Helen Mirren Reveals Her Top Cannes Film Festival Tip to Make Red Carpets 'Bearable' — and It's Not About the Dress (Exclusive)

Helen Mirren has learned a fewer tricks from her galore reddish carpets successful her career.

The Queen actress, 79, tells PEOPLE that erstwhile she sets ft onto a reddish carpet, she's going to beryllium glamorous her measurement — whether it's nan Oscars aliases nan Cannes Film Festival. And these days, that intends making up her ain meaning of comfort.

"I've learned complete nan years, your shoes person to beryllium bearable," Mirren tells PEOPLE from nan Cannes Film Festival. "They don't needfully person to beryllium comfortable. And successful fact, comfortable sometimes is simply a spot boring and you want cool shoes. But they person to beryllium bearable because if you're successful unbearable pain, that is going to bespeak connected your look and your posture and everything. So you commencement pinch nan shoes, and conscionable make judge that you're unafraid successful them and they're bearable."

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She says that erstwhile she's figured retired her "bearable" shoes, she goes for maximum comfortableness pinch her outfit, because she has been successful a spot wherever she hasn't been comfortable connected carpets, and she doesn't messiness astir pinch that anymore.

And she's besides witnessed different stars connected carpets — everyplace from nan monolithic steps astatine nan Cannes Film Festival to nan expansive shape astatine nan Academy Awards — fiddling pinch their apparel aliases a poorly fresh dress, and she simply doesn't person nan clip aliases power for that anymore.

"I've travel to a constituent wherever I conscionable want [my reddish carpet outfit] to beryllium comfortable arsenic well," she admits. "Beauty knows nary pain. I person been location much than once, you know, sucking up nan symptom for my vanity. But again, it reflects connected your look if you're comfortable. [A reddish carpet is] a performance. It is for illustration going connected stage, really, and I dainty it arsenic such. It's a benignant of wonderful, fun, silly performance. It's not going to past forever. It has immense meaning for a 2nd aliases two, and past nan meaning is gone and we're onto thing else."

Mirren, who is simply a L'Oréal Paris spokesperson, walked nan Cannes Film Festival reddish carpet connected May 22 for nan Colors of Time premiere successful a form-fitting achromatic gown pinch agelong sleeves. It was accented by a Tiffany bluish sash astir her waist that tied into an oversize front astatine her backmost earlier floating retired into a short train. Mirren topped her look disconnected pinch a connection fascinator, but nan boldest portion of her look was her jaw-dropping Margot McKinney necklace called the Marina Collier. The monolithic necklace featured 3 halfway gemstones totalling complete 400 carats.

Her first reddish carpet quality astatine this year's show comes nan time earlier nan L'Oréal Paris Lights connected Women’s Worth Awards. For nan 5th year, nan marque and nan show are coming together to champion emerging female voices successful film.

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Mirren tells PEOPLE that it intends a "huge amount" to beryllium progressive and thief support women successful movie alongside L'Oréal Paris.

"It's ever a very moving evening that we springiness retired those awards and they get nominated by their communities," Mirren shares of what it's for illustration to be nan L'Oréal Paris Lights connected Women’s Worth Awards, taking spot this twelvemonth connected May 23. "And [the winners] get a financial aid to their charity, a important financial donation. Likewise, nan filmmakers get a aid towards financing their adjacent movie, which is great. It makes a immense difference, because it's very difficult to raise finance for immoderate movie — nan astir established filmmakers find it difficult to raise money. So you tin ideate a young female coming into nan movie manufacture pinch each of her ambition and her talent, uncovering it very difficult to get a movie disconnected nan ground."

This year, Academy Award-winning character and L’Oréal Paris ambassador Viola Davis joins arsenic Juror, pursuing successful nan footsteps of Elle Fanning and Kate Winslet. Davis will coming nan 2025 grant to 1 standout female head from nan Cannes Short Film Competition aliases La Cinef selection.

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During her clip successful nan L’Oréal Paris family, Mirren has not only represented nan marque astatine nan Cannes Film Festival successful a number of standout looks, but she's besides (understandably) picked up her favourite products from nan brand.

The Oscar-winning character admits that she's "always up for nan latest thing" because nan beauty scenery is ever changing, but erstwhile it comes down to it, 1 L’Oréal Paris merchandise will ever beryllium successful her rotation.

"There's an unthinkable leave-in serum that L’Oréal has done, and it's a beautiful, beautiful product," she gushes. "I deliberation it's called nan Elvive leave-in serum. It's beautiful."

Mirren goes connected to opportunity that she loves playing astir pinch caller products because they rather simply make her "feel good" and astatine nan extremity of nan time that's what matters astir for her.

"A batch of beauty is to do pinch really you consciousness psychologically wrong arsenic overmuch arsenic anything," she says. "I deliberation that's wherever a really bully merchandise [comes in] — it conscionable makes you consciousness good."