Cannes Film Festival warns of 'nudity' on the red carpet

The Cannes Film Festival has introduced strict dress code guidelines for the 2025 event, prohibiting outfits that promote nudity or are excessively voluminous. According to the festival organizers, the aim is to maintain good old-fashioned decency.

The Cannes Film Festival, popularly known for the glamor it exudes when stars from around the world walk its red carpet, has now issued a guideline and begun cracking down on celebrities whose outfits promote nudity or are excessively voluminous.

This strict move comes in response to recent events, including a demonstrator appearing topless on the Cannes red carpet in 2022 and Bianca Censori pushing the boundaries of fashion and nudity with her transparent dress at the Grammys red carpet.

In a statement, the organizers of the esteemed film festival said, “This year, the Cannes Film Festival has made explicit in its charter certain rules that have long been in effect. The aim is not to regulate attire per se, but to prohibit full nudity on the red carpet, in accordance with the institutional framework of the event and French law.”

In addition, the festival stated that it may exercise the right to deny admission to celebrities whose attire could obstruct the movement of other guests or complicate seating arrangements.

However, over the past few years, Cannes has also faced criticism for its red carpet's unrealistic requirement of dressing ‘classy’ and wearing ‘elegant’ shoes. Some fashion experts call this ‘unfair,’ as for women, an ‘elegant outfit’ is often synonymous with high heels. Low-top heels are now more acceptable—as long as they’re not sneakers—though there are still occasional incidents, such as when an indie producer was turned away for wearing moccasins at the 2022 Cannes Festival.