Jane Fonda's Cannes Looks Through the Years
“There is no way to describe the extent to which things have changed on red carpets,” Fonda told PeopleStyle for our Awards Season special issue. “Back in the late 50s, 60s and even '70s, if someone asked you 'What are you wearing?' You'd say 'clothes.'” In Cannes for her film Coming Home, which she won the Best Actress Oscar for in 1979, she wore an of-the-moment menswear look.
High-waisted denim and tied-up jacket might be a look we'd see on models today, but Fonda sported the casual look back in the '80s. But even this casual look was a step in her style evolution. “I'm just paying more attention than I used to,” she told People in January. While she was filming 1981's On Golden Pond, she got a kick in her sartorial pants. “Katharine Hepburn told me I should pay more attention, just with how I present myself to the world. Because I didn't used to give a fuzzy rat's ass.”
With this navy gown peppered with tiny crystals (resembling the night sky), Fonda was way ahead of star motif trend, which has been going strong for the past few seasons. (She's seen here with a 26-year-old Steven Soderbergh, whose film Sex, Lies and Videotape won the Palme d'Or at the festival that year.)
At 69, Fonda tried a daring cutout detail at the premiere of Promise Me This. But what does she think it takes to pull off bold silhouettes like that? “I have no idea,” says Fonda. “Except, I guess, it helps to be fit if you're going to wear those kinds of outfits and I've remained fit.”
Stripes are typically a relaxed pattern, but when combined with dainty pleating, a light metallic champagne fabric and loads of diamond accessories, they become effortlessly glamorous.
One of her first forays into cutouts was this soft pink Emilio Pucci gown (styled with Chopard jewels) that she wore to a screening of Sleeping Beauty.
It takes confidence to pull off a colored leopard gown like Fonda's Roberto Cavalli (with matching emerald Chopard earrings), and you can tell Fonda's got some based on her pose. “She will often pose with one hand on the hip, one arm down with the clutch and one leg forward,” says her stylist Tanya Gill. “Her posture is just so refined and powerful.”
Think sheer paneling and tons of sparkle have expiration dates? Not for Fonda (here in Atelier Versace). “There aren't really any rules,” says her stylist. “She doesn't mind taking risks and exploring new ways of dressing. There's never any doubt with Jane that she is the one wearing the dress. The dress is not wearing her. She owns the look.”
“Jane dares to wear colors and styles that others aren't even considering,” says Gill. And she makes each piece, like this cerulean Versace, her own with impeccable tailoring. “A lot of girls they'll keep their gown length down to the floor. But Jane, she'll always do a little bit above because she doesn't want to trip,” Gill explains.
Strategic peeks of skin, like the unexpectedly bare back of this Roberto Cavalli gown are part of Fonda's glam M.O. “She does like to cover a lot of her body, but that doesn't mean that you can't expose little parts of the body which can be very sexy, and maybe more so than if you were exposing a lot of flesh,” says stylist Gill.
The secret to making gowns like this Atelier Versace look effortless? The shoes. “A lot of the time she just wears a 2-inch kitten heel,” explains Gill. “Jane's going to be on the carpet for absolutely hours, so we do take that into account. For a lot of women, high heels make them feel more confident. And that's fine, but Jane, she doesn't need to do that. Why risk toppling over in 5-in. platforms?”
This midnight blue Saint Laurent gown (worn with Cartier jewels) was custom-made for Fonda and fit just days before she wore it to a Kering dinner.
At 77, the star stepped out in a custom Versace look based on a similar piece from the runway. “We played with the positioning of the cutouts on her body,” says Gill. And while standout looks like this seem standard for Fonda and her fans at this point, she says she never sought out to be a fashion icon: “I never thought I would have a stylist; I never thought anyone would put a picture of me on the red carpet in a magazine. I never thought anyone would consider me glamorous.”
"I never thought anyone would consider me glamorous," Fonda told PeopleStyle earlier this year. "I'm playing a role when I'm on a red carpet." If only they gave out Oscars for performances like that.
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