Messrs Justin Timberlake, Mads Mikkelsen and Donald Sutherland – and the real star of the Cannes Croisette, the bow tie. Plus find out to master the knot yourself .

The star of this year’s Cannes red carpet? No, it’s not Mr Woody Allen, despite the fact that his very good-looking new film, Café Society, was the subject of the gala screening that launched the whole glitzy shebang last night. And no, it’s not one of the various models and actors that turned up to celebrate it. In fact, it’s not even a person. It’s a bow tie. Or, at least, a way of wearing one. Let 2016 be marked as the year that the big, floppy bow tie officially became the preferred neckwear of the great and good – presumably after much lobbying from the likes of Lanvin, a brand which has been pushing this sort of faded, turn-of-the-20th-century elegance for years now.

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The good news is that emulating it yourself is rather simple. Just make sure you get a proper silk tie that’s as wide as possible at the ends (such as this one from Turnbull & Asser), and when you are tying your bow tie, leave a generous amount of room in the final knot so that the triangular ends of the tie aren’t too scrunched up. If the end result is slightly wonky when you’re done, it doesn’t matter too much, and actually adds to the charm of the whole thing. If you need any further convincing, scroll down to see who wore it well at Cannes.

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Also on the jury this year is Mr Donald Sutherland, star of Don’t Look Now, father of Mr Kiefer Sutherland, and, lately, the man who plays the super-evil president Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games. Opting for a peak-lapelled three-piece tuxedo for yesterday’s red carpet, he was exorbitantly and gloriously dressed up, which is why it’s so pleasing that his bow tie was the opposite – tied loose and large, with the sides mismatched and the ends trailing extravagantly.

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A man who doesn’t do things by halves, whether it’s dancing, singing, acting, or letting his bow tie well and truly hang out. We’re not sure where he picked up this one, but it’s absolutely enormous, so much so that the bottom half seems to be weighing it down. It’s a very dapper, but exceptionally polished touch that looks particularly fancy with his stud-fastened dress shirt.

Find out how to tie the spot-on bow tie here