Helen Mirren is a regular at Cannes, as part of her ambassador gig with L’Oréal Paris. Helen turned up to the Lights on Women’s Worth Awards this year in a Badgley Mischka black column gown with teal sash, fascinator, and 400+ carats of gemstones on a single necklace. It kind of read to me as “Tiffany’s Widow Attends Her Husband’s Funeral,” which I appreciate from a camp factor, but overall it wasn’t my favorite Cannes ensemble from Helen (it’s pretty hard to top dying your hair periwinkle to match your Del Core gown). But one thing we do know about Helen’s look this year, is that she was comfortable in it. Well, not necessarily comfortable, but bearable. She recently waxed to People Mag about her ethos of dressing for the red carpet in something “bearable,” and that starts with the shoes:

The Queen actress, 79, tells PEOPLE that when she sets foot onto a red carpet, she’s going to be glamorous her way — whether it’s the Oscars or the Cannes Film Festival. And these days, that means making up her own definition of comfort.

“I’ve learned over the years, your shoes have to be bearable,” Mirren tells PEOPLE from the Cannes Film Festival. “They don’t necessarily have to be comfortable. And in fact, comfortable sometimes is a bit boring and you want cool shoes. But they have to be bearable because if you’re in unbearable pain, that is going to reflect on your face and your posture and everything. So you start with the shoes, and just make sure that you’re secure in them and they’re bearable.”

She says that once she’s figured out her “bearable” shoes, she goes for maximum comfort with her outfit, because she has been in a place where she hasn’t been comfortable on carpets, and she doesn’t mess around with that anymore.

And she’s also witnessed other stars on carpets — everywhere from the massive steps at the Cannes Film Festival to the grand stage at the Academy Awards — fiddling with their clothes or a poorly fit dress, and she simply doesn’t have the time or energy for that anymore.

“I’ve come to a point where I just want [my red carpet outfit] to be comfortable as well,” she admits. “Beauty knows no pain. I have been there more than once, you know, sucking up the pain for my vanity. But again, it reflects on your face if you’re comfortable. [A red carpet is] a performance. It is like going on stage, really, and I treat it as such. It’s a sort of wonderful, fun, silly performance. It’s not going to last forever. It has huge meaning for a second or two, and then the meaning is gone and we’re onto something else.”

[From People]

Preach! If something isn’t working with your outfit — one bit is too tight, a strap keeps falling down, etc — I find that invariably you, the wearer, always end up drawing more attention to the problem. And if y’all know me by now, you know that I am all about horizontal, not vertical footwear. Though I guess I take it a step further than Helen, because these days I DO demand absolute comfort from my shoes! Just bearable doesn’t cut it for my tootsies. Wearing a bra all day is bearable. But hauling my ass up the four flights of stairs to the train for my daily morning commute? It’s like Sisyphus rolling the rock up the hill, only in this metaphor I’m somehow both Sisyphus and the rock. So my kicks better be comfortable, if not downright rocket powered, to launch me into the world.

But maybe Helen had the word “bearable” on her mind because she thinks about her 2021 encounter with a black bear as often as I do. Remember that video? Scary big bear approaching her house? Not to Helen! She told that “naughty bear!” who the REAL apex predator of that property was! And I bet she was wearing comfortable shoes when she did it, too.

Photos credit: Olivier Huitel/Avalon, James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Avalon, IMAGO/Avalon