What to wear? The Cannes costume conundrum
Opinion – Cannes Lions preview
A last-minute dash to Arket for linen trousers, a panic-purchase pair of Axels, and a more-than-you-should-have splurge at Folk. Sound familiar? The Guardian‘s fashionista, Imogen Fox, solves your Cannes wardrobe dilemmas.
Cannes wardrobe planning season is upon us, and despite what you may say, you – you good people of advertising – care much more about what you will wear on the Croisette than you do about agentic media buying.
How do I know? Because in the past few weeks I have been privy to literally thousands (OK, a fair few) of conversations between media men who, having established that their lunch buddy (me) is attending the festival of creativity, quickly, if a little sheepishly, move the conversation on to more serious matters: their wardrobe dilemmas.
Full disclosure: one of those lunches was indeed with the good editors of this esteemed publication who proceeded to pump me for advice once they learned that prior to my stint as ads boss at The Guardian, I spent many years as a fashion journalist; 12 of them at The Guardian writing about trends, catwalks and wardrobe semantics.
So – fashion qualifications established, I accepted the commission and did what any good advertising person would do: polled my sources for some qualitative insights. And guess what? I immediately got a demo split.
South of France garments and Spanish showers
Men, despite their sartorial swim lane being inarguably narrower than women’s, are much more exercised about the matter. They care deeply about the actual South of France garments and what that will signal. Women, in turn, are more fixated on visceral matters: steps, sweat and so-called “Spanish showers”.
Liz Jones, co-founder of executive search company Conker, is eloquent on the dichotomy between the expected media cool and the 35C realities of the week.
“My worst moment was the year I ended up doing a full ‘Spanish shower’ in the toilets of the Carlton”, she tells me. “Our hotel was miles away, I’d been out since breakfast, and by mid‑afternoon I looked like Cannes had personally defeated me. So there I was, in a bathroom stall, unpacking a crumpled dress and shoes I’d been carting around in a tote bag all day, redoing my makeup from scratch, drowning myself in deodorant and perfume, and emerging like nothing had happened. A true Cannes rebirth.”
Stephanie Parry, MD of Jellyfish, is joyfully blunt on the matter. “It’s FitFlops for the step count, a neck fan and Megababe Thigh Rescue Stick to prevent chaffing.” I think I can rely on our British contingent in the south of France to take this advice literally on board.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 boss Rak Patel proclaims the sartorial rigour of the experienced Cannes-er. “I’m not a bit stressed,” he says. “Partly because I’ve now been pretty consistent for over a decade, with slight amends over the years. Always a cotton short-sleeved shirt in a variety of colours and shades. A few years back I moved to tailored shorts, a must given the heat. And last year I evolved my footwear, from boat shoes to my Axel’s.”
He goes on to advise transitional glasses, but sadly for fans of Patel’s upbeat and camera-ready style, he declines to reveal details about this trademark gold accessories.
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As with any travelling circus, inevitably style tribes emerge. Jones notes the “tech optimists”, the “agency athletes” and the “just here for the rosé” crew. While Danny Spears, CCO of Ozone, is keen to make the distinction between an “ad tech” look and a “pub-tech” look. The latter, of course, being far chicer.
“Light and loose” is his mantra, and he admits he’s accidentally fallen into Japanese fashion and workwear. Spears will never wear boat shoes, and instead rates clean canvas sports shoes from the Stepney Workers Club. He did leave me with a curveball as the lunch bill arrived, though. “Who is your style inspo?” I asked. “Alan Whicker”, he grinned. “What a guy for hot climates!”
Admittedly this left me a little perplexed. In the world of fashion, style icons are hackneyed, but nonetheless heavily referenced. And yet, here I am three weeks of research in and not a single reference to vintage Jane Birkin or Leo DiCaprio in the Wolf of Wall Street yacht scene. Fascinating.
The formula for successful attire
What then, is the formula for a successful week in the south of France? If you will allow me, here’s a couple of points for consideration.
First, why not take notes from the other Cannes: the film one. Not the custom-made designer red carpet looks – but instead, the Nice Côte D’Azure Airport looks.
Daisy Edgar-Jones, Kendall Jenner and Demi Moore all won the chic stakes this year in white, cream and black. It’s classic for a reason, guys.
And second, the man who is currently winning summer 2026 is Harry Styles. Sure, you may not have sold out Wembley for 12 nights, but come on, lads: someone please wear running shorts and a tie to the Carlton. Merci.
Imogen Fox is The Guardian’s global chief advertising officer