If there’s one film festival that guarantees you gowns so ornate you probably have to squint when you look at them in real life, it’s Cannes.
Perhaps it’s partly due to the fact that Hollywood’s elite are ramping up their style game to detract from film controversy – both Grace of Monaco and the Nina Simone biopic have attracted awkward levels of scorn from critics and the families of their real life titular characters — but this year’s fashion is particularly on form. And Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman are far ahead of the pack.
Firstly, the Armani Privé Kidman wore to Grace of Monaco’s premiere last week, which also served as the festival’s opening ceremony. We had a feeling she’d be making a confident choice in light of the film’s chilly reception, and this heavily embellished creation is a distraction of the best sorts. Props for also adding very expensive amounts of Harry Winston bling (a diamond bracelet and diamond cluster earrings) despite the fact the dress is glittery (and probably heavy) enough.
Cate Blanchett first showed up at the Chopard Trophy, where she wore a silvery, sheer Valentino with metallic floral lace embroidery to present awards to Adèle Exarchopoulos and Logan Lerman. That would have served as perfectly satisfying red carpet wear for the premiere of How to Train Your Dragon 2, the animation for which she lent her voice, but if it’s possible, we love the bejeweled Givenchy column she showed up in. In a land of ball gowns, the pleated chiffon skirt is even more unexpected than Kidman’s Armani, and the scaly bodice is probably the best example of dressing thematically you’ll see all premiere season.
