Spike Lee’s meteoric ascent in film captured the complexities of contemporary Black culture, weaving through the dynamics of family, liberation and community with hilarity and reverence. Over the years, without fail, his sense of fashion has remarkably accented his towering stature and last night’s appearance on the 74th Cannes carpet was no exception. At the film festival‘s opening ceremony, Lee’s sartorial statement irrefutably stole the entire show — marking a grand debut for this year’s jury president.
Poised in a double-breasted Louis Vuitton hot pink suit, from the architectural vault of Virgil Abloh, Lee gleamed on the carpet ahead of the Annette premiere. To accompany the look, he opted for a black fedora and pink-rimmed sunglasses with iridescent lens, all courtesy of his signature hat and frame combo. Lee finished the look with a red. white and blue custom pair of Nike Air Jordans, gifted by the namesake legend himself. On the tongue of the shoe, the acclaimed filmmaker’s portraiture is stitched atop the French flag with the words “FESTVAL DE CANNES JURY PRESIDENT” framing the emblem.
The Cannes carpet-stunner was the perfect appetizer (well honestly, a full course) for the throng of festival looks to come, but moreover, his garments were a glorious declaration of his historic seat as jury president. Thirty-five years after his infectious film She’s Gotta Have It premiered at Cannes, Lee returns this year as the first-ever Black jury president for the coveted Palme d’Or. “Cannes is the world’s greatest film festival,” Lee said via Variety. “No disrespecting other film festivals.” While the honorary Palme has already been awarded to the incomparable Jodie Foster, he resides over an intercontinental star-studded ensemble of jurors, which includes pop superstar Mylène Farmer; Academy Award-nominated film multihyphenate Maggie Gyllenhaal; prominent arthouse director Jessica Hausner; and Parasite’s Song Kang-ho.
