We heard yesterday that Cannes was requiring women attendees to wear high heels to red carpet screenings. Kaiser mentioned this in her article about Emily Blunt, who had called the ludicrous rule “disappointing” after a reporter told her about it. When I heard that story I honestly assumed that it only applied to the women who were being photographed, the actresses and models in the incredible gowns, which was obnoxious on its face. Who were these mysterious Cannes bigwigs who were trying to dictate what women should wear on the red carpet? The thing is, this arbitrary and maddening rule was for all women attending the red carpet premiere of a film, not just the famous ones being photographed. This resulted in many women, particularly older ladies, being turned away from a screening for wearing flats. They couldn’t even see the movie because their heels weren’t high enough! Screen has the news:

In a bad PR move for the push for gender equality, a handful of women in their 50’s were turned away from the screening of Todd Haynes’ competition entry Carol [the film’s feminist appeal further ironising the shut-out] on Sunday night after being told the height of their smart footwear didn’t pass muster.

Multiple guests, some older with medical conditions, were denied access to the anticipated world-premiere screening for wearing rhinestone flats.

The festival declined to comment on the matter, but did confirm that it is obligatory for all women to wear high-heels to red-carpet screenings.

Senna director Asif Kapadia, whose Amy Winehouse documentary Amy screened during the festival, subsequently tweeted that his wife had received similar treatment, but was eventually let in.

“Someone I know was turned away for wearing nice flats, nothing you would wear to the beach. They were in their 50’s. They told her she could go and buy appropriate shoes and come back.”

While Cannes glamour is an essential part of the festival’s mystique and fun – men are required to wear bow-ties – the festival might need to rethink its sartorial policies to accommodate those physically unable to remain slaves to fashion or who don’t fancy opting in to gender codes.

[From Screen Daily]

I can’t believe that someone thought this was a good idea and that people were actually enforcing it. This must have been an arrogant executive decision, because I can’t imagine an entire panel of people, even all men, agreeing to force all women to wear high heels or not be allowed to watch a film. Fancy dress is one thing, but heels? No.

Screen has a follow-up from the Cannes PR representative, Christine Aime, who made a somewhat confusing statement about the fact that some security guards (also called hosts/hostesses) were turning women away for wearing heels. She said “Regarding the dress code for the red carpet screenings, rules have not changed throughout the years (Tuxedo, formal dress for Gala screenings) and there is no specific mention about the height of the women’s heels as well as for men’s. Thus, in order to make sure that this rule is respected, the festival’s hosts and hostesses were reminded of it.” The Associated Press claims that Aime is saying that this was a mistake made by individual security guards, but it’s also possible to interpret that statement as a reference to an unwritten rule about heels that the hostesses were told to enforce.

Aime’s statement may be deliberately vague. Prior to this non-clarification, Screen was able to get confirmation from a department of Cannes that “women were ‘obligated’ to wear heels to red-carpet screenings” under the current dress code.

After all the publicity and fallout, the head of the festival, Thierry Fremaux, tweeted in French that the high heel dress code claims were “unfounded.” Screen adds that at a dinner for the film Sicaro, Fremaux told guests that “there is no ban on high heels and that people [are] making too much fuss.” Multiple guests and a division of the festival confirmed this story, so either Fremaux wasn’t aware of this policy or is trying to save face.

French reader Manta points out that several celebrity women have worn flats this year at Cannes, including Inès de la Fressange at The Irrational Man, Frédérique Bredin (a former french minister) and Isabella Rosselini. Regardless, it’s clear that many women attendees were turned away from at least one screening for wearing flats.

This was a sexist rule, especially at a time when Cannes is trying to bring awareness to the lack of gender equality in film, both on-screen and behind the scenes. While it’s reassuring that organizers have denied this and are trying to distance themselves from this asinine dress policy, it’s baffling that it was even enforced in the first place. There are just two women directors in competition this year. I assume they would have been turned away from their own films if their shoes weren’t high enough.

photo credit: WENN.com

The headlines this week have been along the lines of “Prince William’s paternity leave is over!!” His paternity leave is not over. He doesn’t have to go back to his real job, training to be an air ambulance pilot, until June 1st. But this week, William has been making some royal appearances. He was in Switzerland on Monday for “meetings” about his work with United for Wildlife. Then he was back in England yesterday, handing out MBEs at Windsor Castle. And these photos are of William today at St. George’s Park National Football Centre to send off the England Senior Women’s football team (the team will be playing at the World Cup).

Obviously, Duchess Kate was not with William for any of these appearances. She just gave birth on May 2nd! No one expected her to be there, and as I’ve said before, we should just settle in for a long summer with no new Duchess Kate appearances. She’s going to be in Anmer Hall with the babies and her mum for the rest of the year. At yesterday’s appearance, William was asked about Kate and baby Charlotte. When William awarded the MBE to Brinsley Forde, William and Forde chatted about their babies. William apparently told Forde: “She’s fine, she’s good.” And there is your update about Princess Charlotte. As for Kate…The Daily Mail had this excellent story about Kate and how she’s “the prickly princess”. Cough.

Having provided the Windsors with ‘an heir and a spare’ why is the Duchess of Cambridge described by some courtiers as ‘the prickly princess’? Because Kate’s content to be a stay-at-home mum. Ensconced in ten-bedroom Anmer Hall, she feels no pressing need to do otherwise.

Materially, the couple have William’s air ambulance wage of £40k, plus around £1million a year Duchy of Cornwall income and about £200,000 annual interest from the estate of Princess Diana.

My source says: ‘William agreed to a number of conditions about what was expected of her but attempts are being made by courtiers to amend them.’

[From The Daily Mail]

That is… very, very interesting. Some people have always assumed that William and Kate’s marriage is as much a business arrangement as it is a real marriage and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if William’s people (not William) are trying to tell Kate that she needs to be more public and more active and she’s all “Nope, that wasn’t part of the deal that I had with William.”

Oh, and People Magazine is trying to start a rumor that “Princess Kate” (STAHP!!!!) has been staying at Windsor Castle with the babies. Yeah… I thought that was the whole point of the extensive renovation of Anmer Hall: it is now the Cambridge family home, and now the Queen doesn’t have to see Carole Middleton at all.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here are even more endless Cannes fashion photos! YAY! These are some assorted photos from a few different events on Monday and Tuesday. Let’s start with Aishwarya Rai in Oscar de la Renta at a yacht photocall for her first film in five years, Jazbaa. I was complaining about Rai’s earlier looks this week, but this is much more on-target for her. Love the rich red-burgundy on her. And that face! God, that face. Two years ago, Rai was heavily criticized for not losing her pregnancy weight fast enough for some people. I hope Rai tells them all to kiss her ass.

Natalie Portman in this Lanvin gown. As I said with both Lupita Nyong’o and Poppy Delevingne, I’m really enjoying the green gowns at Cannes this year. Only a few ladies are doing green, and when they do, it really pops. This Lanvin might be my favorite look on Natalie for the entire film festival – it’s slouchy and it had the soul of a sack dress, but it manages to look lux and sophisticated too. Plus, it has pockets!

Daria Strokous… I have no idea who she is, but she wore this Luisa Beccaria gown which is pretty much a copy of a Dior gown from 12 years ago (that every other designer copied six years ago). Pretty color though.

Sienna Miller, Rachel Weisz and Melanie Laurent at the Calvin Klein-Cannes event on Monday. They all wore CK and I think Rachel is my favorite, but I do love Melanie’s dress too. Why do all of these women look like they just woke up from a nap though?

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

Here are some photos from Tuesday’s Cannes Film Festival premiere of Sicario, the cop/FBI drama starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro. Cate Blanchett came out for the premiere, which was nice because I figured she would only hang around for her own promotional work for Carol. But I guess Cate came to Cannes to have fun, hang out and wear pretty clothes. I think Cate can wear pretty much anything, and I’m totally fine with this Armani Privé gown. It’s fine. It’s not groundbreaking and it’s not going to set the world on fire, but it’s pretty, flattering and beautifully detailed. Incidentally, many people believe Carol will earn Cate another Oscar nomination, so we will probably have another excellent Blanchett fashion show this awards season. Yay?

Doutzen Kroes in Dior – this is very similar to a Dior gown that Jennifer Lawrence wore a few years ago. Basically, Doutzen could do better.

Emily Blunt in Stella McCartney. I really like this. I’m surprised it’s by Stella because I really do enjoy this on Emily. I love the pop of green with her emerald earrings too.

Antonio Banderas and his girlfriend (?) Nicole Kempel. She sort of gives off a Melanie Griffith vibe, right?

Alicia Vikander in Louis Vuitton Resort 2016 collection. I strongly suspect that Alicia just came to Cannes to spend time with her boyfriend Michael Fassbender. That makes my eye twitch. But this dress? This dress just bores me. The skirt layers look like a vinyl shower curtain on top of a white shower liner.

View image | gettyimages.com

Petra Nemcova wants attention in this Zuhair Murad Spring 2015 Couture. I would have liked this more on A) someone else and B) without the belt.

Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet and WENN.

behind the scenes.

A photo posted by Kylizzle (@kyliejenner) on May 16, 2015 at 10:51am PDT

Kylie Jenner Instagrammed a new swimsuit photo (from a magazine shoot) a few days ago. The original caption read, “Yes, I gained weight there I said it so u don’t have too.” She later deleted the caption and left it simply as “behind the scenes.” This makes me sad for her. Over and over again, we see celebrities get body shamed on the internet. Selena Gomez addressed the trolls with a “people are so mean, it’s exhausting.” Iggy Azalea dealt with bullying over cellulite. Kylie has heard a lot of criticism of her looks, which may have something to do with her newfound interest in plastic surgery.

Now Kylie, who is still only 17 (despite what Tyga thinks), felt the need to preempt the trolls with a caption. I don’t blame her for feeling insecure. Kylie’s Instagram comments can be pretty scary, and this photo drew over 55,000 responses, which are almost impossible to monitor. I wouldn’t even look at the comments if I was Kylie.

Here’s something interesting. Nicki may have called out Tyga for dating underage Kylie in the “Feeling Myself” video. Tidal still claims exclusive access to the video, but Clevver Music put together a highlights reel. At one point, Nicki wears a jersey that reads “pervert 17.” Radar points out how Nicki and Tyga fell out after she accused him of leaking her “Truffle Butter” song. She called him “disrespectful,” and this jersey sure looks like shade.

Photos courtesy of Kylie Jenner on Instagram, Fame/Flynet & WENN

I was recently discussing my cheapness with someone, and suddenly I was struck by a simple fact: even if I had crazy money to spend on nonsense, I would probably still live much the way I live now. I would buy a bigger house with a big pool. I would eat out at nice restaurants more often than I do now. But otherwise? Eh. I’m a cheap person. I love looking at expensive stuff (clothes, purses, jewelry), but I don’t really want or need to live that way.

Intellectually, I could see why someone – a wine aficionado, perhaps – would spend $20,000 on a bottle of wine. I would NEVER, but if you get your rocks off on $20,000 wine and you can afford it, that’s your business. But I will never understand conspicuous consumption just for the sake of the “conspicuous” part and not for the “consumption” part. If you spend $20,000 on wine, you better DRINK THE WINE. And not pour into a hot tub. Which is exactly what Beyonce did in her new music video with Nicki Minaj, “Feeling Myself.” The Beyhive noticed that in one scene, Bey pours a bottle of Armand de Brignac into a hot tub.

Beyoncé pouring my college tuition fees into a hot tub pic.twitter.com/iF0Wkqi7oX

— Shady Music Facts (@musicnews_shade) May 19, 2015

Apparently, Armand de Brignac wines can cost anywhere from $300 to “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” and some of the Bey-stans believe that this particular bottle costs about $20,000. All of this is moot if Beyonce just had the empty bottles and they filled them with water or ginger ale or whatever. Which is what I hope actually happened. Because if Beyonce really poured a $20,000 bottle of wine into a hot tub for a music video, then there will be blood.

???? #FeelingMyself #FeelingMyselfVIDEOonTIDAL

A photo posted by Nicki Minaj (@nickiminaj) on May 18, 2015 at 2:18pm PDT

Photos courtesy of Twitter, Instagram, Fame/Flynet.

Late last week, 17-year-old Ariel Winter became officially emancipated. This news arrived over two years after Ariel was removed from her mother’s care after very serious abuse allegations. Ariel’s older, Shanelle Gray, sister assumed temporary guardianship, and the Modern Family cast and crew all pitched in to help take care of Ariel. Now Ariel is free, and she’s making big plans. She’s preparing to graduate high school and is already looking at colleges. Ariel’s even thinking about aiming for law school:

Ariel Winter’s recent emancipation isn’t the only big legal plan she’s had brewing.

The 17-year-old Modern Family star tells me that she plans to become a lawyer.

She graduates from high school next year and she’s already looking at colleges.

“I toured around schools in California and I’m going to take a tour of East Coast schools,” Winter said last night at the TV Academy screening of Modern Family’s season finale.

She’s most interested in business and law. “I would love to continue acting but it’s definitely important, I think, to go and do something else as well,” Winter explained. “You never know if something’s not going to work out, if one day acting is like, ‘No, we don’t like you anymore!’ You gotta have something else you can do. I’ve always been interested in law so I think it’ll definitely be something that I’ll love to do and also go to school for.”

[From E! Online]

Ariel’s young, and there’s plenty of time to decide on a career. I think she might be interested in law because she watched some behind-the-scenes workings of her emancipation. Once she gets to college, she’ll probably change her major a few times (like many students do). Experience tells me that a business education is far more practical than a law degree. No disrespect to any of the happy lawyers out there, but career dissatisfaction runs rampant in the field. People usually think legal work is more exciting than it really is. Don’t do it, Ariel! (She’ll be fine. She’s a strong girl.)

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN

I went back and forth with myself about covering this Page Six story about Chelsea Clinton. On one side, Chelsea Clinton isn’t running for public office and we only know her name because her parents are two of the most well-known political figures in the country/world. On the other side, Chelsea isn’t a kid anymore and she’s embraced a public role quite a bit in the past few years, even perfectly timing her Elle Magazine cover to coincide with her mom’s announcement. It is my feeling that Hillary Clinton and Chelsea are on the same page this time around, and Chelsea is going to be a big part of Hillary’s presidential campaign. I’m sure baby Charlotte (Hillary’s grandbaby) will be a big part too. So with the good must come the bad, and we can always trust a Rupert Murdoch-owned press outlet to bring the bad.

Chelsea Clinton is so unpleasant to colleagues, she’s causing high turnover at the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, sources say. Several top staffers have left the foundation since Chelsea came on board as vice chairman in 2011.

“A lot of people left because she was there. A lot of people left because she didn’t want them there,” an insider told me. “She is very difficult.”

Onetime CEO Bruce Lindsey was pushed upstairs to the position of chairman of the board two years ago, so that Chelsea could bring in her McKinsey colleague Eric Braverman.

“He [Braverman] was her boy, but he tried to hire his own communications professional and actually tried to run the place. He didn’t understand that that wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing,” said my source. “He was pushed out.”

Matt McKenna was Chelsea’s spokesman, and then he wasn’t. Now he works for Uber. Ginny Ehrlich, the founding CEO of the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, now works for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Chelsea has embraced all the trappings of a corporate CEO, with a personal staff almost as big as her father’s. “He has six. She has five,” said my source.

None of this would surprise her former co-workers at McKinsey and NBC News. At both the management consulting firm and the network, co-workers allegedly were told they couldn’t approach Chelsea.

[From Page Six]

This really doesn’t sound good. And it also sounds really possible. A few years ago, Chelsea did a very interesting interview with Vogue, and I came away with that thinking she was more of “absent-minded professor” type, with a streak of her father’s flirtatiousness. But maybe she’s not so nice. Or maybe this is all just some standard foundation turnover and they’re finding a way to blame it all on Chelsea.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Leonardo DiCaprio has been in Cannes, but he hasn’t been photographed very much (if at all) this year. He doesn’t have any films opening at the film festival, but Leo likes to be in Cannes every year just for the parties. I’m sure he’s rented or borrowed a yacht and I’m sure that there’s a steady line of models, B-list actresses and assorted “others” in and out of that yacht. Leo wouldn’t miss Cannes for the world. Well, a few nights ago, Leo attended the Heart Fund’s Generous People Gala. The gala had a big charity auction, and wouldn’t you know? Leo was bidding on items right and left. He ended up winning a Chanel purse with a bid of $11,300 (it was a $10,000 purse). He won because he outbid Paris Hilton.

Leonardo DiCaprio: One. Paris Hilton: Zero. The actor, 40, and the heiress, 34, engaged in some haute haggling Monday evening at the Heart Fund’s Generous People Dinner Gala when they both bid on a pricey Chanel purse at the InterContinental Carlton Cannes.

A source tells PEOPLE that the Wolf of Wall Street star was indeed the victor after the friendly bidding war and walked away with the designer handbag, which was reportedly worth more than $10,000. (What a steal.) The sweetest part? DiCaprio snagged the bag for his mom, Irmelin.

But Hilton was anything but a sore loser. The generous duo stayed for the entire event, catching speeches, a musical performance by hip-hop artist Mos Def, a decadent dinner spread and all of the auctions.

“Paris was great. She bid on many things, and Leo did too,” the source says. “Both her and Leo were so active during the entire auction. It was really nice to see.”

Sporting a suit and his signature scruff, DiCaprio “was laughing and enjoying himself with his friends,” the onlooker says.

[From People]

Well… at least it was for charity? Yes, I’ll give them that. I think Leo is just that guy – he likes to drink, party, throw around money and be the King of the P-ssy Posse. But he does donate money to some worthy causes, and hey, at least he’ll give the purse to his mom. I would like it more if he gave the purse to Rihanna though. And if you were in a bidding war with Paris Hilton, wouldn’t you just give up? Wouldn’t you say, “Huh, if Paris and I are trying to get the same purse, the purse probably isn’t worth it”?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Charlize Theron left Cannes to attend the Life Ball in Vienna on the weekend. I was surprised to see her there. Because, you know, the Life Ball, though important and for a good cause, doesn’t normally attract such A listers. It’s typically Hollywood Ebola Hilton. Or Kanye West’s wife. Or Lindsay…