The Most Jaw-Droppingly Beautiful Dresses From the Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes Film Festival is always the most glamorous fortnight of the year, as it sees all of the powerhouses in Hollywood unite on the French Riviera for premiere after premiere after premiere (with a yacht party thrown in in-between). We're now deep into the festival, and as expected, couture houses have created some of the most spectacular gowns for this historic red carpet.

This year, Elle Fanning is one of the jurors at the festival, meaning she has to attend all of the premieres on the schedule. She's one of those stars who always embraces the fun of the red carpet with her long-standing relationship with power stylist Samantha McMillen. For her first premiere on the schedule, Fanning wore a blush gown by Gucci with a dramatic cape and a purple floral embellishment at the waist.

For the premiere of Les Miserables, she wore a Valentino Haute Couture pink floral gown with delicate daisies in her hair, looking just like a fairytale princess. However, her best look to date has to be the magical custom Dior look created with Maria Grazia Chiuri, which reimagined the New Look with a black tulle skirt, a white beautiful blouse and a black wide-brimmed hat. 

Another person who has caught our eye, in particular, is Bollywood star Deepika Padukone. If you don't recognise her name, that's probably because she's not huge in Hollywood, but she is one of the highest-paid actresses in India. While we've only seen two of her knockout looks so far, we're already hoping for plenty more.

So far, we've seen her in the most incredible frothy lime-green Giambattista Valli gown, which she paired with a satin pink headscarf by Emily London. Before this, she wore a completely different but equally as amazing black-and-white dress by Peter Dundas. The '80s-style puffed-up white gown with a huge black bow was Lady Gaga–levels attention-grabbing.

We're also keeping a close eye on the arrivals hall at Nice Airport this week, as celebrities arrive in the Riviera prepared to be photographed, meaning this has become as much a fashion parade as the photo calls on the Croisette and the major premieres. Keep scrolling to see all the best red carpet looks from the Cannes Film Festival so far.

Next up, see our guide to the key trends for spring summer 2019.