The Cannes Film Festival opened yesterday, and as usual, the stars put on their stunning couture gowns and hit the red carpet for the grand opening and the premiere of "Blindness" - an apocalyptic movie about a terrible epidemic that robs people of their vision and plunges the world and one particular city into chaos, starring the beautiful and talented Julianne Moore. Alongside the movie's protagonists, many other stars showed off their fashion choices, among them Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman (who is also part of the nine person Cannes jury) and Eva Longoria.

Cate Blanchett came to Cannes to promote her latest movie, the eagerly awaited and already slightly controversial "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", and looked gorgeous in a nude Armani Prive ruffled dress. Eva Longoria - whose presence in Cannes has been the subject of some barely-disguised humor among film critics - caused a splash... of color as she wore a bright turquoise Versace Haute Couture gown that complemented her fit figure.

Purple (which, by the way, is taking the fashion world by storm) was extremely popular on the red carpet, as both Natalie Portman and supermodel Bar Rafaeli chose to wear plum-tinted dresses, the former opting for a dark purple Lanvin number while the latter sported a classic light purple gown.

Mischa Barton was also at the premiere (don't ask why, we're just here for the fashion scoop) and her navy blue Alberta Ferretti gown was right on cue - which made us all breathe a sigh of relief, in view of her latest fashion blunder at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala earlier this month. Stay tuned for more fashion updates as the Film Festival gets well under way and more stars come out to play on the red carpet.