Catastrophe in Cannes

Picture this: You’re all set to attend the Cannes Film Festival opening but find out the day before that there is a dress code that forbids exactly what your couturier made for you after his atelier worked on it for the past couple of months. Halle Berry, who was selected as one of the jurors this year, could only exclaim “Quelle catastrophe!” since her gown by Gaurav Gupta had a voluminous train, one of the no-nos specified as “hindering the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicating seating in the theater.” She opted instead for a last-minute piece from Jacquemus.

This didn’t stop others from wearing big trains, especially the guests from far away, like Chinese actress Wan Qian Hui who already shipped her gown, excess weight and all, way before the announcement was made.

The other point of contention was the admonition “For decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as in any other area of the festival,” which, of course, included all those naked and sheer dresses that have been ubiquitous in all the red carpets of awards season, not to mention film festivals past since the 1960s and ’70s when Jane Birkin sashayed braless in the sheerest outfits.

This is France, after all, so why the sudden conservatism, at the world’s most prestigious film event at that, where nudity was never a problem both on and off-screen, where women can go topless at the beach? At Cannes, of course, they always wanted to keep the tone high and even heels were required. This year, they finally gave in to flats but sneakers are still forbidden. Elegance, of course, can never be policed or controlled and this year’s red carpet had many disasters which may or may not have been caused by the last-minute dress code.