The China Mail - Cannes red carpet showstoppers

Ahead of Saturday's awards ceremony, AFP brings you some of the chicest and craziest looks, and also the actor who brought a bit of grit to the glamour.

- Moore and Moore and Moore -

Demi Moore has always been a hard worker, but the Hollywood star pulled out all the stops at Cannes clocking up two premieres a day as one of the jury members who will decide who wins its top prizes.

Rarely has one person so dominated the fashion stakes, with a specially made silvery Jacquemus bustier dress on opening night, followed by an enormous hot pink Barbie ballgown by edgy French-Canadian fashion label Matieres Fecales.

Moore fully embraced the vibe of her Oscar-nominated role in "The Substance" to push the boundaries of what a 63-year-old woman can look wonderful in. "Ageing is a gift," she told reporters.

Fashion bible Vogue seemed to agree, saying "Moore has never before so mastered this glamorous aesthetic that goes from timeless sophistication to daring modernity".

She later went from a figure-hugging sheer lavender Gucci gown to a playful daytime polka dot ensemble from Jacquemus matched with retro white sun glasses, with Elle magazine praising her "old Hollywood" dash.

- Beret me now -

John Travolta has never looked happier or more emotional than he did at Cannes as he cried when he got a surprise lifetime's achievement award and premiered his first film as a director, starring his daughter, Ella Bleu.

"This is beyond the Oscar," he said as he was given his honorary Palme d'Or.

On both occasions, the now shaven-headed "Pulp Fiction" icon wore fetching French berets, a white one for his award and a black one for the premiere of his semi-autobiographical movie, "Propeller One-Way Night Coach".

- Ciao Bella -

Supermodel Bella Hadid let her figure-hugging Schiaparelli dress do the talking for her at the premiere of the epic Charles de Gaulle biopic "De Gaulle: Tilting Iron".

Keen-eyed fashion historians noticed that the late British singer and actor Jane Birkin caused a stir by wearing an almost identical dress to a Paris gala in 1969 with her then-partner Serge Gainsbourg.

The pair, the parents of actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, recorded the scandalously sensual song "Je t'aime... moi non plus" the same year, a number one hit across the world despite being banned in several countries.

Even now, the dress has the same vibe.

- Wrong kind of lighting up -

As always, there were some style missteps, and tripping on trains and jostling dress-jams when too many oversized gowns arrived at the same time at the bottom of the famous red carpet steps.

There were also some simply bizarre moments, like the enormous curtains of pearls that fell the whole way to the feet of El Salvador model Rakele Menjivar when she turned up for Pedro Almodovar's new film, "Bitter Christmas".

Or when French actor Swann Arlaud, a contender for best actor for his role in the critically acclaimed "A Man of His Time", danced up the red carpet with a roll-up cigarette in his mouth.

It also may have been his own ironic interpretation of the unwritten Cannes rule that men should be "en smoking" -- the French term for a black-tie dress suit.

The star of the Oscar-winning "Anatomy of a Fall" certainly likes playing the rebel, having made his name in the film "Anarchists".

Which is maybe why he wore neither collar nor tie too.

L.Kwan--ThChM