Break These Fashion Rules at Cannes Film Festival 2025 and You’ll Get Kicked Off the Red Carpet

No Sneakers at the Gala Screenings

Take note of the aforementioned “elegant shoes and sandals with or without a heel” part in the charter.

While Vogue notes it’s never been a formally written rule that women have to wear heels on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet, it appears to have been the expectation.

“Last night I was stopped on the Cannes red carpet and told by this idiotic security guard that I couldn’t get into this premiere because I was wearing flats,” Variety’s former Editor in Chief Claudia Eller tweeted in 2019. “I threatened to post this video on our Variety website. I got in.”

Some actresses—including Julia Roberts, Pamela Anderson and Kristen Stewart—have taken off their shoes on the red carpet and walked barefoot.

“There’s definitely a distinct code, right?” The Twilight alum told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. “People get very upset at you if you don’t wear heels or something, whatever. But I feel like you can’t ask people that anymore. It’s just kind of a given. Like if you’re not asking guys to wear heels and a dress, you cannot ask me either. Which is nice ‘cause that’s different. Even four years ago, it was not even a question—you have to wear a dress. But now, it’s awesome, you can’t do that anymore.”

While “elegant shoes and sandals with or without a heel” are now allowed at the gala screening, Cannes website points out sneakers are not.