Jennifer Lawrence Didn't Know Her Flip-Flops Broke the Cannes Red Carpet Fashion Rules

A few years ago, actresses started addressing a seemingly unspoken rule on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet: heels only. No flats and definitely no flip-flops. Well, Jennifer Lawrence broke that mandate (though several sources say it's not an actual thing) when she wore black flip-flops to the festival this year thanks to the fact that the shoes that she was supposed to wear with her bright red Dior haute couture gown didn't fit. In a new interview, she said that it came down to practicality and not politics when she arrived in sandals — ironically, it was to the premiere of Justine Triet's movie Anatomy of a Fall. Lawrence, ahem, didn't want it to be a biopic, it seems.

“I would really like to straighten this out. I was not making a political statement,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I had no idea until it came out that there was a whole controversy with people wearing flats or walking down the red carpet barefoot, I had no clue. My shoes were a size too big.”

She went on to say that she was grateful for the shoe choice, because she had to walk the carpet several times, which involved ascending and descending stairs over and over. 

“So, we had to take an Excellent Cadaver [the production team] picture, and I knew I would eat shit if I went down in the shoes that were a size too big. I put on the flip-flops, and then everybody's like, 'What a statement! Wow!'" she added before clarifying that she's not opposed to having her wardrobe choices stand for something. This just wasn't that moment. "I'm all for making a statement. I just would want it to be on purpose."

In 2015, a number of women attending the premiere of Carol were denied entry because they were wearing flat shoes. After that, Julia Roberts walked the red carpet without shoes (yes, we mean barefoot) in 2016, and then Kristen Stewart and Susan Sarandon opted for flats for the event. Stewart also commented on the shoe requirements the year she was seen taking off her Christian Louboutins on the carpet.

“There’s definitely a distinct dress code, right?” she asked The Hollywood Reporter. “People get really upset at you if you don’t wear heels, or whatever. But you can’t ask people that anymore. It’s kind of a given. Like, if you’re not asking guys to wear heels and a dress, you cannot ask me either.”