4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: May 17, 2026 01:51 PM IST
The Cannes Film Festival is underway, and South Asians have taken over the red carpet, championing heritage and craft on the global platform like never before. We’re almost a week in, and so far, the fashion report card has spelled a glorious A — thanks to Alia Bhatt’s showstopping looks, Tara Sutaria’s vintage debut and Aditi Rao Hydari’s much-awaited return. Day 4 was all about the Heeramandi actor and Huma Qureshi stealing the show, but they weren’t the only ones turning heads at the French Riviera.
Sanam Saeed made her debut last night in a custom-made Hussain Rehar ensemble, a white peacock-inspired masterpiece shimmering with Mukesh, Zardozi, and radiant mirror work.
50 artisans devoted 2,354 hours to sculpting the halter neck dress with a balloon hem, which the Zindagi Gulzar Hai actor styled with a matching dupatta, a pair of custom ear cuffs and maang tika by Hanif Jewellers. She kept the look clean and elegant by pulling her hair back in a long braid, with a wreath of white rose buds wrapped around.
Sanam Saeed at Cannes. (Source: Instagram/@hussainrehar.official)
Masoom Minawala in crochet
One of India’s OG fashion influencers, Masoom Minawala returned to the French Riviera this year in a custom crochet gown in black. The dress was made by Anushka Sanghvi, a 24 year old girl from Mumbai, who had a dream of building her crochet label since her mom taught her to knit as a child.
“She’s just graduated and this is her first label. She doesn’t have a celebrity clientele, a PR team. She has a degree, a vision and a team of women artisans who crocheted this over 300 hours by hand. Her name is Anushka Sanghvi. Remember it,” Minawala could be heard introducing her in the video.
For her second look at Cannes, the creator slipped into a turquoise blue strapless dress paired with heritage jewels. The look was a tribute to Alicia Silverstone’s character Cher Horowitz in the film Clueless (1995), where she wore an iconic red Alaia dress while getting robbed. “You don’t understand! This is an Alaia!”, Minawala captioned her Instagram post.
Masoom Minawala at Cannes. (Source: Instagram/@masoomminawala)
Urvashi Rautela’s “Gandi Copy”
Urvashi Rautela, who previously stunned in Vietnamese couture on the first day of Cannes, chose a white and gold sari during one of the media appearances, where she posed with Monaco’s Olympic Rugby champion Antoine Zeghdar. The sari bore uncanny similarity to the one Gigi Hadid wore for the NMACC gala back in 2023, a chikankari couture piece from Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla’s atelier.
Fashion watchdog Diet Sabya took to Instagram to label it a “gandi copy” aka a poorly imitated piece of art. “Unless there has been a case of mass amnesia, and I was not invited, I don’t think anyone has forgotten Gigi’s Abu Jani chikankari couture sari!! You need mega GUTS to pull this off 😂,” they mentioned in the caption of their social media post.
Watch out for Diana Penty
Ahead of her red carpet appearance, Diana Penty also marked her attendance at Cannes yesterday, in association with BMW Excellence. The Cocktail actor chose a pair of washed denims, a white t-shirt and black ruffled jacket to arrive in style. We can’t wait to see what she has in store for the weekend.
