As one of the world's top supermodels, Bella Hadid can have her pick of the gowns – and never more so than when gracing the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. Rather than choosing a new design, however, the 29-year-old Texan wore one that looked rather familiar for the premiere of De Gaulle: Tilting Iron.
Fans of Jane Birkin, the fabled Anglo-French actress and singer who inspired the Hermes bag and died in 2023 aged 76, may have recognised Hadid's custom-made back-to-front ivory lace gown. Designed by the French fashion house Schiaparelli, it is uncannily reminiscent of one worn by Birkin at the same festival six decades earlier.
In 1969, aged 22, Birkin appeared on the red carpet with musician boyfriend Serge Gainsbourg in a white crochet dress, by Pucci, that went on to become one of her most iconic looks. Similar as the two dresses are, what is more noteworthy are their differences.
Where Birkin's was cut in a loose and flowing kaftan style in keeping with the laid-back 'hippy' ethos of the 60s, Hadid's hugged her body like a second skin. Where Birkin's hair was kept long and casual, Hadid's was worn in a glamorous updo accessorised with gobstopper diamond earrings by Chopard.
Designed by the French fashion house Schiaparelli, Hadid's dress was the result of thousands of hours of planning. In contrast, Birkin's look came as a last-minute decision to wear her dress backwards. While Birkin's look was the result of a last-minute wardrobe fix – she deemed the dress's neckline too high, and decided to wear it backwards – Hadid's was considerably less spontaneous.
In 2026, so high are the stakes on the red carpet that there's little appetite for suddenly switching up your look, as Birkin did in 1969 by converting her dress's plunging back into a daring keyhole shape fastened with a brooch. Hadid's look was the result of hours of meticulous planning – 22,160 hours, to be precise, according to a press release issued by Schiaparelli.
What Jane Birkin would have made of Hadid's trompe l'oeil lace embroidery gown, its back laced up with black cord and finished with a bow at the nape of the neck, we'll never know. These days, it takes two and a half months and an army to look red carpet-ready. In Birkin's day, it took a split-second decision – and an army of one.
