Diva’s day out

For her second appearance at the 78th Cannes Film Festival red carpet, Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan chose a custom couture ensemble by designer Gaurav Gupta. Gupta, who recently dressed actor Kiara Advani for the 2025 Met Gala in New York, shared pictures of Aishwarya on his official Instagram page on Thursday night.

The ensemble, titled Heiress of Clam, blended celestial design with Indian heritage and spiritual symbolism. It featured a sculptural gown in draped form, intricately hand-embroidered with an abstract rendition of the cosmos. The design included bursts of silver, gold, charcoal, and black, accentuated with micro glass crystals to reflect light.

Complementing the futuristic gown was a Banarasi brocade cape, handwoven in Varanasi, and bearing a Sanskrit shloka from the Bhagavad Gita.

Gupta said the couture look was ‘imagined in draped form and spiritual detail’. Aishwarya made her red carpet debut at the 2025 edition of the film gala on Wednesday. She wore an ivory handloom Banarasi saree by designer Manish Malhotra. The 78th Cannes Film Festival is witnessing a significant Indian presence this year with filmmaker Payal Kapadia being part of the main competition jury.