Cannes dress code claims its first victim

SHEER AUDACITY

- JADA YUAN

JUST one day before its Tuesday opening ceremony, the Cannes Film Festival changed the rules of its always-controversial dress code, in a move certain to send celebrity stylists into anaphylactic shock.

Nudity is barred from the red carpet “for reasons of decency”. Fair enough. This seems intended to stop any stunts like Bianca Censori’s naked outfit with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, at the Grammys this year.

Far more worrying - at least to drama-loving celebs — is the new ban on “voluminous outfits.” The rules specifically call out “those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theatre.”

What does this mean? How big is voluminous? How long must a train be to hold up traffic? How many feathers and sequins must it shed? No one knows!

But what we do know is that the new rules have already claimed their first casualty: Halle Berry, a member of this year’s competition jury.

“I had an amazing dress by (Indian designer Gaurav) Gupta to wear tonight, and I cannot wear it because the train is too big,” Berry said at the festival’s opening news conference. “So I, of course, am going to follow the rules. So I had to make a pivot.”

Perhaps it is we, the viewing public, who should feel the most aggrieved - for being denied what could have been a major fashion moment.

Berry agreed with one of the new prohibitions, though: “The nudity part, I do think is probably also a good rule.”

The new rules were included in an FAQ on the festival's website and made international headlines once observers noticed them. The language states that “the Festival welcoming teams will be obligated to prohibit Red Carpet access to anyone not respecting these rules”.