If the color of Cannes in May is red—as in the acres of carpet installed outside the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès for the high-wattage premieres at the city’s film festival—then the color of the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, a stone’s throw up the coast, is blue—as in pools, sea, and sky. (Not for nothing did Stéphen Liégeard re-christen the French Riviera the Côte d’Azur.)
This year’s Vanity Fair Cannes dinner (co-hosted with HBO) and party (co-hosted with Chopard) were held once again at the Eden-Roc, to which Richard Plepler, Caroline Scheufele, and Graydon Carter welcomed Oscar-winning actors and directors, a pair of politicians turned environmental stewards (Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger), and enough aristocrats to tilt even the blood balance blue. As the stars came out and the lights of Cannes twinkled in the distance, Tilda Swinton heated up the dance floor to the sounds of David Bowie and the Talking Heads, leaving little doubt in her fellow guests’ minds which was the warmer color.
Above, Salma Hayek Pinault and François-Henri Pinault.