What Made Vidya Balan Pick These Outfits for Her C

Even before Vidya Balan made her first appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in a Sabyasachi Mukherjee outfit last week, it was already evident that the actress would pick her favourite designer to dress her. And she did. Vidya, a jury member at Cannes, joined Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg on the prestigious panel, and Sabya, along with stylist Jayati Bose, joined her to ensure India shines at the French Riviera.

"I was unnaturally stressed when she told me she was headed to Cannes," Sabya told us, "She loves her scripts more than her clothes. She wanted to wear something fabulously Indian, so I knew it had to be saris and lots of long anarkalis. If she had her way, she would wear a cotton sari even on the red carpet, but we had to convince her to dress up a bit more!"

We met the designer and the actress during fittings a day before Vidya left for Cannes, and after putting together 35 plus looks for her, Sabya finally seemed a bit relaxed.

"We unanimously decided to promote khadi. Her looks are a celebration of the India story, more so since 100 years of Indian cinema is also being celebrated at Cannes. We are highlighting Indian textiles, crafts and dyes. When I have designed for others at Cannes, it's been more Bollywood, more mainstream glamour. With Vidya, it's only about cultural clothing and celebrating our heritage."

Her looks for the fortnight long visit, therefore, include precious Indian textiles. "We've got fadat, a type of blockprinted fabric that is made in Jaipur, banarasi khadi saris, uppadas, kanjeevarams, kottas, maheshwaris, ajrak and some of the most beautiful jewellery, including archive and museum pieces. For instance, she will be wearing an 18th century neckpiece. I also wanted to bring a bit of her south Indian background into the appearance. When you go international, if your identity is not strong enough, you don't cut ice with anyone. The biggest hara-kiri people commit at Cannes is that they try and be someone they are not. Vidya didn't want to be that. She didn't want gowns. The long anarkali is the Indian version of the gown. Clothing has to be cultural; it cannot become the only talking about your visit."

The actress was highly criticised for wearing these lehengas at the event

I was never stressed, said Vidya, because "I am not going there to just look beautiful. I cannot be on display all the time. I choose not to be on display all the time. The only thing I put all my energy into is to be true to what I am doing on screen. For Cannes, I wanted the Indian equation to translate into clothes. I am genuinely not aware of what fashion means and I am okay with it. I have the best fashion designer in the country and one among the best in the world dressing me, so I am in safe hands. At the cost of sounding pompous, people credit us with bringing back the sari and making it a fashion statement all over again. It's just wonderful because our sensibilities, aesthetics and values match, and that's why it had to be him for Cannes."

Vidya clearly trusts Sabya blindly, and the deep-rooted friendship they've built over years is for all to see. "I met him as at a time when I was being bashed left, right and centre, and he gave me direction when I was feeling lost. He just told me

wear what makes you feel you. At that time, I was going through a lot of conversations with myself and I will always be grateful to him for telling me to be myself."

Cut to the present, and the designer takes the onus for how she is turned up. "Her job is to act and mine to design clothes, but we've never felt any pressure because we don't want to modify her personality. We just want to highlight who she is. There are Vidya lovers and Vidya haters, and no one in between. And that's a great place to be. She is not a model, she will never be one and she doesn't want to be one. An actress's primary job is to act. You can wear the most beautiful clothes in the world but you don't know how to act, there is no point. Her being there is a celebration of Vidya, the actress and therefore our focus is on India shining on the red carpet, of course, without the shine on the clothes," he concludes.

or the ghastly nose ring👎🏼

WHY DON'T vidya, rani etc. not get that his creation is NOT made for their body.

You need to be a priyanka, katrina, sonam or deepika to wear a sabyasachi indian attire. You have to be tall and thin. so the long and full of volume skirt looks good.

I really am no fan of sabyasachi anymore thanks to vidya. I hated all the sabyasachi outfits at cannes. Compare them to the ramp show and u will see how ordinary they are at the red carpet.

After seeing the terrible sabya outfits at cannes I would any day prefer the overrated manish malhotra, even though I dislike his creations too.

I think everyone else feels the same way 😆