Nicola Coughlan Breaks All the Rules in Cannes

Sequins are usually for a night out, sweaters are reserved for winter, and a particular combination of leafy green and baby pink is usually perfect for Palm Beach. If, like Nicola Coughlan, your outfit looks particularly good, you’re more than free to break all those statements. In the South of France today, the Bridgerton star proved you don’t need to play by the rules to look good.

Coughlan stepped out to a photo call at the Canneseries International Festival in France while wearing a custom sequined dress from Mithridate, the Guangzhou-based label helmed by British designer Daniel Fletcher. To make it more casual, she tied a blush pink sweater over its neckline. Metallic silver heels, cat-eye glasses, and a tousled updo finished Coughlan’s look.

Coughlan’s dual-purpose sweater is a styling trick (once reserved for the halls of the local Country Club, to be clear) that’s been adopted by fashion girls over the past year. Everyone from Kendall Jenner to Sofia Richie and Hailey Bieber is knotting their sweaters in all types of ways, whether that be around their waists, clavicles, or on their shoulders like Coughlan showed here.

Rarely has a star been willing to bring the knotted sweater to the red carpet. (It’s more of an off-duty thing for most stars, often worn with simple khaki trousers or dark jeans.) But Coughlan proved that an Old Money sweater functions just as well for a photo opportunity as it does for a casual day out. Thanks to her styling choices, Coughlan’s sweater created the look of a second neckline on top of her disco dress’s sweetheart shape, and brought a nice contrast to the colorful outfit.

Fashion is often about following the rules, but styling? That’s all about breaking them.