Meet the fashionistas taking Indian couture to a global scale at Festival de Cannes.
By Pooja Shah
The 74th Annual Cannes Film Festival has officially started, with festivities expected to go on until the 17th of July. Each year, the event invites celebrities and fashion stars from around the world to meet and mingle and so far, we’ve seen several Indian influencers walk this year’s coveted red carpets wearing stunning ensembles put together by Indian designers as a way of embracing their Indian roots. In our opinion, these fashionistas are the definition of the quote “You can take an Indian out of India, but you can never take India out of an Indian.”
Masoom Minawala Mehta (@masoomminawala), an Indian fashion influencer residing in Antwerp, Belgium, who has always been vocal about how her dream is to represent India on the global fashion stage. This is the second time she’s attended the Cannes Film Festival and to mark the occasion, she walked the red carpet wearing a sparkling Manish Malhotra saree, but a modern adaptation of the traditional silhouette with cape sleeves and a deep back blouse. She styled it with emerald earrings from Boucheron and nude makeup. After walking the carpet, she posted on Instagram to her 1 million with the caption, “the honour to be at the world’s largest cinematic event, wearing India, being India, celebrating India.”
From Amsterdam, Netherlands, Diipa Buller Khosla (@diipakhosla) is known as the winner of the coveted Influencer of the Year Award. In the past, she has attended the glamorous event twice, but the third time is extra special as it comes 2.5 months after pregnancy. Her first look was Indian-inspired, a gorgeous printed lehenga from Falguni Shane Peacock complete with an off-the-shoulder black blouse, and cultural figure prints and colours that represented her Motherland. She styled the look with a maang tikka and jewellery from Front Row London. Diipa shared her look to her 1.4 million followers on Instagram with the caption, “What did you think? I’d be attending the Cannes Film Festival in anything other than Indian outfit first?”
Last but not least, Nidhi Sunil (@nidhisunil), the model and Indian spokesperson for L’Oréal Paris, made her Cannes debut this year. Originally from India, Nidhi has been living and working in New York for the past five years so her fashion style is a mix of various cultures. For this the red carpet she wore Rahul Mishra for the gala opening, sharing her gratitude to the designer on Instagram with the caption, “I was so honoured to have the opportunity to wear @rahulmishra_7 at the @festivaldecannes gala opening. One of the most incredible couturiers and also the nicest human being, always pushing for recognition of Indian artisanship.”
Every year, we’ve become accustomed to seeing the likes of Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, and Aishwarya Rai grace the red carpets, but it was refreshing to see fashion influencers have the opportunity to share the space and attend such a glamorous event. Masoom Minawala Mehta, Diipa Buller Khosla, and Nidhi Sunil, all living in diverse parts of the world have accomplished great success through content creation and it is so inspiring to see them use their platform to embrace their Indian roots, boldly, and proudly.
