Ten Historic Moments at Cannes Film Festival
Brigitte Bardot was only 18 years old when she first appeared on the Cannes red carpet. By that time. she had five films in her portfolio, including Act of Love, for which she had attended the festival. But her roles weren't exactly her claim to fame and popularity, but rather a series of photos taken on the beaches of the Côte d'Azur that elevated her status to that of an icon.
Photographer and director of the Getty Images archive Bob Ahern—who has worked at the festival for more than 20 years—recalls that Cannes has always been fairly conservative, especially when it comes to its strict code of dress. However, this began to change gradually come the early 90's. "Nobody could change Madonna," he says of the singer's appearance on the red carpet in 1991. The pop provocateur showed up in a white silk Jean-Paul Gaultier ensemble, which included the French designer's ingenious conical-shaped bra.
Models and actresses have walked the red carpet of Cannes for the last 30 years, but in 1996, there was a slight change in tradition, when the event became a photo shoot. Czech model Eva Herzigová struck a variety of poses as she was lifted onto a gentleman's shoulders (and atop a ladder), perched above the crowd of photographers, notably among them, the legendary Helmut Newton, who orchestrated the whole thing.
At Cannes 2008, Angelina Jolie announced her pregnancy while on the red carpet with then-husband Brad Pitt. Two months later, she gave birth to twins Knox and Vivienne in the neighboring city of Nice.
