A Night at Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel: Inside the Hottest Party at the Cannes Film Festival

Sitting majestically on the Promenade de la Croisette, between diamond-clad movie stars, jeroboams of Moët & Chandon, and the breath-stealing Esterel mountains and twinkling Côte d'Azur, bathed in a dazzling spectacle of color and music, one thing became profoundly clear. After a two-year hiatus, Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel is back in the most laser-sharp of ways.

Of all the places to watch the Cannes glitz and glamour spool out, this hotel has always been the most coveted. From Alfred Hitchcock filming To Catch a Thief with Grace Kelly in the 1950s to Sophia Loren hanging out of her room’s balcony, Brigitte Bardot splashing about at the beach club and Elton John starring in his I’m Still Standing music video, there’s not much this grand dame hasn’t seen. Now, after a whopping renovation the original dowager duchess has sprung into the 21st century and what better way to announce itself back on the scene than with a rip-roaring party during Cannes Film Festival?

She’s back

This renovation has catapulted the hotel onto the hurly-burly of Riviera glamour. Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel is a flagship property within the IHG Hotels & Resorts luxury and lifestyle portfolio, with sprawling new studios, a 200,000-square-foot penthouse, a serene courtyard garden that was once the hotel’s carpark, and the largest infinity pool in Cannes. There are new and re-discovered design elements everywhere that manage to somehow surprise and delight–petal pink Venini chandeliers, turn-of-the-century painted frescoes lining the domes in the lobby that was discovered during the refurb alongside the gold-leaf on the elegant staircases, with swathes of burnt-sienna, creamy vanilla, gleaming gold, and light seeping in every corner that it can, all masterminded by French interior designer Tristan Auer and architect Richard Lavalle. Yes, this place still hums with old-school glamour but it’s fresher and better than ever.

Of course, that’s the reason I’m here—to celebrate its facelift during the glitziest week in town. As I’m picked up by the VIP concierge from Nice airport, past hordes of photographers hoping to snap Hollywood royalty (sorry), through the hotel’s famous revolving doors and staff all chicly dressed in floaty pleated skirts and handkerchiefs in their hair, I realized this place, with its pitch-perfect service and film star fabulous facade, makes even a duckling feel like a swan.

People-watching with passion

The evening kicks off in Bar 58, a buzzy hotspot filled with a medley of Deco Bakelite, glistening Venini chandeliers and a pastel ceramic bar counter. Everyone is eyeing each other, trying to place who they might be and calculate why they might be important enough to be a guest here. It seems, with a festival like Cannes, it’s not just about the actors. There are the award-winning but hardly recognizable producers and directors, the frazzled agents and assistants. Along with a plethora of ‘film people,' the guest list includes supermodels, photographers, Instagram influencers, designers, and writers, decked out in dazzling gowns, dinner jackets and velvet slippers, ready to blast their FOMO-inducing Cannes content to their followers before the early evening light descended into darkness.

This was a first-class act of people-watching. In fact, not just at this particular time and in this particular spot, the whole hotel feels like something from the metaverse—everyone is there to view and be viewed. From check-in onwards, I saw more brands in a few moments than I have all year. Stacks of Louis Vuitton luggage on the porter’s trolley, a SS23 cruise collection Chanel bag hanging on the shoulder of a 20-something lithe-limbed model, a Kilian perfume counter in the lobby, endless bottles of Perrier-Jouet served during lunch at the Riviera restaurant.

But back to the drinks reception, where all anyone was talking about was whether Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, currently taking over one of the hotel’s decadent suites, would make an appearance again as they had the previous evening, alongside Uma Thurman, Dame Helen Mirren (“I’m not feeling her blue hair, but god, I love her," my companion exclaims) and Catherine Deneuve, who had turned up for dinner in the ballroom.

Fleabag’s Andrew Scott breezes in to join the fun, his take on the evening’s ‘cocktail’ dress code consisting of a sleeveless mauve vest and trouser combo from Paul Smith’s archive. “I’m so excited to see my best friend’s premiere tomorrow night,” he tells me, his BFF being my ultimate girl crush of Phoebe Waller-Bridge whose new film, Indiana Jones, is probably this week’s most talked-about red-carpet event. Luckily for him, unlike the big premieres where the red-carpet dress code is strictly black (which New York-based influencer Zach Weiss discovered after being turned away from an event in a floral jacket the previous night and subsequently rescued by The Carlton’s concierge A-team who sourced a perfectly-fitted Armani dinner jacket and shoes within exactly 10 minutes), tonight’s dressing up was free to interpretation.

A beach party (of a rainy kind)

Soon we’re all ushered across the promenade to the hotel’s beach club. Despite the fact that it’s pelting down with rain, this is truly a sight to behold. Lapped by the ebb and flow of the Med and the backdrop of bopping superyachts glistening in the moonlight, there’s a band bashing out Michael Jackson hits, dancers bending around podiums, springing in and out of inflatable rings in wafty beach dresses and Panama hats (a kind of manifestation for better weather), while chefs in torque blanche carve salmon and serve up pasta from giant parmesan wheels.

Ted Lasso’s Stephen Manas and his green velvet dinner jacket had the girls’ (and guys’) eyes on stalks, while smoldering Neelam Gill, who’s just flown in from New York, says she’s fretting about a dress fitting for the Indiana Jones premiere and begging to stay at The Carlton for longer (“I’m having to move hotels as they were fully booked. I don’t want to leave”). Brazilian supermodel Kelly Piquet saunters in, rocking an elegant black tuxedo jacket dress. She's no stranger to Cannes since she grew up just down the road in Monaco. "As a kid, one of my favorite places was hanging out at my dad's farm in Brazil."

Shadow and Bone's Anita Suman turns heads in her off-the-shoulder Self Portrait gown, "I couldn't decide what to wear so I brought about 20 dresses with me. It's my first time in Cannes and it's just incredible."

In between bottomless Champagne and tequila cocktails, 100 of us are swept inside for dinner. Twiggy and Sadie Frost, who are in town filming for a documentary about Twiggy’s career, almost don’t make it past the doorman because they’ve lost their wristbands—before they're quickly led inside by a dapper man in a striped suit.

Inside, tables are decked out in big, blousy peonies, flickering candles and yet more Champagne. We sit down for spiny lobster and caviar, and turbot supreme—each time the waiters present a new dish, we’re in awe of the sheer artwork in front of us. At one point, the hotel’s general manager Giuseppe Vincelli (who makes this place run as smooth as honey) instructs us to “follow the light” and we’re led to the decking where the hotel’s famous Belle Epoque facade is lit up for an extraordinary show that pings off every balcony, wall and window in a dizzying array of light, color and pattern. This never-ending celebration continues—with a DJ spinning Swedish House Mafia beats as waitresses in pink dresses dance around the beach, and guests, like moths to a flame, follow suit, finally succumbing to the rain.

There’s so much going on in Cannes and so many places to fire up the movie-star passion, but Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel has once again proved it’s the real deal, a force field of glamour and fun since 1913 and more graceful than ever. Boy, she’s back and it’s impossible not to be smitten.