The official Cannes Film Festival dress code involves formal gowns, little black dresses, and any shoes but trendy sneakers. The unofficial dress code, unfolding outside luxury hotels and seaside boutiques, favors an all-white palette above all else. It's a time-honored tradition for stars like Bella Hadid and Selena Gomez to reach the French enclave in shades of ivory, cream, and ecru, and for me to cover them all at Marie Claire, wondering how I could ever get away with white-on-white in real life.
I've always loved the look of a crisp white sundress and have worn my share of white skirt outfits. Those looks hardly lasted 24 hours without a scuff mark or stain when I wear them, however. It's like there was a magnetic pull between the clean fabric and the nearest open bottle of Tabasco sauce. By the time a day of wearing white would end, I regretted ever deviating from patterns and prints. But as Bella Hadid touched down in Cannes for the festival's 2025 installment, I suddenly wanted to shelve my skepticism of the all-white summer look anyway.
Hadid walked out of her private car looking like a ray of sunshine, not only on account of her new, honey blonde hair. The star paired a retro-looking white bustier top with matching straight-leg jeans—a combination that could beat the south of France heat, fit the Cannes hotel walk-up memo, and align with her Old Hollywood-gone-Western style. It's the kind of simple combination that makes a formerly intimidating palette look so much more approachable. While exact credits weren't anywhere online at press time, I could easily hunt down a range of similar halter tops and straight-leg pants for the same pin-up look. (I can't speak for how she kept it so pristine.)
The Orêbella founder complemented her matching set with caramel brown accessories from one of her go-to designers. Vintage Saint Laurent heels accompanied a fresh top-handle bag by the house. She added her twist on the silk scarf trend by tying a wispy white ribbon to her purse's handle—another styling tip I plan to copy and paste.
Hadid and stylist Molly Dickson made waves at last year's Cannes Film Festival with a much broader palette. A back-baring white Jacquemus dress was part of the lineup, but so was a plunging archival Versace gown, a golden vintage mini, and the nakedest Saint Laurent dress to ever grace the official red carpet. Still, it's her simple combination of a white halter top and white pants that I'll be copying this spring and summer. I've ordered the interpretation below—along with a Tide to Go pen.
