Dua Lipa not only made her Cannes Film Festival red carpet debut on Friday night, but she also made a very public debut with her long-rumored new boyfriend, Romain Gavras. (She also debuted some rather dramatic new bangs, though that seems of lesser significance). While Lipa has attended events surrounding the film festival before, her appearance at the premiere of Elias Belkeddar’s Omar La Fraise was her first proper trip down the Croisette’s famed red carpet. She did so in a black asymmetrical dress by Hedi Slimane for Celine. The dress featured peek-a-boo cutouts that slashed across the bodice, and a rather dramatically high-leg slit.
More dramatic though may be the rather long Lydia Deetz-style bangs that covered nearly half of the 27-year-old singer’s face.
As for her date, Lipa has been linked to 41-year-old Gavras for months now, and while they’ve been spotted here and there, they’ve kept a rather low profile. Until now. Considering they held hands and were quite touchy, it’s hard to read this as anything other than a relationship hard launch.
Gavras is a French-born film director, and in the United States his most known work may be the music video for M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls.” That’s the one with all the car stunts in the Moroccan desert. He also directed the video for the rapper’s “Born Free,” the somewhat controversial clip that imagines a genocide of red-haired people. He was also behind Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus’s “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” clip.
Though in recent years, he’s concentrated more on feature films in his native French. His last, 2022’s Athena, competed at the Venice International Film Festival. The film was deeply critical of police power, and was criticized by far-right French politicians. His 2018 comedy The World is Yours scored a César Award nomination for its co-star, the French acting legend Isabelle Adjani. Gavras has also done his fair share of commercial work, including fragrance commercials for Louis Vuitton (starring Emma Stone) and Dior (starring Charlize Theron).
When photos of the pair emerged during Paris Fashion Week earlier this year, an anonymous source told a British tabloid that, “they have been enjoying spending time together. The pair met each other’s close circles over the festive period and have lots in common.” Gavras was once briefly linked to Rita Ora. Lipa’s last relationship was with male model and jewelry designer Anwar Hadid.
