Cannes Red Carpet Lineup: Auteur Couture and Formal Turbans
Saturday, May 23, 2015 at 1:00PM 
MARGARET: We're back on the red carpet. bringing you the latest in movie star couture though we're a solid ten hours behind the proceedings. (And more since Nathaniel randomly selects gowns from multiple premieres)
ANNE MARIE: So glad I could sweep in at the last moment. I've been enjoying the Red Carpet you, Nathaniel, & Jose have been having over the past few weeks! And the best part of doing a Red Carpet Round up is that nobody throws you out for wearing the wrong shoes!
MARGARET: Cannes in particular always brings in a satisfying range of stylist-curated glam to nonchalant idiosyncracy. Which brings us to Agnes Varda, looking very much herself in... what would you call that ensemble?
ANNE MARIE: Varda chic? Auteur Couture? The advantage of being a living legend presented with awards from one of the most internationally acclaimed film festivals is that you can dress however the hell you want. This is pretty similar to what she wore when I saw her at AFI fest two years ago.
MARGARET: Watch that two-tone hairstyle get picked up by some trendsetting model and suddenly be all the rage among the young & hip.
ANNE MARIE: I have a theory that her hair looks like that because she was dipped in the river Seine like a French Achilles, and the only part of her that wasn't submerged was the top of her head. (This would also be a good time to announce that Agnes Varda will be the focus of next month's Women's Pictures, because we love her almost as much as Cannes does.)
MARGARET: Now let's look at this collection of ladies bringing the color: Mindy, Sienna, Andie, and Jane. If I squint at the miniature, I can imagine each of their gowns as a fun piece of accent jewelry.
ANNE MARIE: Which is funny, because almost none of them are wearing any jewelry. Seriously though, these are some difficult colors to pull off - especially Mindy's pink & purple combo. But I kinda love it? Although, and I think I say this every time we see one, I hate midriff dresses.
MARGARET: I'm sure it must actually be a midriff dress, but to me it looks like a top tucked into a high skirt and I think I'll choose to continue thinking about it that way. She is working that color combination, and her pose with The Leg is bringing me shades of Angelina at the 2011 Oscars, which I can never be mad at.
ANNE MARIE: So, Sienna Miller. The double diamond pattern looks a little too harlequin-ish to me. Is she mad that Margot Robbie got cast in Suicide Squad instead of her?
MARGARET: Maybe they share a stylist. Although.... upon closer inspection, that isn't just an off-center geometric pattern but an actual print of two kites on her dress. Very Preschool Wall Decal Chic.
ANNE MARIE: Well, she's a Cannes jury member. She needs to show she can fly above the hoi polloi. Where the hell has Andie MacDowell been lately?
MARGARET: She's been popping up in assorted TV project, to my memory. IMDb tells me she's going to be in Magic Mike XXL!
ANNE MARIE: Well, wherever she's been, I'm glad to see her on the red carpet again. That is a LOT of orange and I am here for that color.
MARGARET: That silhouette is one of my favorites. There's something very symmetrical about it which looks so right with a center part, though I'm not usually a fan of those. She really does have a glorious head of hair.
ANNE MARIE: Jane Fonda continues to slay. This dress doesn't appear to be as well-fitted as that blue number she wore in the last roundup, but that neckline. That sash. That Fonda.
MARGARET: It's like if the Winter Formal Barbie I had back in the day got written into Crimson Peak. That getup would totally sink a lesser presence, but on Legendary Jane even the choker giving me severe 90s flashbacks is making me live.
ANNE MARIE: Parker Posey, I love you, but what. the. hell. She looks like Gloria Swanson and Faye Dunaway's emaciated lovechild. She's ready for her closeup, Mr. de Mille.
MARGARET: Or if Fiona, her character in Josie and the Pussycats, played Sally Field's character in a remake of Soapdish.
ANNE MARIE: That is a remake I would definitely watch.
MARGARET: Maybe I'm in the minority but I am here for that. My secret heart of hearts has been praying for the return of the formal turban.
ANNE MARIE: I'm usually with you, just not here. Maybe it's the color + the sunglasses? I'm just getting a very "Hollywood hospital" vibe.
MARGARET: Gotta keep those UV rays out!
ANNE MARIE: Every time I see Rossy de Palma, I immediately want to mix myself a drink and rewatch Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
MARGARET: Just be careful what you mix into that drink, unless you're prepared to take a looooong nap. I wish Rossy would show up in another Almodovar soon. I love her beautiful incomparable face. That gown is excellent on her, too. A simple cut, beautifully draped, and in that perfect shade of Spanish red.
ANNE MARIE: Simple & bold with great shoes. A+
MARGARET: The international movie goddess to her right also gets full marks from me. Aishwarya Rai, typically, looks perfect from top to toe.
ANNE MARIE: That dress would be too much on almost anybody else, but she is KILLING it.
MARGARET: It's heavily structured but flows beautifully, and has just enough fuss and detail to be very Cannes. And that face.
ANNE MARIE: This might be my favorite look of the bunch.
MARGARET: She took a hiatus for a few years when she started a family, but I'm ready for her to take another crack at Hollywood.
ANNE MARIE: Okay, please tell me what you think of Cate Blanchett's dress, because I have no ability to be objective when it comes to Cate.
MARGARET: La Blanchett looks elegant and effortless as usual, and I really like the dress design but I can't help wishing it wasn't all black. I hope this press tour isn't making Rooney Mara's dour red carpet palette rub off on Cate.
ANNE MARIE: It reminds me a lot of her Oscars gown. Uninteresting at first glance, but with a lot of strong details.
MARGARET: What a divine roundup of talent and style, though. I think, of all the style groupings so far, these four ladies are the ones I'd most like to take to brunch.
ANNE MARIE: And what an amazing brunch that would be.
What say you, readers? Who is your pick for Best Dressed, and which among them do you most want to take to brunch?
Reader Comments (6)
Sienna and Cate.
Agnes Varda month! Yes!
Seriously, a red carpet fashion article with photos of Agnes Varda, Parker Posey, Rossy de Palma and Jane effing Fonda! This is why I come here!
Leeeeet's go fly a kite... (8)
I don't really love any of these, Aishwarya Rai's is the most interesting and Andie MacDowell's would be great if her neckline wasn't quite so low.
PARKER POSEY!! What the hell are you doing? She looks like Little Edie reincarnate! I'm all for turbans and the glamour they give but you have to know when and how to wear them. Watch an old Hedy Lamarr movie, she knew how to make them work. The whole look is too sallow on her, she looks ill.
Best: Rai
Runner-up: Fonda
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Noble Effort: Sienna
I HATE Rai's dress, but somehow she almost makes it work.
I'm going to call Fonda's look The Sash that Blew in from Outer Space.
The rest look somewhere from good to great.