• by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, Yesterday

“You Americans are so puritanical!”  That’s a direct quote from a Frenchman, an international agency CEO, I was speaking with years ago at a cocktail party at the Cannes Lions Festival.

He had just introduced me to an elegant woman he described as his “mistress,” and I blinked.

Now it’s my turn to say, “You French persons are so hypocritical!”

That’s because one day before the movie stars arrived for the opening of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, this notice appeared on the website:  “For decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as in any other area of the festival. Voluminous outfits, in particular those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic …are not permitted.”

At a sophisticated, louche resort town in the south of France famous for its topless beaches, and a film festival known for debuting sexually provocative movies, how counterintuitive is regulating nudity?

What’s more, what do they consider an “absence of clothing”?

Were the festival fathers to take a few steps outside the Palais to police Cannes’ sandy beaches, they would find numerous old men with rather large bellies wearing tiny Speedos that tend to disappear, providing a nude effect.

But this is about policing women’s bodies, not men’s, which has a sexist ring and is tone-deaf at best.

For Cannes, the nudity rule also comes late to the show.  Many of the female actors, models and execs plan their Cannes wardrobes months in advance.

After all, getting the attention of the crowds and the paparazzi -- and setting up a viral moment that will dominate Insta or TikTok -- takes serious planning.

And whether it’s for the film festival or the ad industry version (coming June 16), the business of Cannes is business.

Still, the whole “absence of clothing” thing has been a staple in the film industry since silent days.

Plus, revealing clothing is in the DNA at a beach resort like Cannes.

As for the trend in general, designer Rudi Gernreich introduced topless bathing suits in the 1960s.

Jennifer Lopez famously bared most when she wore that scarf-like green Versace dress to the 2000 Grammy Awards.

That was 25 years ago; the dress's effect on the then-nascent internet was so seismic that it led to the creation of Google Image Search. 

These days, for better or worse, dresses cut down to there and up to here are the stuff of high school proms.

The Cannes ban has already succeeded in at least one thing: sending media editors to the photo files, to furiously recirculate model Bella Hadid’s nipple-revealing number from last year’s red carpet, along with all the other body-baring outlaws, so readers/viewers can be “shocked-shocked!”

The nudity police this year at Cannes have conflated fashion -- which always breaks boundaries and rules, and sometimes becomes art -- with porn.

As it happens, Halle Berry had to switch up her look at the last minute. Her replacement black-and-white-striped gown was not a crowd-pleaser. Model Bella Hadid also found a dress that was more covered up, save for that new/old cleavage frontier -- an angled bit of side breast.

Both were considered “boring.” 

Rules like this are punitive, and wearers get unfairly criticized no matter what.

The ban really hits the wrong note at a time when women’s agency over their own bodies is being threatened worldwide.

Women deserve autonomy and freedom for whatever they decide.

By contrast, when Kanye West (“Ye”) and his companion, Bianca Censori, crashed the red carpet at the Grammys in February, she took her fur coat off to reveal what Ye called an “invisible dress,” a completely transparent curtain over her naked body.

The effect was like crashing into her in the shower.

It seems as if Censori is living with her own kind of censorship. She generally appears alongside Ye as if she’s an appendage, someone who is controlled. He puts her in outfits that are neither stylish nor empowering. In this case, the dress just seemed made for a humiliating public stunt.

Whereas at Cannes, the actors know all about self-presentation and are powerful in their own rights.

By the second day, the women were all breaking the “voluminous train” rules and flounced around looked fabulous.

The Cannes Lions (same hotels and screening rooms, same red-carpeted stairs) is now a vast and complex blend of tech/media/and creativity. It’s a week of global networking, seminars and awards. Guest speakers will include Serena Williams.

As yet, there are no known red carpets. And I can’t imagine that there will be last-minute anti-nudity rules.

This is a good thing, considering what goes on in those rented villas with pools in the hills, events not made for American Puritans.

But the French will judge severely, nonetheless.

And to get perhaps overly philosophical: In the end, are we not all naked?