Film festival’s rules designed to protect ‘decency’ and seating arrangements stir controversy among those who read them

Not for the first time, organisers of the Cannes film festival, the ritziest and most photographed in the industry’s calendar, have decreed that various outfits will not be allowed on the red carpet this year.

An official statement released earlier this week stated that for “decency reasons” there will be “no naked dressing” – and no oversized outfits either – “in particular those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theatre”.