The Cannes Film Festival has been running on the French Riviera since 1939, and for the better part of a century it’s doubled as the longest, sunniest catwalk in the world. The films matter, of course. But so does what gets worn at them.
From black tie masterclasses to off duty linen, these are seven of the best dressed men to ever walk the Croisette.
Alain Delon, 1962
Few men have ever owned a setting the way Alain Delon owned the French Riviera in the early 1960s. Pictured dining at La Mère Terrats with his partner Romy Schneider, Delon wore a contrasting shirt and blazer combination finished with a small carnation pinned to the lapel. Quiet, effortless and very French. Everything Cannes was supposed to be.
Robert Redford, 1972
Long before the off duty Cannes look became a thing, Redford was already doing it. He turned up to the festival in 1972 wearing a half zipped velour tracksuit top, a couple of rings and not much else. It worked because it was Redford. The same approach in 2026 would look like a man who missed his flight. In 1972 it looked like the future of Cannes casual.
George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, 2007
The Ocean’s trilogy was about three men in dinner jackets pretending to rob a casino. In 2007, the same three men turned up on the Cannes red carpet to promote Ocean’s Thirteen and did the real version. Three different lapel shapes, three perfectly tied bow ties, three starched shirts. A masterclass in how black tie can vary slightly between gentlemen and still feel like a uniform.
Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, 2019
Twelve years on, Pitt was back. This time at the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood photocall with Leonardo DiCaprio, and dressed completely against the grain of the festival. Black long sleeve polo over a white tee, slim black trousers, a navy flat cap and tortoiseshell sunglasses. Almost nothing on display, no jacket, no tailoring, no concession to the cameras. Pure Pitt. DiCaprio went the other way in a soft navy two piece, an open white shirt and dark sunglasses, with his hair slicked back. Two of the biggest stars on earth standing side by side at Cannes, one dressed for a Sunday walk in Los Feliz and the other for a long lunch in Saint Tropez. Both completely sold it.
Roger Moore, 1977
In 1977 Roger Moore arrived at Cannes to promote his third Bond film and brought the wardrobe to match. A roll neck pulled straight from Live and Let Die, a linen safari suit that could have come off the set of The Man with the Golden Gun, and a cigar between his fingers. Moore borrowed from his on screen self and made the offstage version look just as convincing. Bond at the bar, basically.
Timothée Chalamet, 2021
Cannes in 2021 belonged to Timothée Chalamet. The actor, then 25, walked the premiere of Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch in a silver and gold Tom Ford suit, a collarless shirt and a pair of black sunglasses. The look was bold but never overdone, and Chalamet wore it the way only he could. It also marked a shift. Younger stars could now bend the Cannes dress code without breaking it.
Austin Butler, 2022
Cannes 2022 belonged to Austin Butler. There for the premiere of Elvis, Butler moved between Celine and Saint Laurent for evening and YSL camp collar shirts with bootcut trousers and Cuban heels by day. Black sunglasses, slicked hair, the whole package. Riviera style at its sharpest, played by a man who looked completely at home in it.