There is an Instagram account dedicated to Chanel's red carpet flops

For this Cannes Film Festival, the red carpet looks of Hollywood stars were divided between triumphs and failures. One of the Internet's least-loved looks was that of Marion Cotillard, who showed up on the red carpet in a mini-cardigan, denim shorts, and white ankle boots-a look that recently appeared in Chanel's Resort 2023 that added to the dozens of disappointing looks that the @chanelflopsagain page has been keeping track of for a couple of months. The fact that the page is titled Chanel Flops 2.0 could mean that an earlier version existed-which would also explain the very few followers the page has. Not the least, it is indicative that Chanel's now infamous ambassador styling has moved out of the realm of persistent web chatter and become an established fact with a dedicated Instagram page. In fact, it seems that in recent times Chanel and the army of stylists who dress its ambassadors are trying in every conceivable way to mortify them with outfits that are either giving boomer that doesn't want to give up or "Facebook Mom".

A mix of overly modest looks, sadly passé details (ankle boots, floral jumpsuits, "felted" color palettes that fell like a grandmother's living room tapestry) and simply odd choices such as covering head-to-toe beautiful women like Ramata-Toulaye Sy and Brie Larson with esemblages that just say "old" and not "old money". At the end of the day, the task at hand is easy: we are on the Cannes red carpet, so how complicated is it to get these Hollywood divas to wear a "normal" evening gown that fits their silhouette through a simple fitting? Indeed, all the various incriminating outfits share a common problem: they seem to be made to fit the tastes of an older clientele who wants strives to look original. Just Nicole Kidman and Naomi Campbell have beaten the red carpet curse: the former showing up at the ACM Awards in a tweed suit from Chanel's Pre-Fall 2023 worn with nothing underneath, to give the look more freshness; the latter wearing at Cannes a white peplum-dress whose designers could not refrain from adding glittery details without which the dress would have been far more refined. And they're the most canonally gorgeous celebrities in the world.

It's kind of the difference between "being young" and "trying to be youthful" where the latter indicates the attempt by those who are no longer young to ape the way young people dress, comically achieving the opposite effect. The problem is that Chanel's ambassadors are young indeed, and it shows when they change brands: Brie Larson, dressed in a simple but elegant Versace gown for the premiere of Fast X in Rome, was suddenly beautiful; the same can be said for Margot Robbie, who totally changes when she wears Bottega Veneta or Armani Privè, leaving aside certain Chanel looks that one cannot help but call rambunctious. As some say, however, there is mystery since many blame the brand without mentioning that serving as the go-between from Chanel and the actresses are the stylists, who lately seem to be only concerned with taking pre-packaged looks from the runway show and copy-and-pasting them on the divas in question without combining different pieces in an interesting way. The only mystery is whether anyone actually green-lighted certain ensembles. Who knows, maybe the bogeyman of ending up on @chanelflopsagain will push everyone to try a little harder.