Demi Moore’s stylist explains why she chose that decaying gown for the Cannes red carpet

Over the past few years, Demi Moore has carved out a reputation for fearlessness on the red carpet. Just look to the two feathered Schiaparelli gowns she wore to major awards shows this season, one with its own plumed bustle. Or the skin-tight leather Gucci suit accessorized with oversized shield-style eyewear that she selected for the brand’s Milan fashion show (and accessorized with her own purse-sized pooch.)

For the Cannes Film Festival, for which Moore sits on the jury for the Palme d’Or selection, she and her stylist of nearly 20 years, Brad Goreski, wanted to push boundaries even further. Their 2026 red carpet rollout began with a white dress festooned with primary-colored confetti from Jacquemus’s Fall 2026 collection, followed by a custom form-fitting gown by the brand covered in sequins with sculpted details at the hips. She then selected a lavender organza gown with a trailing train and thigh-high slit from Gucci. But for her most exciting trick yet, Moore walked Saturday night’s red carpet in an electric pink, ball-skirted gown that was in a state of decay.

The nearly neon gown, adorned with a bow half the size of her wingspan and tattered silk hanging over its layers of tulle, is from the independent French brand Matières Fécales—yes, that is French for fecal matter. More specifically, the piece hails from designers Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran’s Fall 2026 collection, presented in Paris this March, which explored the ideas—and ideals—of beauty, youth, power, and capitalism in a series of manipulated tailoring and distorted formalwear.

It was a choice to wear one of these gowns in Cannes. This most prestigious red carpet, the counterpart to the highest echelon of film festivals, has a history of supreme glamour. But it also is known for a rather old fashioned approach to the visual expression of elegance, particularly as it pertains to women. The dress code is notoriously strict, banning excess volume, overt nudity, even flat footwear. Cannes has therefore inspired its fair share of rule breaking. Amidst a sea of tasteful, muted looks, Moore’s giant, candy-colored ball gown, grotesquely exquisite as it appears to decompose on the spot, is an overt challenge to preconceived notions of beauty. And a welcome one, at that. After all, she has a long history of both breaking—and, according to Goreski, making—the rules around fashion on the red carpet.

Lucky for us, Goreski took a break in his busy Cannes schedule—Moore is sometimes changing looks four times a day—to talk through this look and their larger approach to this red carpet program. As he says, “At Cannes, anything is possible.”

Demi Moore in Jacquemus

What sort of conversations did you have heading into the film festival? How did this specific look come to be?

When Demi and I were brainstorming about Cannes, I just said to her, “Look, what I'm really feeling for you right now is like a super colorful, optimistic, vibrant, kind of effervescent presence on the carpet.” We have so many days back-to-back to do something that's exciting. We wanted to up our game a little bit from 2024 when she was here at Cannes with The Substance. She also wanted to explore some newer designers she hasn't worn before. I sent her some links and she screen-grabbed that pink gown. I was like, “Oh, pop off,” because we've never really done a full-skirted gown like that. That's not something she's typically been drawn to.

I was aware of the brand Matières Fécales because they're having such a moment right now. One of the designers, Hannah, is also French Canadian, so it was also a nice partnership for two Canadians who are just trying to make their way in the fashion world to come together and collaborate. I reached out to their PR and was like, please just let this gown be available because that was the one that Demi wanted. They had it, but it took a little bit of work to get it shipped because it's so big. Once she tried it on, she was just like “I have to wear this.”

Demi Moore in Matières Fécales

I feel like that collection had so much to say, especially concerning that dress: a tattered ball gown in hot, hot pink. Did you enjoy all the little tidbits of symbolism that the designers played with?

Of course, I think they're so thoughtful. That whole collection was beautiful but also had meaning and substance behind it. That was part of what Demi was drawn to, the fact that it did have an edge to it. The dress has this slightly decayed effect to it, but then at the same time it was heavily sculpted and had a sweetness. There’s a combination of so many things there that I think she also embodies.

We sent the gown back to Paris to have it worked on, to be freshened up a little bit for the carpet. The woman who actually constructed the gown, Juliette, came to Cannes to do a fitting and make sure everything was perfect. She was with us yesterday getting her dressed, doing last-minute fixes. It was so magical to be able to have the person who had worked on the gown be there with us on the journey.

Demi Moore in custom Jacquemus

Cannes is such a particular red carpet. It has a long history of elegance. Did that affect your selection throughout the whole two weeks?

With her being on the jury, there was a lot of thoughtfulness around which dress she was going to wear on which carpet. The pink gown obviously wouldn't be great to stand up in a lineup with the jury members. We wanted to service the greater good of what she's here to do, but there is also that expectation that we have an international stage to showcase designers and the direction that we're seeing her in right now.

With Cannes, anything is possible—big jewels, big gowns. We worked really closely with Gucci as well, and they've come up with some beautiful gowns she's already worn and some more coming up. We got to collaborate with Jacquemus, which was new for us. We're trying to keep it interesting for us as well because we've had such a busy past two years.

People are coming up to us like, “Oh my God, we're so looking forward to what's coming up for the next red carpet.” To be able to bring people that kind of joy and excitement and anticipation through fashion is exciting for me. And I think it keeps it exciting for her when she's getting changed four times a day.

Demi Moore in Gucci

Since she’s on the jury, she’s not promoting a specific film. Are you concerned with any sort of narrative to her lineage of looks?

I wouldn't say there's a method to this one. She has her film I Love Boosters out, which is very colorful, very fast paced, very vibrant. That was in the back of our minds, but I think it was mainly an exploration of being able to put together a really colorful red carpet program for her and see where we could go with it. We wanted to see how different we could make each look.

Demi Moore in custom Gucci

Cannes so far has felt very tasteful, a lot of black and white and neutrals. It’s really fun to see someone embrace fashion and have so much fun and color and shape.

Demi loves fashion. She loves collaborating with designers. She respects the craft. She is also so great at bringing things to life. It's so amazing to watch. She loves the process. She loves the jewels. She loves the clothes. She loves having the whole look coming together. As her stylist, it's really exciting that, along with her glam team, Raoul Alejandre and Dimitris Giannetos, we can turn out these different looks, head-to-toe. It keeps things exciting for all of us, too. It's two weeks. Every night, we get together and we discuss what the vibe is, who she's going to be tonight. And then we get her out there on the carpet.

Cannes also has a really fun legacy of rule-breakers. It's fun to see someone playing with the boundaries of what is a red carpet gown and what isn't.

She has been, for decades now, a trailblazer, a rule breaker—a rule maker in a sense. She continues to be somebody who's fearless about her fashion. I've been working with Demi since 2007. These past years have just been like a crazy whirlwind for us, but we've had this opportunity to work with the most amazing designers and create these really fun looks. These amazing designers have flown people from all over the world to alter gowns—from the sketching to the fabric swatches to the toiles to the first fitting, the second fitting, the third fitting. It's a continuous process, but it's so rewarding.