Post #81

Cannes’ “Formal” Wear: According to Who? 

Kevin Redvers, prior to attempting to walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. May 22, 2022. 
Photo: Kevin Redvers. 

On May 22, 2022, Vancouver-based Dene film producer Kevin Redvers was preparing to walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s Les Amandiers. Dressed in a sharp black tuxedo for the black-tie event, Redvers wanted to celebrate his Indigenous culture by wearing a pair of traditional beaded moose-hide moccasins made by his sister, stating they were “an example of something that would be formal for my culture.”¹ However, security barred him from entering and he was asked to leave unless he changed into “regular” dress shoes. He ultimately did. 

In The Power of Style, Anishinaabe writer Christian Allaire asks, “Can fashion or beauty serve a greater purpose than just being visually satisfying?”² The short answer is yes. In today’s society, fashion can exemplify our values and beliefs, playing essential roles in social, cultural, political, and activist movements. Redvers may not have initially intended his decision to wear moccasins on the Cannes red carpet as a moment of activism and disruption. Still, as the story gained traction across social media, that’s what it’s become. In her article “Championing Disruptive Behaviours and Change,” Ashley McKenzie-Barnes questions how the notion of disruption in this context can generate progressive, creative destruction through meaningful action and reflection. She states that art, as well as its creators and curators: 

“… have begun to reshape and reframe ideologies that extract or dismiss the presence of many marginalized communities, BIPOC voices, and cross-cultural practices and rituals. We are constantly witnessing the power of art as a disruptive force from civic-minded artists who employ tactics that allow them to impact the world.”³ 

In Redvers’ case, an “ethics of dominance,” which bell hooks describes as one group holding power over another, was aggressively enforced by red carpet security.⁴ The Cannes Film Festival’s infamously-strict-but-not-actually-codified dress code is not only colonial in nature but extremely gendered: women are expected to wear gowns and heels while men must wear tuxedos and bow ties. The festival has recently relaxed its rules in certain instances, allowing cultural clothing such as kilts and saris, but is still gatekeeping what constitutes “formal” wear in a cultural context. Although high-level festival organizers apologized to Redvers for his experience, they have yet to pledge to make additional changes to the code. If their apology was aimed at moderating the bad press surrounding this incident, their efforts were spoiled a few days later: Clayton Davis, a BIPOC man and awards editor for Variety, was pulled aside by security for wearing a white tuxedo instead of black or blue despite another individual, who was white and who was wearing the same, walking the carpet with no issues ahead of him. 

Clothing such as moccasins and regalia were and continue to be sites of identity. Historically, there was a tendency for institutions and individuals to collect items such as beadwork from Indigenous communities without bothering to record the name or information of the person who made them. This was dictated mainly by attitudes, as they viewed beadwork as merely quaint and craft, not as art. To museums and institutions, art was something that was on a pedestal, to be admired and protected but not touched. However, many of the Indigenous artifacts collected from Indigenous communities were made to be used, handled, and held. Every object had a purpose, and some were actually honoured as living beings. Nowadays, contemporary museums have a shifting narrative aimed at understanding and recognizing this animacy, this life, of Indigenous items in collections. There’s a movement towards giving voice to the makers and communities who created those items. There’s also a recognition of beadwork as a legitimate art form, with beading being one of the defining mediums of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada. 

Moccasins, especially those embellished with beadwork, quillwork, or embroidery, are often worn for special occasions and given as gifts in Indigenous culture. While the Cannes Film Festival didn’t recognize moccasins as “formal” this year, the Canadian Indigenous Screen Office has offered the festival’s secretary-general François Desrousseaux more examples of Indigenous attire, so it can update its dress code. On May 26, 2022, Redvers said: “I look forward to seeing more cultural representation at festival red carpet events without incident.”⁵

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1 (Allaire, An Indigenous Producer Was Turned Away From the Cannes Red Carpet For Wearing Moccasins 2022) 

2 (Allaire, The Power of Style: How Fashion and Beauty Are Being Used to Reclaim Cultures 2021, 1) 

3 (McKenzie-Barnes 2021, 209) 

4 (Fearon 2021, 53) 

5 (Allaire, An Indigenous Producer Was Turned Away From the Cannes Red Carpet For Wearing Moccasins 2022)

Bibliography 

Allaire, Christian. 2022. An Indigenous Producer Was Turned Away From the Cannes Red Carpet For Wearing Moccasins. May 29. Accessed May 29, 2022. https://www.vogue.com/article/indigenous-producer-moccasins-cannes-film-festival. 

—. 2021. The Power of Style: How Fashion and Beauty Are Being Used to Reclaim Cultures. Toronto: Annick Press. 

Fearon, Alyssa. 2021. "A Scarborough Love Ethic." In Holding Ground: Nuit Blanche and Other Ruptures, edited by Julie Nagam and Janine Marchessault, 50-57. Toronto: Public Books. 

McKenzie-Barnes, Ashley. 2021. "Championing Disruptive Behaviours and Change." In Holding Ground: Nuit Blanche and Other Ruptures, edited by Julie Nagam and Janine Marchessault, 208-219. Toronto: Public Books. 

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Amanda McLeod