Despite its older birthday, Venice Film Festival has always played second fiddle to its rebellious little sister, Cannes. First mooted in 1939 but delayed by the onset of the Second World War, by the time Cannes finally got up and running in 1946, the world was chomping at the bit for all-out motion-picture magic. Its kick-off event featured doves released dramatically into the sky, fireworks, torchlit parades, flower competitions, fashion shows and the election of the first Miss Festival as the pocket-sized seaside town staked its claim on the entertainment landscape. As the ’50s rolled around, silver screen doyennes, such as Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly and Brigitte Bardot, had booked their plane tickets. Venice – which started life on the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior on the lido in 1932 – quietly watched on from the sidelines.

A royal salute at Cannes in 1987 thanks to Diana, Princess of Wales, in baby blue Catherine Walker.

The bombshell image engrained in the public psyche, thanks to Monica Bellucci at Cannes 1997.

While Cannes has become a springboard for jewellery sponsorships and brand partnerships (Chopard inexplicably presented Elizabeth Hurley’s eponymous swimwear line at Nikki Beach in 2006), Venice has never shouted about its capacity for glitz. Cannes welcomes supermodels, nudists (OK, maybe not welcomes), popstars, pornstars, reality TV stars and anyone with a propensity for wearing fist-sized diamonds (Lady Victoria Hervey is still a regular), but Venice lets speak for itself. Cannes’s come-one, come-all mentality inevitably invites friction, as the more outrageous dressers rub up against the festival’s famously strict dress code, which was once in line with the resort town’s fancy casinos but is now deemed outdated. Venice has never had an issue with heel height.

There’s no denying the Cannes circus is entertaining. Take the headline-making moment when Madonna first treated the red carpet to Jean Paul Gaultier’s cone bra in 1991, or the time Milla Jovovich was reportedly sewn back into her beaded loincloth while on the red carpet for 1997. Every time a woman (see: Julia Roberts, Kristen Stewart and Jennifer Lawrence) goes barefoot or *gasp!* wears flip-flops, the press goes bonkers. Not so for Venice, which quietly water taxis its guests into town in sleek micro shorts suits (looking at you, Amal Clooney!)

By the time the Italian instalment comes around at the end of the summer, there seems to be an audible sigh of relief and a visible relaxing of the shoulders. There are tans to compare and holiday tales to share over aperitivo. Timothée Chalamet, for example, has been known to spritz his way through an afternoon in Venice wearing leather pants, before changing into a red halter-neck Haider Ackermann look for the red carpet. At that same festival in 2022, Florence Pugh – sorry, Miss Flo – also enjoyed an afternoon of Aperol while her co-stars fumbled their way through an awkward press conference about her absence and the dismissal of Shia LaBeouf from the film set. Pugh’s fashion retort – via custom Valentino couture – was one for the books.

The Best Venice Film Festival Looks Of All Time

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Cannes might deliver bombshell mic drops (no one will ever recover from that Monica Bellucci look in ’97), but Venice leaves the door open for fashion moments of a different kind. The 2018 edition saw Lady Gaga emerge not out of Latex Chalayan egg, but some kind of feathered fashion chrysalis to become a bona fide movie star. When drizzle threatened to dampen her puff of baby pink Valentino plumes at the A Star is Born premiere, she did what any professional performer would do and turned it into a whole thing. That a bolt of lightning later struck the theatre and caused a power outage only added to the sense of drama. It was perfect – as the eight-minute standing ovation at the end of the showcase proved.

Angelina Jolie put the Grecian gown back on the map courtesy of Max Azria, while pregnant with twins, Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline, at Cannes in 2008.

At Venice, there’s less jostling to wear the Schiaparelli gold lungs necklace of the season (see: Bella Hadid at Cannes in 2021) or compete with the bevy of supers in town. Younger talents, like Taylor Russell, Emma Corrin and Myha’la Herrold, keep the sparkle quotient high, but there’s just as much onus on the lido looks that paint a picture of an actor’s personal style (Corrin in Miu Miu knickers in 2023, Kendall Jenner in a very The Row look topped off with a caché Chanel travel bag this year) as the industry braces itself for a new season.

Indeed, Venice has become something of a teaser for creative directors’ work before the designs hit the runway weeks later. Think back to the musical chairs of 2025’s Super September, and it was Jacob Elordi who premiered Louise Trotter’s first Bottega Veneta looks; Julia Roberts who did the honours for Dario Vitale’s Versace; Ayo Edebiri for Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel; and Greta Lee for Jonathan Anderson’s Dior – to name just a few high-profile preview moments. With Nicole Kidman announcing Pieter Mulier’s new-look Versace just days ago, eyes are peeled for a potential second sighting at Venice.

An unforgettable wet-look Balmain gown courtesy of Zendaya at Venice in 2021.

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The guest list looks promising. While the schedule caused quite the commotion when a number of major awards contenders were missing from the bill, 2026 welcomes Dakota Johnson, who stars as Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Marilyn Monroe in ; Penélope Cruz for Florian Zeller’s in which she stars alongside her husband Javier Bardem; and the Gallagher brothers, who will premiere their latest Oasis documentary with their family along for the ride. Can lightning strike twice? Time will tell.

Kendall Jenner touching down at this year’s festival with a Chanel trophy bag in tow.