Chanel has decided to partner with this year’s Deauville American Film Festival, the 46th edition. This is the second year running that the two have partnered with each other. Taking place since 1975, the Festival has become a yearly showcase of American cinema, showing films not only from its own selection, but also screening select works from the Cannes and Annecy Film Festivals.

This year’s festival started on the 4th of September and will go on till the 13th. French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis will be the president of the Deauville Festival Jury, while French director Rebecca Zlotowski will preside over the Revelation Jury. Several of them have been seen donning Chanel on the red carpet.

Chanel has had a long history with Deauville, with Gabrielle Chanel having opened a shop in the beach town in 1912. The environment and people that she saw there influenced her enough that she started making jersey blouses and used a lot more beige in her designs. In fact, Karl Lagerfeld even made a short film about her early days in Deauville titled Once Upon a Time, starring Keira Knightley.

Chanel has had close ties with the film industry for decades, having designed outfits for stars like Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and Gloria Swanson since the 1930s. In the present day, Chanel has become a signature fashion brand for modern-day industry heavyweights like Penélope Cruz, Margot Robbie, Kristen Stewart and Marion Cotillard.

While some prominent stars of French cinema have already made appearances, several American stars have been absent from this year’s festivities. The COVID pandemic has made it difficult for Americans to safely travel to Europe at this time, hence the lack of Stateside representation.