Dua Lipa, Bella Hadid and John Travolta’s beret: Must-see looks from the Cannes Film Festival so far

By Leah Dolan, CNN

(CNN) — Questions around what to expect at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival have so far largely focused on two things: The Hollywood-shaped hole in the official selection and “The White Lotus.”

This year, the storied celebration of film held on the French Riviera will look a little less “Mission: Impossible,” which premiered on the Croisette in 2025, and a little more international as European and Asian directors such as Pedro Almodóvar, Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryusuke Hamaguchi take center stage. Out of 22 films in competition to win the Palme d’Or, just two are from US auteurs — Ira Sachs’ “The Man I Love,” starring Rami Malek, and James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” with Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and Miles Teller.

Perhaps stars were responding to this shift out on the red carpet, which has at times skewed quirky and distinct instead of traditionally glamorous. One versatile dresser cutting through the noise of figure-hugging gowns and tulle frocks has been Ruth Negga, who has so far worn a varied roster of looks from an haute couture fringed Dior slip dress to an Ami tuxedo suit.

John Travolta, who this year returned to Cannes as a director with his debut film “Propeller One-Way Night Coach,” arrived in a variety of berets. After so many years attending red carpets as an actor, he wanted to “play the part of a director,” Travolta told CNN. After some research the Hollywood icon found that “the old-school directors wore berets… And I said, that’s what I’m doing.”

Of course, running parallel to the festival’s activities is the filming of season four of “The White Lotus,” TV writer and actor Mike White’s HBO show satirizing the lives of the uber rich — which this time is set at Cannes Film Festival. Though how close the cast will get to the historic red carpet, remains to be seen.

Below are the most remarkable looks, as they happen, across the 12-day event.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.