If Cannes has a rebel in residence, it’s Kristen Stewart.
The Chanel ambassador, 36, has spent a decade defying the festival’s strict dress code — and her two latest looks from the Cannes Film Festival 2026 are no exception.
At the Saturday photo call for her new comedy “Full Phil”, Stewart wore a Chanel spring 2026 couture set: a sheer gray tweed polo shirt layered over a skin-toned tank top with a coordinating knee-length skirt over shorts. She finished the look with vintage Nike Swoosh saddle oxfords and a Chanel Lune ring.
The actress’ longtime stylist, Tara Swennen, told Vogue the lightweight underpinnings made the set look “more revealing than it was.”
While she may have gotten away with her sneakers at the photo call, the casual shoe is specifically verboten at Grand Théâtre Lumière gala screenings.
That didn’t stop Stewart; for the evening’s premiere, she changed into a red-and-black knit Chanel gown from the house’s fall 2026 collection, the loose knit showing off a black bra and high-waisted briefs underneath.
She paired it with a Chanel Premiere Ribbon red watch ($6,050) and a Comete Harmonie ring — plus black Ruby Brown 3306 Dames high-top sneakers that she flashed as she made her way across the red carpet.
Both pairs of kicks came straight from Stewart’s own closet, Swennen told Vogue.
Stewart’s dress-code dodges have become a Cannes tradition. In 2016, she ditched her Christian Louboutin heels at the “Personal Shopper” premiere, changing into a pair of beat-up Vans after finishing the step-and-repeat. She kicked off the festival in a series of red-carpet T-shirts and returned the following year with a bleached buzz cut.
Her most pointed protest came in 2018, when she pulled off her Christian Louboutin heels on the Palais steps. At the time, the festival’s unwritten dress code required women to wear high heels.
“Things have to change immediately,” Stewart told IndieWire. “If [a man and I] were walking the red carpet together and someone stopped me and said, ‘Excuse me, young lady, you’re not wearing heels. You cannot come in’ — then [I’m going to say], ‘Neither is my friend. Does he have to wear heels?’”
Cannes has since loosened its footwear stance but tightened others, banning naked dresses, voluminous trains and sneakers at gala screenings.
That hasn’t slowed Stewart down. Last year, she skirted the dress code by layering a sheer skirt over shorts at the premiere of her directorial debut, “The Chronology of Water,” and also turned up in a nearly fully unbuttoned Chanel tweed jumpsuit and a baseball cap with a shorts suit and tie.
Swennen — who has dressed Stewart since the actress was 14 — told Vogue she thinks the guidelines have room for interpretation.
“If it’s not trashy and people remain polished, I think [the rules are] malleable,” Swennen said. “People should feel free to go and enjoy themselves and promote their art — and be authentic to themselves.”
Read the full article here
