Also in this issue:
Can Shein buy sustainability cred?
What’s Jonathan Anderson's beef with women—and possibly dogs?
Are luxury brands taking over all of Saint-Tropez?
As most of you know, I was at the Cannes Film Festival for a spell this week for the announcement that Dirty Films, the production company of Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Coco Francini, is co-producing the documentary adaptation of my book, Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes, directed by noted auteur Reiner Holzemer. We’re now in the financing phase. (If you are interested in funding it, do drop a line!)
While in Cannes, I noticed and heard a few things:
The Absence of the Hollywood Studios: No major player has a movie in the Cannes competition this year, and you can feel it at every turn. No blockbuster billboards on hotel facades. Empty seats at official screenings. Fewer power meetings at the Hôtel Majestic and beach clubs. Less traffic. No big premiere parties that go on until dawn. No amazing stunts, like when Top Gun: Maverick premiered in 2022, and the Patrouille de France did a fly-by. No juice. No frisson. It’s even easy to get a table at Da Laura. “It’s really boring this year,” I was told more than once. “Dead,” someone else said.
Demi Moore in Cannes. Jury member Demi Moore is not missing a single a Red Carpet Opportunity: One of the things I’ve loved about covering Cannes over the years was spotting or crossing jury members at press screenings—there is a small section of dedicated seats for them, and they can drop in and catch a film at 8:30 or 11 a.m., freeing up their evenings for supper with friends, or official functions like the President’s Dinner, or maybe another press screening. Generally, jury members get dolled up and walk the red carpet for the opening and closing ceremonies; the rest of the 12-day festival, they are in casual clothes, going to the movies like regular Joes.
