Ahead of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, Everyone’s Looking Fly at the Airport

Reported by Vogue.

Nice Airport has never technically been a fashion venue, but someone forgot to tell the Cannes crowd. Every May, the arrivals hall at Nice Côte d'Azur quietly transforms into its own kind of red carpet — one where the lighting is worse but the branding intel is arguably better. According to Vogue, the airport has functioned for years as a preview of the style (and sponsorship deals) that will eventually dominate the Croisette.

The 79th Cannes Film Festival is barely off the ground, and the brand ambassador machinery is already running smoothly. Diego Calva touched down in a head-to-toe Ferragamo pre-fall 2026 look — leather pants included, flight comfort be damned. Alia Bhatt, firmly in her Gucci era, paired a Carolina Herrera capri set with a black Jackie bag that did all the talking. Last year set the precedent: Pedro Pascal arrived swathed in Bottega Veneta's intrecciato weave, and Isabelle Huppert made her entrance in Balenciaga's oversized sneakers.

Quiet Luxury vs. the Case for Chaos

If there's a dominant aesthetic this year, it's the khaki trench. Riley Keough, Simone Ashley, and Barbara Palvin all reached for the same transseasonal armor — Keough and Ashley layering theirs over white dresses, Palvin going more relaxed with trousers and sneakers beneath hers. Clean, considered, unbothered. The kind of dressing that says I travel like this all the time even when you very clearly do not.

Then there's Isabella Rossellini, who looked at the quiet luxury consensus and chose violence — specifically, a multicolored, multipatterned, sequin-embellished housecoat that had absolutely no interest in blending in. It was maximalist, it was joyful, and it was a reminder that the airport is still a public space and some people still treat it like one worth dressing for.

The real Cannes red carpet starts at arrivals — and this year, it's already making its case.

Read the original at Vogue.