There's complex etiquette and a rich history behind the French film festival's red-carpet ban of "naked" or "voluminous" dressing. We decipher the "decency" dress code of the Cannes Film Festival in 2025.

That most rigid of red carpets just got a little bit more rigid – on Tuesday, the Cannes Film Festival announced that: "for decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as in any other area of the festival."

It feels striking because naked dresses have become such a red-carpet staple in recent years, including at Cannes. Last year, for instance, the supermodel Bella Hadid wore a 10-denier Saint Laurent halter neck dress, while over the years stars from Isabelle Huppert, Naomi Campbell and Kendal Jenner have all opted for the oxymoronic trend.

Landing at a time when there is a rise in cultural conservatism, it feels in keeping with an uptick in the policing of women's bodies – in this instance, in the name of "decency". "God forbid someone serves a nipple," wrote Boring Not Com, an anonymous account famous in fashion circles, on Instagram – continuing, "the quiet return of conservatism is real".

For some, including Rose McGowan, so-called naked dressing is about empowerment.

And many observers also pointed out glaring double standards. "Bare skin is banned on the carpet, yet once inside, it's right there on the screen. Almost always female, of course," wrote Boring Not Com. "Let's not forget, this is the same festival that turned women away for wearing flats in 2015. All while still rolling out the red carpet for Roman Polanski [who in 1978 fled the US ahead of sentencing for the rape of a minor]."

Other commentators made the wider point that Cannes is home to another famous – paradoxical – rule defining what women wear: the 2016 burkini ban, which decreed that Muslim women wearing burkinis could be a threat to public order. "A woman dressing modestly and covering her head for religious reasons is not allowed and a woman in a sheer dress is also seen as 'indecent'. You need to dress conservatively but not too conservatively. It’s a lose-lose situation," wrote Shahed Ezaydi in Stylist.

But the festival ban does not stop at nudity, also decreeing that "voluminous outfits, in particular those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theatre are not permitted". It strikes at the heart of the question: what is the red carpet actually for?

What – or rather who – people are wearing has been an essential question ever since Joan........

© BBC