Actress Sonam Kapoor may have received a lot of praise for her red carpet debut at Cannes, but her sari avatar was met with mixed response on home turf.

Kapoor wore a black and white polka dotted sari with a black silk blouse, with full sleeves and an open back. Young fashion designer Masaba Gupta, who designed the ensemble, defends her creation saying that it was praised by the foreign media.

“For starters, I didn’t expect her Indian fans to like the ensemble at all. So whatever brickbats we received was less compared to what I expected,” laughs Masaba. Not one to mince words Masaba adds, “The fact remains that the Indian audience doesn’t understand Indian wear that lacks embroidery or sequins. Honestly, I’ve seen what our actors wore to Cannes before and they were disastrous — barring Sabyasachi’s design for Aishwarya (he had dressed her in a net sari with an embellished blouse).”

The young designer, however, is elated that her design was spotted at the international film festival. “I realise that it takes designers decades to get someone to wear their creations at international platforms and here a fashion icon decided to sport my creation. I’m flattered, of course!” she says beaming.
Ask her as to why did Sonam pick an Indian outfit for Cannes and Masaba says that making a desi statement was a conscious decision on the actors part.

“It doesn’t make sense to go to Cannes and not show off your own culture. But Sonam didn’t want the done to death Anarkali’s so she opted for a fusion sari. It was a pre-pleated sari and the cowl was like a dhoti. The blouse wasn’t conventional too — considering most of our actors only experiment with bikini blouses,” says Masaba adding that Kapoor wanted to portray a vintage look for her debut appearance.

"If you notice, even the white gown that she wore on day one, was not from the latest collection but from a 2009 line. Even the sari was like an ode to vintage Indian cinema. She wanted to represent old school glamour. Everything in the sari, from the polka dots to the full sleeve blouse symbolised just that," she says.