It’s time for the Cannes Film Festival. And how does one dress for the Red Carpet? Well, if you are a woman, presumably you have to torture your feet.
There’s a story in Screen Daily, Cannes: Women denied Palais entry for wearing flats, in which there are reports of some of the women not being allowed to walk the Red Carpet at Cannes because they weren’t wearing heels that were high enough.
Supposedly these were women “in their 50’s” (really, really old, right?) who probably had foot problems from years of, you guessed it, wearing high heels, and went for rhinestone flats. And were turned away.
But don’t forget, Cannes has a reputation to protect. It’s all part of “glamour”. After all, men have to wear bow-ties, so surely women can put up with a little bit of ruining their feet.
Emily Blunt was one of the actresses who criticized the policy, saying “Everyone should wear flats, to be honest. We shouldn’t be wearing high heels anyways. That’s my point of view. I just prefer wearing Converse sneakers.” (You can see the news conference in this story. [Warning: the video autostarts.])
Many of us argue that even shoes often do horrible things to feet. But of course high heels exacerbate that.
After the report came out, Cannes specifically denied that they had a rule about high heels, and blamed it on some over-zealous staff. See Cannes seeks to clarify red-carpet code after backlash. Here’s the quote from Cannes:
Regarding the dress code for the red carpet screenings, rules have not changed throughout the years (Tuxedo, formal dress for Gala screenings) and there is no specific mention about the height of the women’s heels as well as for men’s. Thus, in order to make sure that this rule is respected, the festival’s hosts and hostesses were reminded of it.
So, what did Emily Blunt do on the Red Carpet? Let’s take a look.
Oh, yeah. That’s really “prefer[ing] wearing Converse sneakers.” Things aren’t going to change unless people, you know, actually follow through.
It would be interesting, now that Cannes clarified, to see an actress (or and actor, for that matter) wearing a really fancy-looking barefoot sandal. They could easily be decorated to look glittery as heels. But don’t hold your breath.
Actors and actresses are just as susceptible to public pressure as the rest of the population. Just as many people say they’d prefer to go barefoot, so few of them actually end up doing so. I suspect the same will hold for high heels and Red Carpets.
Hm, though I expressly do not follow the Yellow Press I remember coming across reports of actresses actually barefoot on the red carpet at various festivals and gala receptions not so infrequently. Usually they are pictured carrying their high-heeled designer sandals in their hands, probably because those have become unbearably uncomfortable. Perhaps it depends on your fame and status whether you “get away” with this.
It’s a good sign that high heels are no longer an unquestioned requirement for participating in this type of event. Even better would be a famous actress declining to come to Cannes instead of giving in.
Anyway, I think wearing high-heels only for short durations does not have long-term consequences.
There are two kinds of actors: Those who can follow difficult instructions of their director and play exactly the way they are told – and those who bring in a lot of their individuality (but may not be as versatile for any role).
Do film festivals like this prefer the kind of actor who perfectly plays the role of a star walking in high heels on a red carpet? It would be wonderful to see the true person behind the roles at such events, and not yet another attempt at conforming perfectly to a written role, this time the one the media seems to want to see (and the festival management may or may not enforce).