Big gowns, big drama: The after-effects of Cannes’s latest dress code

A dress code can be both divisive and comforting. For some, the immediate reaction to being told what to wear is: how dare you? For others, a dress code offers respite—it clears any ambiguity about what’s appropriate for an occasion, allowing you to freely think within the lines. At the Cannes Film Festival 2025, which kicked off earlier this week, organisers decided to update their dress code just the night before the big event. The additions, listed on the FAQ section of the official Cannes website, specify that “for decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the red carpet” and also add that “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”. Anyone not following these rules will be “prohibited” from entering screenings at the Grand Théâtre Lumière.

For Hema Bose, founder of Maison Bose Communications, which represents designers like Gaurav Gupta and Anamika Khanna, the planning for an event like Cannes begins as soon as a brand’s collections drop on the runway. To her, the event is significant because “this isn’t just about dressing talent; it’s about long-range brand architecture.”

Cannes jury member Halle Berry was supposed to wear Gaurav Gupta, a plan that had been in the works for a while, but she then changed her look after the announcement of the dress code. “It was a powerful sculptural gown from the latest spring/summer 2025 Paris Couture Week collection—a core piece we were preserving for a major red-carpet moment,” reveals Bose. “The plan was to open the festival with impact, with a jury member no less, in a look that encapsulated both Halle’s presence and Gaurav’s signature silhouette. It was a crucial partnership for the house this season.” 

The French film festival has had a history of divisive dress-code rules. In 2015, it received flak when a group of women were apparently denied entry to a screening for not wearing heels. Julia Roberts in 2016 and then Kristen Stewart in 2018 trooped up the theatre stairs barefoot to confront the directive. Before them, in 1991, Madonna took off a long pink robe to reveal a Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra and high-waisted briefs—definitely not in line with the festival’s preference that women wear “a little black dress, a cocktail dress, a dark-coloured pantsuit, a dressy top with black pants…”

For stylist Akshay Tyagi, a Cannes regular, it’s not so much the idea of a dress code that’s the problem as the timing of the announcement. “It should have been mentioned from the beginning of the month at least, not one day prior to the event opening,” he argues. Dressing celebrities is a multi-stage process. Multiple looks have to be requested from different designers, alterations need to be made, fittings done beforehand to match fine jewellery and shoes—all of it is to ensure maximum media value for each photograph taken on the red carpet.

Content creator Sakshi Sindwani, who is attending this year for the first time as a Brut and L'Oréal ambassador, worked with multiple designers over two months to create custom looks. “For example, we asked Seema Gujral to turn her iconic floral lehengas into a dress. Gauri & Nainika brought back their gowns for this occasion, and I worked with Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla to turn me into an Indian Cleopatra.” Thankfully, since seeing celebrities like model Heidi Klum and Chinese actor Wan QianHui continue to wear gowns with elaborate trains to the event, she’s not had to make any changes to her looks. However, she adds, “I definitely thought it took away a bit of the fun and fashion from Cannes. It’s an incredibly prestigious film festival and it’s seen as a global platform where people have been able to put their most creative couture pieces on the red carpet. I think every time you put a dress code, that limits creativity; it doesn’t serve the purpose of what it’s been doing for years.”

Masoom Minawala, another regular, shares that sentiment. She says, “It’s 2025—don’t tell people what they can or cannot wear. And Cannes is a film festival, but it’s also been largely celebrated for years by audiences as a fashion playground. And what is fashion? It’s expression. You can’t restrict expression.”

Bose agrees, “We came half prepared and pivoted when it was necessary. But let’s be honest: these last-minute dress code changes don’t just disrupt schedules, they also challenge the very nature of red-carpet fashion. Couture is supposed to be art in motion, and we need to preserve the space for that.”

But while we’re still waiting for Bella Hadid to pull out another iconic naked-dress moment (never not thinking of that Saint Laurent look from last year), we can instead appreciate some of the great tailoring we’ve spotted instead—cue Andie Macdowell in a Mugler two-piece, Juliette Binoche in butter-yellow Jacquemus, Payal Kapadia in Rishta by Arjun Saluja, and Irina Shayk in a white Mango tuxedo. And remember, as designer Gaurav Gupta told PTI: “True couture doesn’t always need a stage; sometimes, just the intention is enough to ignite the imagination.”