Bella Hadid made a memorable return to the Croisette in Cannes on Tuesday afternoon. The model made her debut on the red carpet at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival with long honey-blonde hair. Her slightly provocative Saint Laurent gown was notable not only for its craftsmanship, but also for its clever challenge to the festival’s new dress code, which emphasizes “property” and prohibits revealing clothing.
At the opening ceremony and premiere of Partir Un Jour, Hadid made a stunning appearance in a sexy black gown designed by Saint Laurent’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello.
The gown featured a plunging V-neck, an open back, exaggerated cutouts on the sides, revealing a sexy cleavage, and a high slit that accentuated her long legs. Complementing Hadid’s look was a pair of Saint Laurent Georgia sandals, which cost $1,390.
But perhaps even more striking than the gown was her newly dyed hair. Hadid ditched her signature dark brown for a soft honey-blonde hue – one of the biggest beauty trends of the year. Her appearance not only set the trend, but solidified it.
Although Hadid’s first look at Cannes 2025 did not feature sheer fabrics or long trains, which Cannes recently banned, it did run under the festival’s strict “no nudity” red carpet rules – but Hadid walked without issue, proving that provocation and defiance still have their place.
There has been a lot of backlash against the new Cannes dress code. For one, it came the day before the festival opened, leaving many stylists stressed out by having to change outfits for their celebrity clients on very short notice.
According to journalist Louis Pisano, Halle Berry had to swap the Gaurav Gupta gown she was originally planning to wear for a ready-to-wear look by Jacquemus that was decidedly less flattering than the couture designer had intended. The ban also sparked a backlash for restricting what women can wear, an issue the festival has long been criticized for.
From her tailored dresses to her warm-hued hairstyles, Bella Hadid returned to Cannes for the 2025 Film Festival in a look that was both rebellious and glamorous, proving once again why she’s a red carpet regular year after year.