This week’s best celebrity looks were a mood

Many of this week’s best celebrity looks come from the first couple of days at the Cannes, the international film festival known for its glitzy red carpet events and photocalls as much as it is the actual films the stars are there to actually promote.

But not all our favourite looks came from the south of France, or were dripping in glitz.

A star rocking a humble t-shirt, and a headline making swimsuit caught our attention too.

See them all below, as we recap our the best celebrity outfits from the past seven days.

Best feathers

Viola Davis in Valentino is always a match made in heaven and seeing this breathtaking beauty walk the Croisette in Cannes is giving me hope for a festival that tends to be a spectacle of ‘style’ over substance. That is, young women who conform to a certain aesthetic but have very little to do with the film industry brought in to have their photos taken in ridiculous outfits that will ensure the festival gets coverage to a wider audience.

To me, you need to have had a certain amount of lived experience to embody a gown and Viola is wearing this gown to perfection. It’s perfectly fitted, impeccably tailored, elegant and the on-anyone-else-ridiculous feathered cape gives the drama and movement a red carpet deserves. – Rebecca Wadey

Best animal print

Speaking of wearing the heck out a gown: Actor, tax evader and ‘queen of Cannes’, Fan Bingbing absolutely stunned in this tiger and bamboo print dress by celebrity stylist turned designer Christopher Bu at the festival’s opening premiere event this week.

Bingbing has always been a champion of Chinese fashion, and Bu’s designs in particular: she’s worn his dresses on the Cannes red carpet previously in 2011 and 2015 as well as wearing a gold column dress and emerald cape by the designer to the 2015 Met Gala which was themed China: Through the Looking Glass. – Tyson Beckett

Best blouses

Proving that the big bow trend is for everyone, Jason Fernandez was serving two tickets to the gun show (I’m so sorry) in this all black Saint Laurent ensemble at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Spanish actor wasn’t the only man to show up in a femme neckline – his Strange Way of Life co-stars Manu Rios, José Condessa, and George Steane also got the ‘wear a chic Saint Laurent blouse’ memo – an on-point dress code for a gay Western romance film if I ever saw one. – Lara Daly

Best red

I’ve been hate watching Citadel on Prime lately. Hate because it’s just so utterly ridiculous, but Priyanka Chopra is so utterly mesmerising I can’t switch it off. Now I’m obsessed with seeing her everywhere.

Bulgari obviously feel the same way, because here she is at an event of theirs in Venice in the most perfect red lipstick and dress. I can’t believe L’Oreal hasn’t signed her and swooped her up and over to Cannes to parade these beautiful lips up and down the Croisette. The equally beautiful dress is custom Miss Sohee, who also did the intricate white dress Halle Bailey wore to the Little Mermaid premiere in London this week. – RW

Best aquamarine octogenarian

Martha Stewart’s whole Sports Illustrated swimsuit photoshoot is nothing short of incredible, but the shot of her wearing giant Gucci sunglasses and a dripping diamond necklace in the ocean is a whole mood, one of confidence bottled. This is the unadulterated rejection of the stealth wealth aesthetic I’ve been waiting for.– TB

Best retro fit

I’ve been in Sydney this week for Afterpay Australian Fashion Week, and the street style has been quite incredible to witness in real life. There are three main camps: the outrageous (colour, print, textures), the minimal (blazers, black, white, beige) and the Euro-inspired (black, leather, streetwear, unexpected layering, caps).

I have no idea who Emily Gurr is, but her 70s-style ensemble caught my eye on day one – the brown suit and pastel blue shirt are by Scanlan Theodore, but it’s the styling that makes the look work. The unbuttoned shirt, the popped collar, the gold chain necklaces – and the fab hair. – Zoe Walker Ahwa

Best knickers

I don’t usually go for the sheer over undies look, but I’m obsessed with Meadow Walker (daughter of the late Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker) wearing the heck out of this Alaia at the premiere of Fast X in Rome.

I love the high-waisted knickers under the waist, and the fact it’s paired with a slouchy satin bomber makes the whole look uber chic. – RW

Best T-shirt

A skirt and T-shirt is a classic combination that I wear often (it’s one of the signatures of my style idol, designer Miuccia Prada).

This version, on Elle Fanning with the help of her stylist Samantha McMillen, is an elevated version of that simple formula: full skirt and perfectly fitted grey marle tee by Valentino with a fancy Cartier necklace. – ZWA