There’s always a breakout look at Cannes and this year it was Yseult in a custom take on Christian Dior’s “New Look”: a cinched white hourglass jacket with a big black skirt, ladylike leather gloves, and a sharp, structural straw saucer hat.

The french 29-year-old pop singer and model stars in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis.” And by the time it hits theaters, she’ll already have become an unexpected household name thanks to being one of Cannes’s best dressed.

When Hunter Schafer arrived in Cannes wearing a custom all-white Prada look that felt part Audrey Hepburn part milkmaid, the internet stood still. If you didn’t know what you where going to be wearing this summer, this was it, the easy elegant look we’ve been waiting for.

The scalloped headscarf? The pale blue heels? The spilling of pleated ruffles from the bodice? It all just perfectly encapsulated the feeling of a crisp summer night walking along the beach or hanging out of a convertible window. It was like French new wave cinema set in the summer, personified.

Time and time again, Michelle Yeoh proves women over 50 own the red carpet right now. Her custom Bottega gave her the appearance of a very colorful swan slinking down the runway with ease. Sure the rules are strict, but that doesn’t mean the dresses have to be stiff! Each stride was pure movement; each piece of the garment flowed like a light feather.

Naomi Campbell wore a Chanel Spring/Summer 1997 haute couture gown to Cannes that she had already wore on the runway 27 years prior. The model loves to reference herself, which is something we would do too if we were the Naomi Campbell.

One of the most viral looks from the entire film festival was Cate Blanchett in a Jean Paul Gaultier gown by Haider Ackermann. The gown had been altered slightly with a deeper green interior that flowed out from behind her with pearls that cut across her shoulder and a pale almost white pink that lined her back.

Last year Rawdah Mohamed went viral at Cannes for showing up as the ‘Scorched Bride’ from Robert Wun’s Spring/Summer 2023 couture collection. This year it was her custom all-red Cecilie Bratsberg Melli that made waves. The look referenced Christian Dior’s Fall/Winter 1954 ‘Zemire’ ensemble which is currently on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

On Instagram Mohamed wrote, “If only monsieur Christian Dior was alive, i bet you i would be his Muse.” And she’s right.

Mrs. Prada has been making imperfections look perfect on the runway for the entirety of her career. And Diana Kruger’s crinkled green Prada gown shows exactly why it works even better on the red carpet. There’s life to this look that makes it come alive. Each crinkle tells a story of where the dress has been and where it can go, like memories pressed into a dress.

Maybe some might say Dilara Findikoglu, whose most recent London show was marketed as a satanic orgy at a Church or a mass ritual to end toxic masculinity, is too freaky for a red carpet. But they would be so so wrong, as celebrities like Chloë Sevigny who wore one of her gowns at The Met Gala and Mariacarla Boscono, who just wore a feathered black gown of hers with leather opera gloves and lace-up pumps to Cannes, prove.

There’s cool and then there’s Isabel Hupert in Balenciaga cool. Unfortunately for everyone who isn’t Hupert, the later is simply impossible to achieve. The textured gown presents like a fluffy bathrobe and accessorizing with nude heels and chunky black sunglasses give that feeling that she just threw it on, walked out the door, and pulled off a full look you would never even dare to.

There’s been whispering of a more bohemian aesthetic trickling into the zeitgeist or maybe it’s just that Sienna Miller looks very good in the ethereal chiffon, ruffled numbers Chloe has been putting out. Either way, it all has us yearning for the freedom of a tiered sheer free-flowing gown that takes us back to the very best parts of the 2010s.

When Bella Hadid was first spotted at Cannes this year, everyone collectively took a deep breath of relief. The queen of the film festival’s red carpet was back to prove no one does it better than her. From her Michael and Hushi dress to her sheer Saint Laurent number, it’s impossible to pick a favorite. But we’ll always have a soft spot for Hadid’s ability to pull out the most awe-inspiring looks from the most coveted archives.

For the L’Amour Ouf premiere, she wore a Versace dress from the spring couture 2001 runway. And like her fall 2003 lace up Versace dress she wore last year to the festival, this vintage Versace will live on in the Cannes Film Festival history books—and best dressed lists, of course.