Dame Helen Mirren made her grand entrance on the Red Carpet at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday 5/24. Her regal Elie Saab gown stretched to the skirt with a dramatic train and draped in a folded bodice and half off-the-shoulder shape. Her entire dress was cut from a rich, throne room-worthy purple satin, highlighted by a smooth and elegant hairstyle and light makeup. The actress looked so decorated that she came to rule the red carpet and inhabited some of the monarchs of the early twentieth century. And in a way, she says she was.

The next morning, when I spoke to Marie Claire from the L'Oréal Paris Suite at the Hôtel Martinez in Cannes, Mirren didn't want to call her smooth, curled bob and classic red lips "beauty" or even hair and makeup. Instead, she thought in terms of an age-old Shakespeare quote: the carpet was her stage, and the 360-degree ensemble represented the part where she came to play.

"I hope you don't have to use the word 'beauty', but it's not about 'beauty', it's about 'presentation,'" she says. "It's like you're walking as a kind of character; Your own caricature version."

Mirren sees her hair, makeup and styling team as the 'craftsmen' who prepare her for what she considers her ideal role. "It's a performance where you don't have to memorize lines," she explains. "It's like a dream for me and I can play a role without having to learn the lines.

Compared to other carpets, the Cannes Film Festival is known for its dress code, where the over-the-top gram is the standard (which is no exception). The heightened atmosphere encourages Mirren to dream of unexpected hair and makeup ideas to play her most charming self. To highlight the noble energy of the purple gown, she wanted to make it look simpler this year, but the towering up-do's shocking blue hair felt appropriate for the character she lived with at the 2023 Red Carpet premiere of Jeanne du Barry. "I love 18th century fashion, so I wanted something from the 18th century," she explains. "So I was thinking of a huge 18th century wig and I thought oh it would be great to have it in blue to fit my dress.

L 'Oreal hair stylist Stefan Lancien delivered what Mirren called "a wonderful bluebird's nest on my head.""It's a mixture of him, his achievements and my thoughts," she says.

Hair, makeup and wardrobe may be the least committed roles Mirren has played in his 60-year career. When the red carpet is finished, that part also ends. "It's a nice thing because it's only one night, you know, you don't have to live with this forever," Mirren says.

Then she corrects herself with a smile, as if recalling how the nature of her performance on the Red Carpet has changed. "Of course, now on the Internet, you have to live with it forever."