in particular those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theatre are not permitted. The festival welcoming teams will be obligated to prohibit red carpet access to anyone not respecting these rules.”

But what is the Croisette without its traffic-stopping trains, its giant frothy tulle, its free-the-nipple fervor, I hear you cry. Well, we’re about to find out tomorrow, as the 78th edition kicks off—but I, for one, am incredibly skeptical that red carpet proceedings will be all that different this time around. The thing is, many things are already discouraged, if not outright banned, on the Cannes red carpet—from selfies on the steps of the theatre to lingering on the red carpet for too long—but the enforcement of these rules is ad hoc at best. Just see: Kelly Rowland who, just last year, went viral for being rushed up the red carpet by a security guard, before suddenly being surrounded on all fronts.

“I have a boundary, and I stand by those boundaries, and that is it,” she later told the Associated Press of the incident. “And there were other women that attended that carpet who did not quite look like me, and they didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off.” Others who did, though, over the course of that edition of the festival, included Dominican actor Massiel Taveras, K-Pop star Yoona, and Ukrainian model Sawa Pontyjska, who was literally dragged away from photographers.

However, Bella Hadid, for instance, got to take her time on the red carpet—as did those considered by the festival to be big stars, plus models and guests affiliated with Cannes’s major sponsors, which include Chopard, Kering and L’Oréal Paris. They won’t be manhandled, certainly, but will they, too, have to abide by this new dress code? I can see skimpily-dressed influencers being turned away from the red carpet, perhaps, but surely that could never be the case for Bella, Kendall and co.?

Cannes has a very long history of barely-there red-carpet looks, which tells me that at least a few people won’t adhere to these new guidelines—and how these regulations are implemented and on whom, and whether this startling turn of events will prompt (shudder) a new era of more conservative looks at Cannes, will be fascinating to see.

Before then, for old times’ sake, we take a look back at the 26 most risqué Cannes Film Festival red-carpet looks to date, below.