The morning of a premiere, the light comes off the water white and flat. The Croisette smells of salt and warm stone and the diesel of the tender boats. Somewhere a garment bag is already hanging in a hotel window, catching the sun.
Cannes in May is a town wearing two faces at once. There is the beach, and there is the staircase. Dressing here is the quiet art of moving between them.
The 79th festival runs from 12 to 23 May 2026, and for those twelve days the small seaside town holds itself very formally after dark. If you want the wider map of how the days unfold, I keep it in Victoria’s Guide to the Cannes Film Festival. What follows is only about the clothes.
The Montee des Marches, or the red carpet at night
The gala premieres on the Montee des Marches ask for black tie, and they mean it. For women, that is a floor-length gown. For men, a proper tuxedo with a black bow tie. Nothing shorter, nothing improvised. The staircase of the The Palais des Festivals and the Red Carpet has its own gravity, and the dress code is the price of the climb.
There is also the matter of shoes. For years the carpet has effectively expected heels, an unwritten rule that hardened into something colder in 2015, when several women were reportedly turned away at the foot of the steps for wearing flats. Heelgate, the press called it, and the criticism was loud and fair. The festival has softened its tone since, and you now see flats on the steps more often, but the convention lingers in the air like the memory of a stricter decade.
In 2026 the festival added its own lines in the sand. Full nudity is barred on the carpet, as are outfits so voluminous they cannot move through the crowd or sit in a theatre. The rule reads as practical more than prudish. The Montee is a working passage, not a runway, and a train the size of a sail helps no one.
My own instinct, for what it is worth, is restraint. A gown that fits the body rather than the cameras. Good fabric that falls on its own. One clear idea, well made, will always outlast the dress that tries to say everything at once.
The daytime, which is the real Riviera
Before the staircase there is the long, bright day, and the day is soft. Cannes in the morning is linen and light tailoring, a shirt left open at the collar, trousers you can walk in. Sunglasses are not an accessory here so much as a piece of the architecture.
Flats matter more in daylight than in any gown. The Croisette is longer than it looks, the cobbles behind the Palais are uneven, and you will cross the town several times before dusk. Espadrilles, a flat sandal, a loafer. Something you forget you are wearing.
Colour stays quiet along this coast. Cream, navy, sand, the faded blue of an old awning. The Riviera has dressed this way for a century, and it still looks right because it was never trying to be noticed.
The parties, between the two extremes
Between the beach and the premiere lies the evening, and the evening in Cannes is a category of its own. The dinners on the sand, the yacht decks, the rooftops above the old port. This is where the dress code loosens into something you have to read rather than obey. I keep the geography of it in Cannes Film Festival Parties and Nightlife.
Cocktail is the safe centre. A slip dress, a tailored suit, a dark jacket over almost anything. The trick is a single pair of shoes that survives a beach club and a marble lobby in the same night, because you will not go back to change.
Men have it simpler and often waste the advantage. A well-cut dark suit, no tie, good shoes, and the discipline to stop there.
The discipline of one wardrobe
The real skill at Cannes is not any single outfit. It is the day that runs from a beach at noon to a midnight premiere without a seam showing.
I pack as if the hotel room is far away, because during the festival it always feels far. A tote that holds the heels while I walk in flats. A pressed gown that travels flat. A jacket that turns a lunch into a dinner. Water, because May on the Côte d’Azur is warmer than the postcards admit.
Everything earns its place or stays home. That is the whole method. Fewer things, better, chosen once and trusted for the length of a very long day.
The Men, and the Question of Shoes
A word on the two things people always ask about. For the evening premieres the men are held to black tie, a real tuxedo, and it is checked at the foot of the steps; a dark suit and no bow tie has turned people back after dark more than once. The women’s evening code is floor-length, full stop. As for shoes, there was a year when women were reportedly refused at a screening for wearing flats, which the festival insisted had never been a written rule, and the fuss that followed did some good. You now see elegant flats on the red carpet alongside the heels, and anyone who has crossed those cobbles at midnight understands why. In daylight none of this applies. Wear what lets you walk, and save the drama for after dark.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do women really have to wear heels on the red carpet?
Not by written law, but by long convention. The 2015 heelgate episode made clear how firmly the expectation once held, when women in flats were reportedly turned away at the foot of the steps. Since then the festival has grown more relaxed, and flats now appear on the carpet without incident. Still, if you want to feel wholly at ease among the ushers of the Montee des Marches, a low or block heel remains the surest choice. Comfort and convention can meet in the middle.
What are the 2026 red carpet rules?
Ahead of the 2026 edition, the festival stated plainly that full nudity would not be permitted on the red carpet, along with outfits so voluminous they disrupt the flow of guests or the seating inside the theatre. The aim is practical. The Montee is a passage that hundreds of people climb each night, and it has to keep moving.
What should I wear during the day in Cannes?
Relaxed Riviera resort dressing. Linen, light tailoring, a good shirt, sunglasses, and flats you can walk the Croisette in. Keep the palette soft and the fabrics natural. The daytime is warm and unhurried, and the clothes should be too.
What do men wear to the evening premieres?
Classic black tie. A black tuxedo, a white dress shirt, a black bow tie, and polished black shoes. It is the one night the men’s code is stricter than the women’s, and it leaves the least room for improvisation.
V.
Read also: Victoria’s Guide to the Cannes Film Festival
