The China Mail - Halle Berry trips up on Cannes festival's new dress code

The American actor, who is on the jury that will decide which film wins the Palme d'Or top prize, said she would likely fall foul of new rules banning nudity on the red carpet as well as extravagantly large dresses.

"I had an amazing dress to wear tonight, and I cannot wear it because the train is too big," the Oscar winner told reporters.

"Of course, I'm going to follow the rules. So I had to make a pivot."

But the "Monster's Ball" star backed the festival organisers on clamping down on overly risque outfits with new written rules.

"The nudity part is probably also a good rule," she said.

Cannes organisers raised eyebrows Monday by putting its dress rules publicly into writing for the first time.

"It is not about regulating" what people wear but "to ban total nudity on the red carpet, in line with French law", a spokesman told AFP.

The Cannes red carpet has seen a procession of daring and revealing looks over the years, with model Bella Hadid in particular sending social media into a spin with a plunging sculptural Schiaparelli creation in 2021.

- Stilettos get the heel -

"Naked dresses" -- provocative looks that reveal considerably more than they conceal -- have become something of a red carpet phenomenon of late, with rapper Kanye West's wife, architect Bianca Censori, causing a scandal at the Grammy Awards in February.

After years of rows and controversies, Cannes has also clarified its rules on footwear, with many accusing it of forcing women to wear high heels.

Several stars defied the tacit rule by going in flats or even barefoot, including Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert.

Kristen Stewart dug in her heels by walking onto the red carpet in 2018 and then dramatically removing her towering Christian Louboutin stilettos before the cameras.

The rule has now been clearly codified.

The festival has decreed that "elegant shoes or sandals with or without heels" are allowed, a change that this year's jury president, French Oscar-winner Juliette Binoche, hailed as "a very good idea", joking that she was speaking from "experience".

S.Davis--ThChM