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Every spring, the Cannes Film Festival turns the French Riviera into a shining hub of international film premieres, where top filmmakers, A-list stars, and emerging auteurs gather to watch the year's most anticipated movies.
In 2025, the slate shows an eclectic collection of daring movies and big-risk blockbusters, from Scarlett Johansson making her debut behind the camera on Eleanor the Great, to Wes Anderson returning with his fantastical new feature The Phoenician Scheme.
But Cannes is so much more than an elite launching pad for film premieres; it's also a grand spectacle for fashion. The red carpet is its own show, where glamour and weirdness intersect in dazzling couture, custom-fitted tuxedos, and splashy appearances that generate buzz as much as the films do. In its essence, Cannes is a celebration not only of film but of the glamour and drama that it evokes.
While the Cannes Film Festival is internationally famous for its presentation of cinematographic beauty on the silver screen, its appeal is broader than the silver screen. It's a lavish affair where celebrity, drama, and fashion come together to create a wonderful gathering, diminishing the red carpet stroll-a-thon into a display of stunning designer outfits and newsworthy moments.
Here are 8 viral red carpet moments that prove that the red carpet at Cannes does not flow as smoothly behind the scenes as it looks in photos.
Disclaimer: This article contains the writer's opinion. The reader's discretion is advised!
Here are the top 8 crazy moments from the Cannes red carpet throughout the years
The Cannes red carpet has been a draw for unforgettable, over-the-top moments that go beyond fashion. From unplanned protests to wardrobe malfunctions, and from celebrity tantrums to unplanned outbursts, the festival has witnessed it all. With all eyes on every move from the world's cameras, even the minutest of incidents can become an international news headline within minutes.
This symbolic strip of red has, over the years, transformed into a venue where madness and fashion tend to meet, leaving us a festival of going-viral instances that continue to stir controversy even years later. Below are eight of the craziest, most controversial instances that validate that Cannes is as unpredictable as it is fabulous.
1) Julia Roberts (2016)
Back in 2016, Julia Roberts was in the news not only because of her celebrity status, but also for a red-carpet switch that defied conventional dress codes. While attending the Money Monster premiere at Cannes Film Festival, she abandoned high heels altogether and appeared barefoot, an action widely understood as a discreet protest against the festival's alleged rule mandating females to wear heels.
Instead of making a public declaration, Roberts left the gesture to speak volumes, attracting heavy media scrutiny and popular acclaim. Her choice had renewed discussion about the unstated fashion etiquette governing women in Hollywood and further called attention to how female celebrities have utilized high-profile outings to challenge outdated norms.
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2) Guila Clara Kessous (2025)
On the opening night of Dossier 137, French visual artist and human rights activist Guila Clara Kessous delivered an emotional and surprising one-liner that was the evening's most buzzed-about moment. Rather than appearing with a projected guest, Kessous appeared on the red carpet with a white dove, an emblem of peace and hope that spans centuries.
In a symbol-laden gesture, she releases the bird mid-way down the carpet, turning the premiere into a restrained yet emotive performance art. The symbolic gesture precedes her next award at Cannes, where she will be awarded the Women Empowerment Award, which honors her ongoing work at the confluence of art, activism, and human rights.
Kessous's choice to synthesize theatre symbolism with public exposure is representative of her broader philosophy: that art should challenge, inspire, and defy convention.
3) Sophie Marceau (2005)
When it comes to fashion blunders, Sophie Marceau's embarrassing faux pas at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival ranks as one of the most inflammatory recent fashion faux pas. At the premiere of Where the Truth Lies, the refined French goddess dressed in a chic black outfit that looked great on her, exuding grace and calm as she smiled before the photographers.
But, ironically, something was horribly wrong when the sleeve of her blouse, carefully styled with a loosely draped, flimsy look, suddenly fell off, briefly exposing her left side of the body to the sea of photographers. The entire incident was over in an instant, but the photo was already taken. Rather than folding under the pressure, Marceau remained astonishingly calm, calmly re-tucking her shirt and giggling about it with easy charm.
In a business where appearance matters, such a game face reaction only served to make her more attractive. Although brief, the gaffe was an indelible Cannes moment–less about the revelation itself than how she'd ridden out an unexpected fashion gaffe on one of the biggest stages in the world.
A reminder that despite the most extreme scrutiny in the spotlight of snapping cameras and the tension of red carpet etiquette, confidence and honesty can turn an embarrassing gaffe nigh on into something endearing.
4) Madonna (1991)
At the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, Madonna made perhaps the most lasting style moment of her existence by stepping on the red carpet for the premiere of In Bed with Madonna in the risqué Jean-Paul Gaultier creation.
Rather than take the route of traditional glamour, she chose to test the limits of a risqué and rebellious style: a cone bra and high-cut underwear of the same color, embracing spectacle and liberation of intimacy that would characterize her look.
More performance art than fashion, it was an engineering exercise in balance between celebrity, spectacle, and self. While pop icons were not so much being employed to establish red carpet values quite so emphatically at the time, Madonna took advantage of the moment to prove that she had her image firmly in hand, toppling headlines around the world and cementing her status as a pop culture provocateur.
5) Lady Victoria Hervey (2013)
During the Blood Ties premiere at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, Lady Victoria Hervey was the subject of a red carpet controversy. Reports at the time claimed she attracted notice for taking too long in front of the cameras, making poses and, from the view of security, hogging the space.
Looking back at the incident in a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hervey uncovered a surprising rule of the exclusive Palais red carpet: visitors are supposed to proceed steadily along the carpet, first in the direction of the photographers on one side, then the other, without going back.
"I didn't know you couldn't pose on one side and then follow the crowd back," she confessed.
She pointed out that her act of defiance had generated a "big fuss" in the media. "I learned my lesson," she continued, laughing at the memory of the ordeal, "and I most certainly won't be making the same mistake again."
6) Shia LaBeouf (2016)
The first to pop into most people's minds when they hear the Cannes Film Festival is the look of style: the designer gowns sweeping down the red carpet, the super-thin tuxedos, the flash of camera light, and the serene background of the French shore. It is where glamour is de rigueur, where each step is executed and styled.
But in 2016, Shia LaBeouf discarded that script at the American Honey premiere. Rather than taking the carpet as seriously as a catwalk, he animated it, animating it with spontaneity and raw excitement. With thumping music thudding from the speakers, a common feature of otherwise upscale venues, LaBeouf started dancing, spurning the stern seriousness that generally pervades Cannes.
What might so easily be dismissed as a personality quirk happily gave way to more, as the rest of the cast quickly followed suit with dancing, laughing, and relaxing.
Less an experiment in style or status, it was a moment of bonding and youth energy, the anarchic spirit of American Honey overall. In doing this, LaBeouf did not merely arrive in Cannes; he also broke its rules and made the world aware that film, at its core, is about human emotion, enjoyment, and human connection.
7) Kristen Stewart (2018)
During 2015, the Cannes Film Festival was criticized when certain women in their 50s were turned back from attending the premiere for Carol because they were not wearing high heels, but flats instead, according to WWD. This has opened a larger debate about s*xist and outdated dress codes on the part of high-society cultural institutions.
As popular as the policy was, there were even some of the industry's top-starring names coming out against it. Among them was Kristen Stewart, perhaps the most vocal of all the critics of the policy.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, she criticized the double standard, asking why men should not be asked to wear heels or dresses if they were not being requested to. Stewart's edict created opportunities for increasing demands for more equal and inclusive levels at VIP events, making a fashion scandal a gender norms and independence issue.
8) Kelly Rowland (2024)
At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Kelly Rowland made headlines following a fight with a security guard on the red carpet. It was when she was physically pushed and escorted off the carpet. Instead of playing it cool, Rowland opened up about the incident afterward, suggesting that something more lay behind the incident.
She was asserting her right to establish personal boundaries and challenging the differential treatment being afforded her, observing that other women in the crowd, not of her racial group, were not receiving the same hasty or dismissive treatment. Her reaction was less to the incident itself, but challenging a pattern of behavior that was not normally challenged.
By refusing to back down, Rowland transformed a small red carpet altercation into something larger about respect, race, and the way women of color too frequently get treated in public.
Alongside its cinematic acclaim, the Cannes Film Festival has become equally renowned for its unforgettable, absurd, and downright surreal moments. Beyond the Palme d'Or and the ovations are decades of crazy red carpet gaffes, spontaneous political protests, wardrobe failures, and celebrity confrontations that have made headlines and initiated global debates. From impromptu protests to contentious booing, from high-drama walkouts to style so bold it left jaws on the ground, Cannes has long survived on surprise.
Such moments, all glamour and anarchy, stand as reminders that although the festival celebrates the artistry of film, it also captures the unvarnished, unapologetic humanity of those who create it. In a world where perception is reality, it's usually the spontaneous drama that ultimately defines the legacy.
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