DRESSED TO DAZZLE

Gowns - and masculine suiting - made fashion headlines as some of the world's biggest stars came out to celebrate on the French Riviera for the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival

- REPORT: LAURA BENJAMIN

As a model turned movie star, she is used to creating a stir when she arrives at an event. But nothing could have prepared Andie MacDowell for the impact she made when she donned an immaculately tailored tuxedo to walk a red carpet awash with full-length sequinned gowns at the Cannes Film Festival last week.

The Hollywood actress, 67, was strikingly elegant in the Mugler suit, with matching bow tie and crisp white shirt, for the first big premiere at this year's festival, Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

And she was matched in the style stakes by Tom's co-star Hayley Atwell, who delighted in showing off her scarlet Giambattista Valli gown to the Top Gun actor at the film's gala screening.

OPENING NIGHT

Russian-born supermodel Irina Shayk had also turned heads the night before, at the festival's opening ceremony, posing on the red carpet to maximum effect in a dramatic billowing strapless black-and-white polka dot dress by Armani Privé. “What a magical opening night of the 78th Cannes Film Festival,” she later wrote on social media.

Speaking at the Mission: Impossible premiere, London-born Hayley said she loved her striking red gown. “It felt so unbelievably easy, which is not always the case with these things,” she said. “We wanted the drama and the elegance that showcases so well at Cannes, but with something that also felt very simple and understated.