Helen Mirren Says She Wishes "We Didn't Have to Use the Word 'Beauty'" When Discussing the Red Carpet

Dame Helen Mirren made her grand entrance at the Cannes Film Festival red carpet on Friday, May 24. Her regal Elie Saab gown draped into a half off-the-shoulder shape with a folded bodice, extending into a skirt with a dramatic train. Her entire dress was cut from a rich, throne-room-worthy purple satin, emphasized by a slick, elegant hairstyle and light makeup. The decorated actress looked like she was inhabiting the part of an early-twentieth century monarch, come to rule over the red carpet. And in a way, she says she was.

Speaking to Marie Claire the following morning from the L'Oréal Paris suite at the Hôtel Martinez in Cannes, Mirren didn't want to refer to her slicked-back, curled bob and classic red lip accompanying her look as "beauty"—or even hair and makeup. Instead, she thought in terms of the age-old Shakespeare quote: the carpet was her stage, and the 360-degree ensemble represented a part she came to play.

"I wish we didn't have to use the word 'beauty' because it's not about 'beauty,' is it? It's about presentation," she says. "It's like you're walking as a sort of character; a caricature version of yourself."

Mirren thinks of her hair, makeup, and styling teams as "artisans" who prepare her for what she considers an ideal role: walking out on to the carpet to communicate with her presence alone. "It's a performance where I don't have to learn any lines," she explains. "That's like a dream for me, to play a role where I don't have to learn any lines."

Compared to other carpets, the Cannes Film Festival is known for a dress code where over-the-top glam is the norm (not the exception). The heightened atmosphere has encouraged Mirren to dream up unexpected hair and makeup ideas for the sake of playing her most glamorous self.

While she wanted to keep her look more simple this year to emphasize her purple gown's royal energy, shocking blue hair in a towering up-do felt appropriate for the character she inhabited on the 2023 red carpet premiere of Jeanne du Barry. "I thought I wanted a sort of 18th century thing because I love 18th century [fashion]," she explains. "So I was thinking of a huge 18th century wig and then I thought, oh, it'd be great to have it in blue to match my dress."

L'Oréal hairstylist Stephane Lancien delivered with what Mirren called "a wonderful blue bird's nest on my head." "It's a mixture of him, his achievement, and my ideas," she says.

Hair, makeup, and wardrobing are maybe the lowest-commitment roles Mirren has played in her 60-year career. When the red carpet ends, so does the part. "It's a lovely thing because it's just for one night, you know, you're not gonna have to live with this forever," Mirren says.

Then, as if remembering how the nature of performing on the red carpet has changed, she corrects herself with a smile. "Of course, now with the internet, you do have to live with it forever."