Here’s to Uma Thurman, ’90s Cannes Style Icon

The Cannes Film Festival has come to stand for glamour and excess, but there was once a time when simplicity ruled the red carpet—at least as far as Uma Thurman was concerned. Twenty-five years ago, she was a fresh-faced 23-year-old arriving at the 1993 festivities with a suitcase of understated, yet stylish separates: a hickory-hued vest worn underneath a loose trench; a short-sleeved lilac cardigan paired with an armful of silver bangles; a modest black evening dress. She even wore the same gold beaded necklace with each look—hard to imagine in the current paparazzi bait culture in which celebrities are known to don fistfuls of diamonds and different precious stones at each and every event.

Over the years and into the early aughts, Thurman continued to bring her New York cool to the French Riviera. While promoting Pulp Fiction (winner of the festival’s Palme d’Or) the following spring, she accessorized a crisp white suit with John Lennon–like frames and fuzzy double braids. For an evening outing with costars Bruce Willis and John Travolta, she upped the ante in a midriff-revealing wrap top, pearly ribbon tails trailing down her torso. And though the punchy pink slip skirt and matching shell top and cardigan combo from 2000 was somewhat flashier, it remains a far cry from the high-wattage red carpet gowns to which we’ve become so accustomed. In fact, thanks to such minimalist-minded labels as Protagonist and TyLynn Nguyen, which specialize in silk slips, it’s a look that often shows up on the streets today, proving that simple things can sometimes make the greatest impact.