Outrage After Women Were Banned From The Red Carpet For Not Wearing Heels

This year’s Cannes film Festival brought an outrage among women, because a lot of women were stopped or not allowed to walk on the red carpet without heels.

Among these women is a Danish film producer, Valeria Richter who had part of her left foot amputated. She was stopped a numerous times at the Cannes Film Festival for not wearing high heels. Wearing heels in her condition means being in pain and constantly loosing balance.
“Obviously, I could wave my foot at them and that would make the situation a little less awkward for them, because I had a visible explanation,” she told the BBC.

“It is ridiculous. We are all working women who walk up and down the streets of Cannes all day doing business. They cannot force us to wear heels,” Richter told the Telegraph.

There were more women who cannot wear heels because of medical conditions, but still got rejected by officials.As a result a lot of women burst into outrage. Social media was buzzing non-stop. Even celebrities did not stay aside and expressed themselves in public.

Asif Kapadia, the director of Amy, a biography of Amy Winehouse, Twitted that his wife had initially been denied entry as well.

Emily Blunt, a famous actress, was asked to express herself in a press conference on this matter.
“It’s very disappointing, obviously. You kind of thought there were waves of people realising that women are just as fascinating and interesting to watch, and just as bankable as men.” (Telegraph)

The chief of Cannes Film Festival Thierry Fremaux assured that there is no obligation for women to wear high heels. This is technically true because there are no written rules about women wearing high heels.

Later on a statement from festival organisers was released in which they denied all obligations on wearing heels.

“Regarding the dress code for the red carpet screenings, rules have not changed throughout the years and there is no specific mention about the height of the women’s heels as well as for men’s,” the statement said.

There were women who actually decided to test this and went on the red carpet not with just flats but with sandals.

Lara Stone, famous model and the ex-wife of David Williams, has made a strong statement on the Cannes red carpet as she arrived in flat sandals amid the ongoing high heels row.

There is no doubt that this high heels scandal did not leave any women without an opinion on this matter.

I had a pleasure to speak with a very sweet young woman Tara Bedi and her answer on this matter was just lovely.

Want to see more?

Here are Celebrities reactions to the Cannes high heel row.