The women of Cannes are staging a rebellion against high heels.

There’s a rebellion gathering momentum in the French Riviera right now.

Don’t be alarmed; it’s not a Les Mis-style uprising. However, the common cause is something that’ll have any woman who’s been forced to shove her feet into torturous high heels fist-pumping.

Yep, this rebellion is all about shoes — more specifically, the kinds of shoes women at the Cannes Film Festival should be allowed to wear.

(Hear Mia, Mons and Kate de Brito talk about how it’s been a bad week for high heels on Mamamia Out Loud this week. Post continues after audio.)

In the wake of last year’s controversy over women being turned away from screenings because they were wearing flats (more on that in a moment), a number of celebrities gave the middle finger to heels this week. Susan Sarandon is one of them, having teamed her Saint Laurent suit with comfy-looking black flats.

No heel ache for this lady. (Image: Getty)

Kristen Stewart also chose to stay grounded, wearing checkered sneakers to the Opening Gala Dinner.

They look bloody comfy. No wonder she's smiling. (Image: Getty)

The Twilight star did swap the flats for heels to attend a later event, which she insisted wasn't an attempt to make a point. “I thought the heels looked better with the dress and that flats look better with a skirt, and they’re easier to wear for several hours," she told Vanity Fair yesterday.

Stewart was also spotted taking one pair of her stilettos off immediately after exiting the red carpet, which is understandable.

Julia Roberts was the biggest rebel of them all, though, opting to wear no shoes at all on the Money Monster red carpet.

Look mum, no shoes. (Image: Getty)

Because her Armani gown was floor-length, nobody was none the wiser about the actress's barefoot situation... until she hit the staircase and her deception was revealed.

While it was probably a coincidence that all these women bypassed stilettos — and very likely not part of a rebel uprising — their choice seemed significant in the wake of last year's Cannes furore.

The controversy was sparked when group of women, some of whom had medical conditions, were reportedly turned away from a screening of Carol because they weren't wearing heels.

Watch: The best looks so far from this year's Cannes red carpet. (Post continues after video.)

Much of the resulting outrage was directed at what many assumed to be strict dress code requiring women to wear heels of a certain height. However, Cannes director Thierry Frémaux denounced this as an "unfounded rumour" and eventually apologised for the incident.

More damage control came in the form of an official Cannes festival statement, which read, "Regarding the dress code for the red carpet screenings, rules have not changed throughout the years and there is no specific mention about the height of the women's heels as well as for men's."

Nevertheless, women — famous and not — were pretty pissed about the whole thing. At a press conference at the time, actress Emily Blunt told reporters she found the flats incident "very disappointing."

"Everyone should wear flats, to be honest. We shouldn't wear high heels anyway, that's my point of view," she added.

This year, it seems her challenge has been accepted. (Post continues after gallery.)

In her Vanity Fair interview, Kristen Stewart insisted any wardrobe guidelines that require women to wear heels "have to change immediately."

“It has become really obvious that if [a man and I] were walking the red carpet together and someone stopped me and said, ‘Excuse me, young lady, you’re not wearing heels. You cannot come in’ then [I’m going to say], ‘Neither is my friend. Does he have to wear heels?’" she argued.

"It can work both ways. It’s just like you simply cannot ask me to do something that you are not asking him. I get the black-tie thing but you should be able to do either version—flats or heels.”

Have you ever worn flat shoes to a fancy event?

Image: Getty.