The Best Looks From the Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet: A Visual History

Isabelle Huppert broke the tradition of Cannes red carpet gowns in 2024 when she wore this elevated bathrobe from Balenciaga.

It’s one thing to wear archive Chanel, and an entirely different thing to wear archive Chanel you modeled on the runway two decades prior. Naomi Campbell did all of that and more in 2024 when she wore this vintage couture look from 1996.

Hunter Schafer looked breathtaking in this sculptural Armani Privé design.

Jennifer Lawrence loves a flat, and her decision to wear flip-flops underneath her red Dior dress was one of the more memorable pieces of footwear to hit the Cannes red carpet.

For the Cannes premiere of May December, perennial Dior muse Natalie Portman brought the house’s archives to the red carpet. She sported a recreation of one of Dior’s most famous designs, the Junon dress, which was originally created for the house’s fall 1949 collection.

There’s LBDs and then there’s archival LBDs like the one Lily-Rose Depp wore to Cannes in 2023. The actress, in town for the premiere of The Idol, sported a vintage Chanel mini dress, a take on a dress that was first modeled by Helena Christensen back in 1994.

Bella Hadid brought many archive looks to the 2022 festival, but this Tom Ford-era Gucci dress from fall 1996 absolutely takes the cake.

Elle Fanning looked like a modern day princess in a pale pink Armani Privé gown with Chopard jewels fit for royalty.

Viola Davis radiated beauty in a canary yellow Alexander McQueen dress, which she accessorized with Boucheron jewels.

Some would say this Armani Privé dress Anne Hathaway wore to the Armageddon Time premiere began the actor’s current red carpet streak, as she’s hardly had a miss since.

As a jury member, Deepika Padukone attended many red carpets during the 2022 festival, but the sculptural orange Ashi Studio dress she wore to the 75th-anniversary screening of L'Innocent was our favorite from the event.

The model stole the show in this Schiaparelli fall 2021 couture dress which features a gold necklace shaped like a pair of lungs.

The beautiful details of this Oscar de la Renta gown are what made it a standout during the premiere of OSS 117: Alerte Rouge en Afrique Noire in 2021.

Regina King brought major regal energy in this black Schiaparelli ball gown to the festival’s amfAR Gala.

All eyes were on Jodie Turner-Smith in Gucci at the Stillwater screening during the 2021 festival.

Huppert, ever the ultimate cool girl, showed up to the Tout S'est Bien Passe (Everything Went Fine) screening in head-to-toe Balenciaga.

Fanning looked like a modern princess in this caped Gucci gown at the screening of The Dead Don’t Die in 2019.

Hadid’s halter neck silver Elie Saab dress stole the show at Cannes in 2018.

Rihanna stunned in Dior at the premiere of Okja in 2017.

Kirsten Dunst made a marigold statement in custom Maison Margiela at the premiere of The Neon Demon.

Liya Kebede opted for something a little different—a green velvet Haider Ackermann dress with one leg hole—at the premiere of The Unknown Girl at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Amal Clooney made one of her first red carpet appearances with her husband George at the 2016 festival.

Jessica Chastain radiated old Hollywood glamour in an Alexander McQueen gown at the premiere of Money Monster during the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Chanel Iman stunned in Zuhair Murad at the amfAR gala at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015.

This Ralph & Russo gown was just one of a number of stellar red carpet looks from Fan Bingbing at the 2015 festival.

At the 2015 Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony, Lupita Nyong’o made it her show in an emerald green Gucci dress.

The Mad Max red carpet drew all the best looks, including Julianne Moore’s Givenchy couture in velvet.

It wasn’t her film, but Kebede, in Proenza Schouler, still stole the show at the premiere of Mad Max: Fury Road during the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Blake Lively revealed she almost wore this Gucci dress to the Met Gala in 2014, but last minute decided to save it for The Captive premiere later that same month at Cannes.

Zhang Ziyi wore this unique Stéphane Rolland dress on the red carpet of the Grace of Monaco screening during the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Tilda Swinton, in her go-to Haider Ackermann, at the premiere of Only Lovers Left Alive at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Chastain’s ivory, caped Versace gown was classically beautiful, but more importantly, it acted as the perfect base for her Bulgari diamond-and-sapphire pendant. The necklace was a gift from Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor, making it an appropriate accessory for an anniversary screening of Cleopatra at the 2013 festival.

For the 2013 premiere of her Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis, Carey Mulligan selected a black-and-white Vionnet look.

This Vivienne Westwood dress looks like it was basically poured onto Diane Kruger’s body.

Campbell reminded us why models are a fixture on the Cannes red carpet when she stepped out in this custom gold Roberto Cavalli halter dress back in 2010.

Cate Blanchett wore an Alexander McQueen gown for the premiere of Robin Hood at the 2010 festival.

Then pregnant with twins Knox and Vivienne, Angelina Jolie looked ethereal in 2008 in a green Max Azria gown.

Models descend on Cannes every year, but few can pull off supermodel Linda Evangelista’s statement Lanvin at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

While Portman’s beaded black gown was nice, the major statement of this look was the debut of her V For Vendetta buzz cut.

Swinton walked Viktor & Rolf’s fall 2003 runway show, acting as the design duo’s muse, so it was fitting she wore a look from the brand’s fall 2002 collection to that year’s Cannes festival.

Cameron Diaz brought the naked dress to Cannes all the way back in 2002 with the help of Versace.

Naomi Campbell, a fixture of the festival, attended the annual amfAr gala in a sheer, paneled gown in 2001.

Per usual, Swinton stood out when she hit the red carpet, this time in a quirky fruit-printed dress by John Galliano for Dior.

Marjan Pejoski, the designer of Bjork’s pink tulle gown for the 2000 festival, would go on to make the Icelandic singer’s famous Swan Dress for the Oscars just a year later.

Catherine Zeta-Jones looked like the prom queen of Cannes in this pink Thierry Mugler gown with a structured bodice.

Sharon Stone had some fun showing off her beaded Valentino romper with a skirt overlay at the 1995 festival.

Madonna, in Jean-Paul Gaultier, with Alex Keshinian, the director of the film In Bed With Madonna, at Cannes in 1991.

The legendary actor really brought the ’80s energy in this red Nolan Miller gown with a cinched waist and some over the top shoulders.

All eyes were on Princess Diana when she walked out in this baby blue, strapless Catherine Walker dress at the festival in 1987.

Jane Birkin opted for a dancerly dress in 1974.