Is Fashion Becoming More Conservative? What the Cannes Ban on Nudity Says About Modest Dressing

The Cannes Film Festival is shifting away from the revealing naked dress trend that has dominated recent red carpets. With its new dress code, the festival prohibited guests from displaying both nudity and excessively voluminous outfits, citing “decency reasons.” The decision comes after years of increasingly daring celebrity outfits and adds to the ongoing discussion among fashion enthusiasts on social media — Is fashion becoming more conservative? The roots of sensual dressing at Cannes stretch back to the 1980s, when red carpet fashion began to embrace more daring and body-baring silhouettes. In 1985, Ilona Staller, soon-to-be wife of artist Jeff Koons, made headlines by wearing a topless, pink dress on the red carpet. The naked dressing tradition was kept alive at Cannes through the years with looks by many celebrities, including Cameron Diaz, Kylie Minogue, Claudia Schiffer and, more recently, Bella Hadid and Naomi Campbell. Nancy Deihl, a historian of fashion and chair of the Department of Art and Art Professions at NYU, views the new Cannes dress code as an effort to curb excessive displays and emphasize elegance. “There’s a long history at Cannes of actresses wearing sexy styles, but always within the parameters decreed by high fashion. The reality

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