Laughing in the face of the stuffy, uptight fashion rules, Julia eschewed glamorous heels for the natural look at the premiere of her new film Money Monster, which opens in Australia on June 2.
This blatant act of fashion rebellion comes just a year after festival organisers allegedly turned away a group of women in their 50s from a screening of Carol for not wearing high heels.
“Multiple guests, some older with medical conditions, were denied access to the anticipated world-premiere screening for wearing rhinestone flats,” Screen Daily reported in May 2015.
Screen Daily also noted that festival organisers wouldn’t comment on this specific incident, “but did confirm that it is obligatory for all women to wear high-heels to red-carpet screenings.”
But Julia clearly didn’t have the rules in mind, as she carried her Giorgio Armani Privé-clad self up the sweeping steps sans the footwear she arrived in. She also got a helping hand from her co-star George Clooney, walking arm-in-arm with the star during a portion of her red-carpet strut.
Even if she didn’t don shoes, Julia had on plenty of other accessories: a massive emerald necklace, emerald ring and diamond studs all by Chopard, plus a few tiny toe rings.
Stars were quick to speak out against the dress-code double standards in 2015.
“Everyone should wear flats, to be honest. We shouldn’t wear high heels. That’s very disappointing, just when you kind of think there are these new waves of equality,” Emily Blunt said at a press conference for Sicario.
This year, even more actresses are taking a stand against the unequal wardrobe guidelines at the festival.
“Things have to change immediately,” said Kristen Stewart at a press gathering for her new film Cafe Society.
“It has become really obvious that if [a man and I] were walking the red carpet together and someone stopped me and said, ‘Excuse me, young lady, you’re not wearing heels. You cannot come in.’ Then [I’m going to say], ‘Neither is my friend. Does he have to wear heels?’ It can work both ways.
“It’s just like you simply cannot ask me to do something that you are not asking him. I get the black-tie thing but you should be able to do either version – flats or heels.”
