Cannes Film Festival 79th Edition

Many events, one suitcase, and a week inside the world's most glamorous film festival, Blowout's own creative director Erica Bergsmeds spent ten days at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. These are the parties, the people, and the pieces that carried her through it.

For Swedish filmmaker, producer, photographer and Blowout Magazine founder Erica Bergsmeds, Cannes is practically a second home. This year marked her fourteenth consecutive visit, arriving fresh off producing Raffaelo deGruttola's To Love a Narcissist, now streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime, and gearing up for the festival release of Still, where she serves as both producer and principal actor alongside Molly Wagner and Alex Dower.

"One minute you're discussing film financing with producers and investors, the next you're at a fashion event, then suddenly you're networking with actors, casting directors, influencers and filmmakers from all over the world," Erica says. "That's what makes Cannes so special."

Between a packed schedule of screenings, meetings and parties, including supporting fellow female filmmakers at the Girls on Film podcast event, she also clocked an accidental cameo in the background of White Lotus filming on the Croisette and a scene-stealing puppy in the Carlton Hotel lift, alongside no shortage of festival chaos: a beach event floor giving way, a stolen suit, a DJ deck taken out by a spilled cocktail, and tales from other filmmakers of lost bookings, wrong boats and one fist fight outside a party. "People always ask if Cannes is glamorous, and it absolutely is," she says, "but it's also complete madness." Fourteen years in, the appeal hasn't dimmed. "Every year you leave with new friends, new projects, new stories and at least one completely crazy memory," she says. "That's the magic of Cannes."

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds in The Fold London white suit, sea-view terrace, Cannes]

Cannes, France, one of the most celebrated stretches of the French Riviera known as the Côte d'Azur, has spent nearly eighty years playing host to the world's most glamorous film festival, and this May was no exception. The Croisette stretched along the bay in its familiar haze of heat and perfume, palm trees catching the light, hotel terraces filling by ten each morning, the harbour thick with yachts that seem to exist for this one fortnight alone. This was the 79th edition, running from the 12th to the 23rd of May under jury president Park Chan-wook. It closed with Cristian Mungiu's Fjordtaking a historic second Palme d'Or, and an official poster that looked back, knowingly, to Thelma & Louise. Demi Moore opened proceedings in sculptural, sequined Jacquemus. Cate Blanchett took a risk in tasselled, backless Givenchy. Isabelle Huppert turned up the colour in fanned-out red Gucci. If the only Cannes you've ever seen is the red carpet broadcast each evening, with the same handful of names climbing the same steps, you'd be forgiven for thinking that's all there is to it.

It isn't, of course. Spend a week properly inside the festival and you discover it actually runs on something quieter: a parallel circuit of boat lunches, brand suites tucked into hotel rooms, beach club parties, podcast meet-ups and villa dinners that the evening news never quite catches, but which tell you far more about what Cannes feels like to actually live through. Blowout Magazine's creative director, Erica Bergsmeds, spent ten days inside that circuit this May, and this is the story of where she went, who she met along the way, and what she wore to do it. If you've never been and have always wondered, this is roughly what it looks like from the inside.

Building the wardrobe behind it all was stylist Shannon O'Sullivan, who sums up her approach simply: "For Erica's Cannes wardrobe I kept coming back to looks I've loved for years, pieces that feel timeless whilst still making a statement."

[IMAGE: Film producer Dawn McDaniels from Unconditional Pictures with Erica Bergsmeds in Amora Imani, HFC Paris event, Carlton Beach Club]

The week began, fittingly, with its most polished moment. HFC Paris had turned the Carlton Beach Club into a celebration of cinema and glamour, gold light bouncing off the Carlton's famous façade as guests arrived. For this, Erica wore Amora Imani, a dress that Shannon O'Sullivan had been waiting years to put her in. "I was instantly drawn to the soft draping and sculptural silhouette of the dress," Shannon says, "it reflected the style of red carpet dressing I've always admired." On Erica, the effect was exactly as intended: elegant and understated, but unmistakably impactful under the Carlton's lights.

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds in blue Rixo, White Blood launch, Time House]

A few days into the festival came the launch of White Blood, the new parfum unveiled by L'Entropiste and Time Cannes House over a brunch-and-DJ-set at Time House, exactly the kind of midday-into-afternoon event the Croisette specialises in, where conversation drifts from the new scent notes to whichever premiere everyone's racing to that night. Erica wore a blue Rixo dress, chosen, Shannon explains, because "to transition from day into evening, I chose lighter fabrics so Erica could move with ease." It was a dress built for exactly this kind of festival day, one that doesn't end so much as change rooms.

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds in The Fold London, EviDenS de Beauté suite, Carlton Hotel]

Skincare brand EviDenS de Beauté had taken up residence at the Hôtel Carlton for the week, hosting bespoke facial treatments in their suite, and it was here, in a room full of gold-framed light, that an ivory tailored suit by The Fold London had its first outing. From the suite, the day rolled on into a luncheon at La Mome with EviDenS' PR Marie Moatti, the same suit carrying through both, exactly the kind of daytime French elegance Shannon had planned the wardrobe around.

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds in The Fold London, Evidens Lunch event]

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds in The Fold London, Girls on Film podcast event]

That same suit reappeared a few days later, this time against a step-and-repeat crowded with the names of half the trade press, at the Girls on Film podcast's Cannes networking event. Co-founders Anna Smith, dazzling in silver sequins, and Hedda Lornie Archbold had gathered a small crowd that included Tara Reid, Nicole Kent and Sophia Lorimer, all swapping notes on the festival so far over gold "Girls on Film" pin badges scattered in a bowl on the sand. Seeing the same Fold London suit do two very different rooms in one week wasn't an accident; it's exactly the kind of considered repetition Shannon builds into Erica's wardrobe rather than around it.

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds with Rapheal Luce from Stranger Things at Girls on Film

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds with Tara Reid & Anna Smith]

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds in Chanel, Brilliant Pictures boat lunch]

Quieter, but no less glamorous, was a marina boat lunch hosted by film producer Sean O'Kelly of Brilliant Pictures, yachts stacked along the harbour, sunglasses on, the kind of lunch that runs long. Erica wore a vintage Chanel dress, paired with Chanel earrings, both sourced through Designer Exchange. "Daytime dressing was centred around a feeling of French elegance," says Shannon. "A vintage Chanel dress and an ivory tailored suit felt like the natural choice, both complemented the backdrop of Cannes beautifully and suited Erica's effortless, polished style."

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds BYD event with Raphael Luce & Nicole Kent]

Evenings brought a different register again. At an event hosted by car brand BYD, where the backdrop logo glowed blue against the night, Erica caught up with Raphael Luce in a black velvet military-style jacket, heavy with embroidery, worn over a tulle polka-dot skirt, a flash of festival theatre for a night built around launches rather than lunches.

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds in beige Gucci, villa pool party]

Slower days had their place too. An afternoon at a villa pool party hosted by Jaderberg and Allen called for something easier: a beige Gucci dress that Shannon describes as part of a deliberate push for "a sense of playfulness" in the wardrobe, pieces that "added personality whilst still maintaining the overall elegance."

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds in pink Prada, TBK Productions event]

Playfulness continued at TBK Productions' "Celebrate Cannes" event with Screen International, hosted at The Members Club on the Plage du Festival and organised by Jane Owen PR, an afternoon built around meeting founder Garrett Patten, raising a glass to the wider film community, and getting a glimpse of TBK's upcoming slate. For it, Erica wore a pink Prada piece, also via Designer Exchange, which Shannon says "felt very true to Erica's personal style."

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds in red Rixo, Edward Enninful's EE72 party]

By the time Edward Enninful's EE72 party rolled around, later in the week, the festival's pace had caught up with everyone, which made a red Rixo dress, the natural-energy partner to the blue one from days earlier, the obvious choice. "They really suited her natural Scandinavian energy," Shannon says of the two Rixo dresses, "and made her feel relaxed whilst still looking elevated."

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds in Rixo]

For everything in between, the loose, unplanned hours of actually walking the Croisette, catching up with other editors, ducking into whichever villa or beach bar had the best view that afternoon, a longer black Rixo dress became something close to a uniform: easy enough to wear all day, smart enough not to think twice about who you might run into.

Long before the glow of smartphone screens lit the red carpet ascent to the Palais des Festivals, the South of France cultivated a more insouciant brand of glamour. In the 1960s, the French New Wave rewrote the rules of cinema with a spirit of irreverence and experimentation. Directors such as François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard traded studio polish for handheld cameras, natural light and narratives drawn from the texture of everyday life. Their leading women became style icons in their own right. Jean Seberg, with her gamine crop and striped Breton tops, and Anna Karina, in Peter Pan collars and sharply tailored separates, embodied a new kind of chic, one that prized individuality over ornamentation. Cigarette trousers, boxy shift dresses and treasured accessories worn on repeat signalled confidence, not conformity.

[IMAGE: Erica Bergsmeds with film producer Dawn McDaniels getting ready for HFC at Carlton hotel]

Beneath all of it sat a quieter idea worth a final word. O’Sullivan had built much of this wardrobe not from new pieces but from finds sourced through Designer Exchange: vintage Chanel, the Amora Imani gown, the pink Prada, all restyled rather than replaced. There's something in that which echoes the French New Wave directors who once made the South of France famous for an entirely different reason, a belief that the most memorable looks aren't the most expensive ones, but the ones that feel genuinely lived in. A week on the Croisette can run on spectacle. This one, Erica found, ran rather well on repetition, provenance, and a few very good suitcases.

By the time the last suitcase was packed, it was clear this had been ten days Erica won't forget in a hurry: full sun, fuller schedules, and not a single dull lunch. We're so grateful she brought us along for it, suit changes and all. Thank you, Erica, for sharing every party, every look and every behind-the-scenes moment with us here at Blowout.

Credits

Creative Director: Erica Bergsmeds
Art Direction & Production: Zoë Zeppel
Editor Assistant: Emily Mailie
Styling: Shannon O'Sullivan

Wardrobe Credits: Amora Imani, Chanel, The Fold London, Rixo, Prada and Gucci, with pre-owned pieces sourced via Designer Exchange

With thanks to: HFC Paris and Carlton Beach Club, L'Entropiste and Time Cannes House, EviDenS de Beauté, La Mome (Cura Comm) and Marie Moatti, Girls on Film podcast (Anna Smith and Hedda Lornie Archbold), Brilliant Pictures and Sean O'Kelly, BYD and Raphael Luce, Jaderberg and Allen, TBK Productions and Garrett Patten, Jane Owen PR, Edward Enninful and EE72