Actress Julia
Roberts made a startling style statement ! by appearing barefoot on the red carpet at the 69th Cannes Film
Festival to screen her upcoming film “Money Monster”. The lack of footwear
violated the strict (but unwritten) dress code, but after last year’s ‘Flatgate’ controversy,
it’s not a surprise celebrities are rebelling against the rules, reports
eonline.com. She recently made headlines when she attended a film premiere
without footwear. Julia went shoeless to climb the steps that conclude
Cannes' iconic carpet. She slipped out of her heels, bundled up her flowing
black gown and bounded barefoot up the stairs.
Protocol on Cannes'
red carpet is extremely rigid. Last year, several attendees were denied entry
for wearing flat shoes and a media storm erupted. Last year there were reports that "multiple
guests, some older with medical conditions, were denied access to the
anticipated world premiere screening for wearing rhinestone flats." Cannes Film Festival was under fire after reports women were turned
away from a red carpet screening for wearing flat shoes instead of heels. The women - some of whom were said to be
older with medical conditions - were attending the world premiere of Cate
Blanchett's new film Carol. Screen Daily said the festival had confirmed heels
were obligatory for women at red carpet screenings. However the director of the
festival said the "rumours" were "unfounded". Screen Daily
first reported the story, after a "Cannes regular" told them how a
woman wearing Rhinestone-encrusted flat shoes was denied entry. A spokesperson
for the festival confirmed to the BBC
that rules have not changed throughout the years – there is mention of
formal dress but nothing on the height of the women's heels as well as for
men's. The story provoked widespread
outrage on Twitter, where the head of film at the SXSW festival, Janet Pierson,
tweeted a link to the story with the words: "Why I don't go to
Cannes". The festival said it had
made efforts to address the gender imbalance between male and female directors
this year, despite only two female directors being in competition.
Opinions
differ. Etiquette expert William Hanson was
quoted as saying – no one is bigger than the dress code and that all hosts have a right to enforce a dress
code. He contended that by accepting an
invite you agree to comply to certain rules.
She further added that - there
needn't be any argument or lost sleep over the issue. The dress code for Cannes
is evening dress (aka Black Tie). For men this requires a dinner jacket and a
black bow tie; for women an evening dress and heels. A flat shoe is a more
casual, daytime piece and just not appropriate for a formal affair. A heel does make the wearer's legs look a lot
better than a flat shoe ever could.
Whether
Cannes stick to their rules and whether Julia Roberts intentionally walked
barefoot may not be news but the following makes some interesting read !
The
film of John Malkovich referred to earlier is ‘100 Years’ directed by Robert
Rodriguez that is due to be released on 18 November 2115. No typo error that . The actor and director announced in Nov 2015 that they had
teamed up with Louis XIII Cognac to create a film inspired by the hundred years
it takes to make a bottle of Louis XIII. They released three teaser trailers showing no footage from
the film. Instead, they imagine three different possible futures from a
dystopia to a technological paradise. Until its release, the film will be kept
in a high-tech safe in bulletproof glass that will open automatically on 18
November 2115, the date of the film's premiere to which one thousand guests
from around the world. The film's plot
remains a complete secret. The safe which the film is kept in will be showcased
at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and various other cities in the world before
heading back to Cognac, France and the Louis XIII cellars.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
15th May 2016.
