The 2026 Cannes Film Festival red carpet has been delivering a wave of nostalgia for lovers of archival fashion: Bella in icy-blue 2003 LV! Simone Ashley in crimson McQueen, once sported by Cate Blanchett and Gisele Bündchen! Ruth Negga in caped and creamy Ossie Clark!
Royal history fans have also shared in the delights of the Croisette, care of the young French-Russian actor Anastasia Andrushkevich, who paid tribute to an iconic Princess Diana look.
Andrushkevich, who was attending the premiere of Fjord, wore a pale blue gown custom designed by Mehmet Ozden, which mirrored what the late royal wore to the 1987 Cannes Festival.
Photo: Getty Images
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Photo: Getty Images
Diana’s look at the time was also a sweet sartorial homage to cinema. Designed by Catherine Walker (a favorite still today of Princess Catherine’s), the princess’s dress directly referenced the Edith Head-designed costume Grace Kelly very famously sported in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 To Catch a Thief. (Fittingly, it was also filmed on the French Riviera.) The cool shade of blue was chosen deliberately to reflect her icy character, as Hitchcock explained in an interview with François Truffaut in 1962: “I deliberately photographed Grace Kelly ice-cold and I kept cutting to her profile, looking classical, beautiful, and very distant.” Both gowns are considered important parts of fashion history. Princess Diana’s draped gown was sold at auction in 2003, for $108,000.
While Kelly’s original dress featured two shades of blue and a fuller ballgown skirt, Diana’s reinterpretation was grounded in a monochromatic palette and a slimmer, more modern silhouette. The soft, chiffony blue gown was strapless with a singular light scarf wrapped around her neck and left to cascade elegantly down the back like a sweeping train, which also accentuated her décolletage.
To complete the look at the time, Princess Diana selected coordinating accessories, including an evening bag crafted from matching fabric and a pair of light-blue satin pumps—chosen over high heels so as not to tower over then-Prince Charles. Striking chandelier earrings, set with diamonds and sapphires, caught the glare of the camera flashes.
