VIDEO : Julia Roberts Bucks Cannes' Dress Code, Walks on Red Carpet Barefoot

Julia Roberts ascended the famed red-carpet steps to the Cannes Film Festival barefoot, a year after several women were famously turned away from the festival's premieres for not wearing high heels. At the premiere of Jodie Foster's "Money Monster" on Thursday, Roberts slipped out of her heels, bundled up her flowing black gown and bounded barefoot up the stairs. According to the Associated Press, protocol on Cannes' red carpet is extremely rigid. Last year, several attendees were denied entry for wearing flat shoes and a media storm erupted. The French magazine L'Express applauded Roberts' barefoot gambit as a "veritable act of militant feminism."