Celebrities defy new red carpet dress code at Cannes Film Festival

The red carpet has officially been rolled out, and already celebrities are pushing the boundaries of this year’s new dress code on voluminous dresses with long trains.

The red carpet has officially been rolled out across the Promenade de Croisette, welcoming stars to the French Riviera for the annual Cannes Film Festival. Now in its 78th year, the event is a jewel in the calendar of both lofty cinephiles and polished fashionistas. Over 12 days, actors, directors, producers, influencers and the like will descend onto the carpeted steps — not just to promote their latest feature film at the high temple of world cinema, but also to turn a look. This year, the fashion stakes were upped before the festival even opened its doors — after a change in the official dress code just hours before kick-off. Nudity has been explicitly banned (presumably also prohibiting the current celebrity favorite ‘naked’ dress trend that has dominated the red carpet in recent years); as has “voluminous outfits” with large trains for the sake of traffic control. Some, like Halle Berry, dutifully obeyed the restrictions. “I had an amazing dress by (Gaurav) Gupta that I cannot wear tonight because it’s too big of a train,” the actor said at a news conference. “I’m not going to break the rules.” Others brazenly persevered with their original wardrobe plans. Heidi Klum and Wan QianHui were the first rebels of the year, arriving in high-octane frocks with defiantly cascading trains. Elsewhere at the opening ceremony, Bella Hadid wore a slinky Saint Laurent dress, debuting honey-blonde tresses. Jeremy Strong opted for a dusty rose tuxedo (the Jury photocall earlier in the day revealed he also owns a full tracksuit, and matching bucket hat, in the same color). Scroll down for more sartorial highlights as we continue to update our coverage throughout the festival.