France is synonymous with style. It is, after all, the country that produced Yves St. Laurent and Coco Chanel.

So perhaps it's no surprise the Cannes Film Festival has fashion police.

When covering premieres, members of the media are required to wear black tie. But not just any black tie. One of our cameramen, Chris Audick, showed up to cover a premiere wearing a tuxedo with a black necktie. Wrong! The fashion police informed him he must wear a bow tie (what the French call a "noeud papillon" or butterfly knot) or risk being tossed out.

We witnessed one young man being turned away from a premiere last night. He was dressed in a tuxedo all right. His fashion sin? Inappropriate footwear! He was denied access for having the audacity to wear brown suede shoes instead of regulation patent leather. We can only hope he located some black spray paint, coated his shoes and returned to take his rightful place at the soiree.

Not even stars are spared the dress code. According to the book "In the Spirit of Cannes," in 1949 Edward G. Robinson was forced to borrow someone's patent leather shoes so he could appear on stage to accept an acting prize.

On Wednesday night, Disney/Pixar executive John Lasseter, who is famous for sporting Hawaiian shirts, bowed to tradition at the premiere of "Up." He wore a tux. And not the kind with blue ruffles.

- Matthew Carey, CNN Entertainment Producer