The 79th Cannes Film Festival, which ran May 12 to 23, was a film event with a very musical red carpet. A sheer Saint Laurent gown tested the festival’s dress code on day two, Halsey kept the black lace coming all week, and Lizzo sang at the amfAR gala in a cobalt blue Robert Wun.
The rules and the opening
The festival introduced a no-nudity rule last year, and Vogue said this year’s guidelines also discourage extreme volume and long trains. The opening ceremony, led by the French-Malian actor Eye Haïdara, closed with a performance by Theodora and Oklou, per Vogue France, ahead of a jury headed by Park Chan-wook, the first Korean jury president in the festival’s history.
Charlotte Cardin, day two
On May 13, the “Feel Good” singer Charlotte Cardin climbed the steps for La Vie d’une femme in a long black lace Saint Laurent gown by Anthony Vaccarello, Orange’s Purepeople reported, citing Vanity Fair. The dress was fully sheer, with minimal accessories, and the outlet argued it flouted the rule. It was a Saint Laurent night for others too: Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu wore a purple Vaccarello gown on opening day. In October Vaccarello would announce his exit.
Halsey, all week
Halsey arrived for the Her Private Hell premiere on May 18 in a sheer black Ann Demeulemeester gown, Look 32 from the runway, per TheFashionSpot via Reality Tea: a mock neck, strips of crossed lace, a layered ruffled skirt with a short train and a black bodysuit beneath. She wore Dsquared2 sandals and almost no jewelry. Nylon, which ranked the festival’s top 10, picked a different look: “old-fashioned Victorian glamour with an edge,” a high point in a week she “turned it out” in Demeulemeester and Dsquared2.
Lizzo at amfAR
On Thursday (May 21), Lizzo performed at the amfAR Gala Cannes, the annual fundraiser for HIV and AIDS research, in a cobalt blue dress with an extravagant necklace. She credited the London-based designer Robert Wun on X, per Complex. She sang “Don’t Make Me Love U,” a song from her forthcoming album, which she has renamed Bitch.
The best dress of the week
Not a musician, but the standout: Bella Hadid wore a custom Schiaparelli trompe-l’œil lace dress on May 20, an homage to Jane Birkin’s 1960s festival look that took more than 22,000 hours of hand embroidery and added a lace-up back and a ruffled train, Marie Claire reported. Nylon called it the best gown of the week.
The festival closed May 23. For another carpet that treated clothes as art, see our Met Gala looks.
Sources
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
