"Now, don’t fret. This is not a dig at our beloved pop culture darling, Pedro Pascal (I wouldn’t dare). So, please put down the trolling. This is, rather, a reaction to specific media praise orbiting Pascal’s most recent red carpet look, which I can’t help but feel slightly uneasy about. Allow me to explain:
If you were online at all this past weekend, you probably scrolled past photos of Pascal on the Cannes red carpet, promoting his upcoming film release, Eddington. And while the film received an impressive standing ovation, there was also online applause for another debut—Pedro Pascal in a chic, sleeveless wool tunic. The internet quickly flooded with memes and photos swooning over Pascal’s “sculpted biceps” and torso, which the piece accentuated. I admit, scrolling through the discourse was very entertaining—I love a silly cultural moment. However, the timing of these comments about Pascal’s viral tank feels a little ironic, don’t you think?
Let me backtrack. One day before the Cannes Film Festival officially kicked off last week, the festival released a statement, with one element standing out: “for decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as in any other area of the festival.” The statement additionally banned looks with large trains, as they inhibit the flow of traffic on the carpet. While the new dress code does not explicitly single out men or women, many commentators noted it inherently affects women’s style more than men’s. Seemingly signaling to women that their versions of self-expression are something to be regulated.
There has been a long-standing tradition of Hollywood policing women’s bodies, with the Cannes Film Festival joining as the latest reinforcement. So when Pedro Pascal is celebrated for showing his bare arms and torso on the same red carpet with a no-nudity dress code announcement just days before, it reads a bit like another unfortunate illustration of the contrasting ways men’s and women’s bodies are discussed in the media. What I mean is, Pedro Pascal showing his bare arms is a vibe. Effortless. Charming. Comparatively, women who have attended the same event, flirting with the bare-skin dress code, are daring. Risqué. Or a problem to dissect—and later, ban.
“Pedro Pascal showing his bare arms is a vibe. Effortless. Charming. Comparatively, women who have attended the same event, flirting with the bare-skin dress code, are daring. Risqué. Or a problem to dissect—and later, ban.”
Yes, you can also argue there is a difference between a breast and a bicep in terms of anatomy, but in terms of general self-expression on the red carpet, the headlines still remain more femininely restrictive. And in a cinematic world with a foundation built on artists who embrace vulnerability and challenge the human condition, it seems ironic that a world-famous film festival would choose to censor the same kind of storytelling within the fashion of its storytellers.
Let’s reiterate—Pedro Pascal should be celebrated for feeling good in his skin and sharing his art through fashion. But simultaneously, these recent comments toward Pascal ultimately affirm the deeper double standards women can experience. Showing that dissective commentary isn’t worn evenly between men and women. Bella Hadid, for example, showed essentially the same amount of skin as Pascal, but where Pascal’s look went viral in a positive way, comments on Bella’s look centered around how daring she looked while teetering on the edge of the dress code.
There is certainly no shortage of other women receiving backlash for their bare fashion choices in the past, like Julia Fox, Florence Pugh, and Kourtney Kardashian, to name a few. Need us not forget about Florence Pugh’s viral hot pink Valentino dress that sparked controversy for its sheer lining back in 2022, forcing Pugh to comment on the backlash in an Instagram post.
The comments around the Cannes Film Festival’s latest dress code drew even wider parallels as well. Specifically, to other controversial rules the city of Cannes has placed around women’s mediums of fashion and self-expression. The same Cannes that used to ban flats back in 2015, and attempted the burkini ban of 2016, which prevented women from wearing burkini’s because it was a “disruptor to public order.” So, with this latest nudity ban now in effect, it’s easy to look at the dress code as another controversial way to police women’s bodies.
Looking at previous red carpet fashion, I can’t help but wonder how the world might look if people celebrated women’s “daring” fashion choices the way people celebrate Pedro’s biceps. There’s no denying this would come with a double-edged sword, and I’m not blindly unaware of the ways women objectify men as well. Especially given that most of the celebratory comments toward Pascal’s Cannes look were seemingly coming from women. But the general contrasting ways men and women are objectified in the media are still very difficult to ignore. I love the idea of a world where my favorite actors can embrace their art on the red carpet so confidently; it just seems like the conversations we are having make it difficult for women to do this in a way that is as positively sculpted as Pedro Pascal’s biceps.
“But the moral of the story is not that Pedro Pascal shouldn’t show skin. It’s rather another tiring contrast of what happens when women do the same thing.”
There certainly seems to be no escaping the double standards women face when it comes to nude dressing. And with the rising tidal wave of western conservatism continuing to swell, could this be a sign that nude fashion is losing its inclusivity altogether? I sure hope not. There are still plenty more Cannes looks on the way this weekend, and I am interested to see how the media will continue to respond to the no nudity dress code, given recent muscle tank headlines.
The moral of the story is not that Pedro Pascal shouldn’t show skin. It’s rather another tiring contrast of what happens when women do the same thing. When the media continues to applaud one version over the other, it ultimately dilutes what the red carpet should be all about—style, art, and powerful self-expression. Instead, it can read like something entirely different: control. Fashion is a powerful force, but it is only its most powerful when it can be explored without shame. The more conversations that work to elevate, not regulate, all bodies on the red carpet, is one step closer to being a culture that actually believes it should be that way.
Madigan Will, Assistant Editor
As an Assistant Editor for The Everygirl, Madigan writes and edits content for every topic under the digital media sun. As the oldest of four siblings, she enjoys utilizing her big sister persona to connect and inspire readers—helping them discover new ways to maximize their everyday.