CANNES: Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is known for turning heads at the Cannes Film Festival.
This year she’s done it again by appearing on the red carpet in an eye-popping multi-hued butterfly gown with a three-meter-long train designed by Dubai-based Michael Cinco.
Aishwarya attended the premiere on Saturday night of “Les Filles du Soleil,” directed by Eva Husson and starring Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who plays the leader of a band of Kurdish women soldiers. She walked the red carpet with her six-year-old daughter Aaradhya, who looked adorable in a red dress.
While Aishwarya often favors the Lebanese designer Elie Saab for her red carpet gowns, Cinco is becoming her go-to designer: last year Aishwarya also wore a Cinderella-like pale blue dress created by him.
On his own Instagram account, the Filipino designer posted a video of her sashaying down the hall, saying “The Bollywood goddess AISHWARYA RAI is getting read to slay the red carpet…”
The dress itself, embellished in Swarovski crystals and French paillettes, was 10-feet long and took 3,000 hours to make.
In describing the “Impalpable Dream of The Butterfly,” Cinco says: “And so the butterfly emerges from its chrysalis and metamorphose into this cape made in the lightest of fine mesh.”
Cinco’s couture gowns have been worn by Beyoncé, Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Having established his label in Dubai in 2003, it is no coincidence that he decided to base himself in the Middle East, “a haven of haute couture,” as he describes it.
This is Aishwarya’s 17th year at Cannes, where she was the first female Indian actress to serve as a jury member. In 2002, she walked the red carpet in a canary yellow sari by Neeta Lulla for the premiere of her film “Devdas.”
Social Star
There are so many Instagram accounts dedicated to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, it’s hard to believe it’s taken her this long to create one of her own. But she doesn’t have that much to worry about: only a few days into joining Instagram on Friday, @aishwaryaRaiBachchan already has more than half a million followers.
She began with a throwback photo of her and Aaradhya when she was a baby, but it wasn’t long before she was posting photos of herself at Cannes on Saturday, with her daughter Aaradhya.
The photo of her wearing the Cinco dress has received more than 200,000 likes, with the video being viewed more than a million times.
Get the Look
As the brand ambassador for L’Oreal Paris, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wore make-up from its Cannes Collection: Infallible Pro Matte Liquid Lip in 308 Shanghai Scarlet, Infallible Pro Matte Liquid Foundation, Le Stylo Smoky Shadow 102 Delicat Wood, Infallible 24H gel crayon I’ve Got The Blue.
