Cannes 2023: Risqué leather, feathers galore and was Jennifer Lawrence wearing thongs?

Louise Talbot
May 25, 2023, updated May 25, 2023

Jennifer Lawrence, who tripped at the 2013 Oscars, was steady in her thongs at the <i>Anatomie D'une Chute </i> red carpet.

Jennifer Lawrence, who tripped at the 2013 Oscars, was steady in her thongs at the Anatomie D'une Chute red carpet. Photo: Getty

For more than 70 years on the Promenade de la Croisette at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, icons of fashion and film have graced the red carpet wearing spectacular gowns and accessories, including the late Princess Diana, Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot.

It’s a spectacle on par with the Oscars and the Met Gala for extravagance, elegance and style, and there has always been a strict red-carpet rule concerning one’s choice of footwear.

No flat shoes. No pumps. No thongs. No bare feet.

It reached a climax in 2015, when several big-name stars were turned away from pro-LGBT romance Carol, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, for wearing “rhinestone flats”, even though some attendees had medical conditions.

Cannes organisers reiterated the shoe du jour was the high heel.

Two years later, Twilight and Spencer star Kristen Stewart famously kicked off her sky-high Christian Louboutin stilettos and walked barefoot on the carpet in 2017.

“I feel like you can’t ask people that any more,” Stewart said at the time, adding, “If you’re not asking guys to wear heels and a dress, you cannot ask me either.”

End of the shoe rule

Fast forward to 2023 where Vogue reported “the shoe rule is no longer in effect – it quietly dissolved sometime after 2018” and, right on cue, Hollywood A-lister Jennifer Lawrence was photographed wearing thongs (aka flip-flops) with her lipstick red Dior gown for the French thriller, Anatomy Of A Fall.

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Renowned French actor and style icon Isabelle Huppert also made shoe headlines, wearing nude anatomic heels – “non-shoe shoes” – in a “pantabodysuit” with her black lace Balenciaga gown.

“The polarising shoe style is meant to resemble the anatomy of a naked human foot … her choice of non-shoe shoes could be seen as a way to poke fun at the former requirement,” wrote Vogue.

“She chose the most forward-thinking, not to mention divisive, version of a heel that she could possibly find.”

Feathers, leather and a heavy concentration of black and red gowns stunned crowds as another four days of red carpets and premieres continue, with the festival closing with Pixar Animated Studios’ Elemental on May 27.

Key films

All up, there are 21 films in competition, with the top prizes, the Palme D’or and jury prizes, set to be announced.

The 1950s US science fiction romantic comedy Asteroid City, the seedy teen cult thriller, Club Zero, a Henry VIII biopic Firebrand and Japanese film Monster, about a teacher and her son, are among the big-name films that have premiered over the past 10 days.

Among the last to make a splash is La Passion de Dodin Bouffant, starring French actor Juliette Binoche, and tells the 19th-century story of Eugenie, an esteemed cook, and Dodin, the fine gourmet she has been working for over the past 20 years.

Just as important as the films in the spotlight are the stars of every movie in the jam-packed schedule.

Here’s some of Cannes’ biggest fashion moments.

Benoît Magimel, director Tran Anh Hung and Juliette Binoche at the La Passion de Dodin Bouffant red carpet on Thursday. Photo: Getty

Heidi Klum at the La Passion de Dodin Bouffant premiere. Photo: Getty

Somali model Rawdah Mohamed at the La Passion de Dodin Bouffant red carpet. Photo: Getty

Canadian-Indian-American actor and model, Sunny Leone at the Kennedy red carpet. Photo: Getty

Adrian Brody, Scarlett Johansson and Matt Dillon at the Asteroid City red carpet. Photo: Getty

Kate Beckinsale at the La Passion de Dodin Bouffant premiere. Photo: Getty

Rebel Wilson and Ramona Agruma at the 2023 Kering Women in Motion Award during the Cannes festival. Photo: Getty

Lebanese actor Nadine Nassib Njeim at the La Passion de Dodin Bouffant premiere. Photo: Getty

American actor Viola Davis in Valentino at Japanese family drama Monster premiere. Photo: Getty

Indian actor and model Urvashi Rautela at the premiere of Club Zero. Photo: Getty

Russian model and TV personality Irina Shayk at the Firebrand (Le Jeu De La Reine) premiere. Photo: Getty

English royalty Helen Mirren at the Jeanne du Barry screening and opening ceremony red carpet, complete with blue hair. Photo: Getty

The Great’s Elle Fanning at Johnny Depp’s Jeanne du Barry screening and opening ceremony red carpet. Photo: Getty

Thai actor Araya Hargate at the Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny red carpet. Photo: AAP

French singer-songwriter Bilal Hassani at the Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny red carpet. Photo: Getty

English actor and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge stars in Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny. Photo: AAP

US fashion model Karlie Kloss at the Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny premiere. Photo: Getty

French singer-songwriter and model Yseult Onguenet in Alexandra McQueen for the Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny premiere. Photo: Getty

All smiles on the carpet for Calista Flockhart and Harrison Ford for his epic Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny finale. Photo: Getty

Pauline Pollman, Diego Le Fur, Maïwenn, Johnny Depp, Pierre Richard, Benjamin Lavernhe, and Pascal Greggory at the Jeanne du Barry Screening. Photo: Getty