There is no such thing as an off-duty moment—at least not during the Cannes Film Festival, where paparazzi are stationed in airport arrivals, hotel foyers, beachfronts and anywhere else a celebrity might reasonably appear during the event’s two-week stint.

And yet, while the resulting images are hardly as candid as those shot by the documentarian Derek Ridgers during the late 1980s and ’90s, they are often more compelling than any red-carpet photograph: Bella Hadid licking ice cream on the banks of the Plage du Midi in a Hushidar Mortezaie dress patchworked from keffiyeh fabric, or waving from the windows of the Hôtel Martinez in a lace-up Versace fall 2003 dress.

Of course, these off-duty looks are often just as carefully orchestrated as a custom-made gown, but seeing them in the wild restores a sense of personhood and place that the red carpet—no matter how distinct the Croisette might seem—flattens. The red carpet, after all—even with the looming façade of the Grand Théâtre Lumière and the visible ranks of photographers flanking it—is ultimately a sort of geography-less space: an interchangeable backdrop reproduced the world over.

Scroll through the gallery below to see the best looks from the photo calls and premieres at the 2026 edition of the Cannes Film Festival.