There’s a certain creative hum that descends upon Downtown Manhattan for the annual Tribeca Film Festival each June—no, not the glitzy, paparazzi-lined chaos of Cannes and Venice, but something quieter, sharper, and more prophetic. As opposed to the couture spectacle seen abroad, the Tribeca Film Festival (or TFF, as it’s commonly shortened) favors substance over spectacle, highlighting emerging voices and broadcasting the future of cinema and culture before it hits the mainstream. Tribeca has long introduced audiences to filmmaking powerhouses—Damien Chazelle, Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins, to name just a few—and subtly debuted some of the most talked-about films of the year before they lit up the marquee.
It’s an indie spirit that translates to the red carpet, too, where punchy, off-beat fashion trumps the usual high-glam looks that define the more mainstream film festivals abroad. You won’t find couture runways disguised as red carpets—but you will catch style stars in the making and Downtown icons mixing vintage with current-season cool. Look no further than Miley Cyrus, who debuted her visual album Something Beautiful at this year’s festival. The singer stepped out to the Beacon Theater in a sheer, fringe-lined crochet dress and a statement shawl jacket that arrived straight from the Paris runways. She carried it with the confidence of a true New Yorker, a powerful style choice for her even more powerful new era.
Since the inaugural staging in 2002, the festival has developed a reputation not just as a launchpad for genre-defying filmmakers, but as a barometer of what’s next in fashion. It’s the stage where longtime Downtown style icon Chloë Sevigny cemented herself as the queen of indie-cool. The actor, a regular at the TFF since its inception, shows up year after year with the kind of unbothered style (and that signature too-cool charisma) that has made her a perennial reference point within New York’s street style scene—and the festival, too.
Think signature looks, like the paisley print shift dress and hair bow she wore during her debut at the festival in 2002, a little black coat styled as a dress and paired with sheer, lace stockings, or even something like the neon green gown she slipped on in 2017. Many of Sevigny’s looks, and the best fashion seen at TFF, come down to styling. Given the more intimate, artist-driven feel of the event, stars are offered more freedom to experiment (don’t expect any dressing bans like the one Cannes instituted this year) with not only their wardrobe choices, but how they carry them. In Sevigny’s case, that means eccentric accessories—ladylike kitten heels, drawstring purses with vintage embroidery—and an attitude that projects she got dressed because she felt like it, not because a stylist told her to.
Katie Holmes, another storied New York style icon à la Sevigny, has brought a different kind of energy to Tribeca. While Sevigny falls in the Indie Sleaze camp, Holmes favors clean, quietly directional shapes—barrel leg jeans with a faint monogram print, fitted crochet slip dresses, studded black vests with white blouses. Then there are stars like Zazie Beetz and Tessa Thompson, who bring a more experimental type of edge to the carpet, often championing emerging designers while mixing bold colors and even bolder silhouettes. And with the festival set in the heart of the city, it’s only natural that some of New York’s foremost It-girls—Irina Shayk, Emily Ratajkowski, Julia Fox, chief among them—will make appearances throughout the two-week event.
While household names like Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, and Kristen Stewart—and even younger ingenues like Anya Taylor-Joy and Saoirse Ronan—sometimes pop up in Tribeca’s lineup, the festival largely belongs to its indie darlings. Even those actors, staples of Cannes and Venice, are more inclined to dress down when they’re in town. Think ballet flats over stilettos, semi-sheer dresses instead of beaded gowns with elaborate trains, and “no makeup” makeup looks rather than the typical high-power glamour.
I mean, who could forget the time when Stewart attended The Cake Eaters premiere in an oh-so 2000s blouse worn over skinny jeans? The look stands out not only for its era-specific styling, but also for how unapologetically casual it felt on the carpet—that swagger is something that Stewart has carried with her in the years since, even during her more formal appearances in Cannes and Venice.
The Tribeca Film Festival isn’t about dressing to impress—though, when Downtown icons show up, they often do—it’s about dressing with intention. In a world where fashion and film are co-stars, Tribeca’s red carpet is the quiet scene-stealer.
