Flaunt, flash and furore at Cannes
These dresses grabbed eyeballs on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet
From a "Jerusalem skyline" gown that sparked a social media furore to a thigh-split leaving almost nothing to the imagination, these are the five red carpet dresses that turned heads and made tongues wag at this year's Cannes Film Festival...
JERUSALEM DRESS BECOMES INTERNET MEME
Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev takes the prize for most political fashion statement at the world's biggest film festival, after turning up at last Wednesday night's opening gala wearing a billowing white dress emblazoned with the Jerusalem skyline.
The skirt featured a panorama of the walled Old City in Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem, including the golden Dome of the Rock in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound - a site sacred to both Muslims and Jews and a regular scene of friction between them.
Controversially, Ms Regev said the dress marked "50 years since the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem".
But Internet users swiftly offered up Photoshop-ed redesigns - with one widely shared image replacing the skyline with the separation wall dividing Israel and the West Bank, and another with a blue-and-white Israeli flag splattered with blood.
VICTORIA ABRIL'S 'AFRICAN GEISHA' LOOK
Spanish actress Victoria Abril, a favourite of director Pedro Almodovar, who is chairing this year's Cannes jury, rivalled Ms Regev for the most eyebrow-raising look on opening night with a Japanese-style kimono made from bright African fabric.
She teamed her ensemble with a huge protruding tower of hair braids that could have left the unfortunate guest seated behind her craning to see the opening film, Ismael's Ghosts.
Sportingly, however, Abril spent most of the two-hour movie bent forward so those behind her could see.
BELLA HADID'S WARDROBE MALFUNCTION
Daring thigh-splits are omnipresent in Cannes this year, but US supermodel Bella Hadid suffered the consequences as her pink gown by Alexandre Vauthier repeatedly gusted open, flashing her nude briefs to the world's assembled paparazzi.
Hadid might want to have a word with Vauthier - the same thing happened with the much talked-about red dress he put her in at Cannes last year.
CRAZIEST JUMPSUIT EVER
US model Emily Ratajkowski turned many a head with a revealing lacy jumpsuit by Norwegian designer Peter Dundas.
The outfit, described by Harper's Bazaar as "the craziest jumpsuit we've ever seen", combined the practicality of trouser legs with near-nudity and a cumbersome ruffled train the size of a pair of curtains.
SUSAN SARANDON'S DEEP V
At 70, Oscar winner Susan Sarandon stole the show from supermodels a third her age with a velvet gown by Alberta Ferretti, which showed off a ton of cleavage.
The look came complete with a thigh-high split too. She teamed it with oversize sunglasses and an enormous smile.
"Tonight as I fall asleep, I am going to say a little prayer," wrote Jenna Rosenstein of Harper's Bazaar. "It will go something like this: 'Oh please, generous God, make my boobs look half as good as Susan Sarandon's when I, too, am 70 years old'." - AFP
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