Aishwarya wows in Dubai gown at Cannes

Dubai-based designer opens up on dressing up Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

She's used to turning heads wherever she goes, so it was no surprise to have Aishwarya Rai Bachchan grab all the eyeballs as she walked down the Cannes red carpet on Friday. 
Ever since she made her Cannes debut in 2002 when she presented Devdas at the film festival alongside director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and her co-star Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya has been the cynosure of all eyes, specially armchair fashionistas, ever ready to point a finger at a shoddy make-up job or an ill fitting designer gown. This time around there was no doubt that she was truly the belle of the ball - her self-confidence and her fashion credentials very much evident. Even the slightest censure from certain segments of the fashion police that the gown seemed to swamp her, seems petty. She was truly a fashionista worth her crown with her subtle-make-up balanced out with dark-hued lips and minimal jewellery. 

See full gallery of Aishwarya slaying the gown at Cannes

The actress looked straight out of a fairy tale in her powder blue floor-sweeping ballroom gown by Dubai-based Filipino fashion designer Michael Cinco. Those who attended the designer's last showcase at Fashion Forward in March, would remember the off-shoulder piece from the Dubai runway.
When we caught up with Cinco over the phone yesterday afternoon, he was elated. "I've always admired Aishwarya. She is one of the most beautiful women in the world. When I saw the photos, she looked beautiful." 
We would have thought he would be glued to the screens, specially since Cinco knew Aishwarya would be wearing his design at Cannes, but such is the nature of a designer's job that the designer who was busy with his showcase at Arab Fashion Week on Friday night knew his gown was a big hit only when people started tagging him on Instagram when the first pictures of Aishwarya on the Cannes red carpet hit social media. 
"It was a dream come true for me," says the designer candidly.
Cinco who grew up watching Hollywood movies has always dreamt of dressing up celebs. "I love costumes. I love watching Hollywood movies. In fact it was the movies that inspired me to become a designer.
"It has always been a goal for me to see the celebs wearing my couture gowns on the red carpet."
For a designer used to seeing celebs clad in his wares -  be it Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey or Jennifer Lopez- the latest outing by Aishwarya should have been part of the game. But no. He says the first time he catches sight of a celeb in his design, he gets emotional. "I just want to cry."
"It's just that you've been working so hard and for so long - when you send the dresses to the celebs you are not sure they will wear it. For the Golden Globes and the Oscars, you have to remember, there are so many designers sending through their dresses. So you are not sure if they will pick yours.
"And so when I see them entering the red carpet in my design - it is luck as well as a dream come true for me!"
Luck, of course, because he says competition is so intense among designers that one is never quite sure where one stands with a celebrity. "Sometimes they (designers) pay for a celebrity to wear their designs or they pay the stylists. They fly them to Paris for a show or give them so many gifts.. There is so much competition out there," he admits. "That's why I feel so lucky Aishwarya wore my creation."
Oddly enough the designer whose creations have been worn by the likes of Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Rihanna and others, says he hasn't met any of these celebs, "except for Mariah Carey."
So how did Aishwarya come to wear Cinco? The gown worn by Aishwarya was part of Cinco's Fashion Forward collection that was showcased on the ramp here in Dubai last March. "One dress from the collection went viral on the Internet. And I think she saw it and asked her stylist to contact me."
In fact Aishwarya's team wanted the designer to fly down to India for a fitting but he was unable to do so and so sent down an assistant. "My assistant told me Aishwarya looked so beautiful even without makeup! She looked so happy wearing my gown and she told everyone then itself she will be wearing it for the opening of Cannes. She was telling everyone - 'this is the dress.'
"She's in Vogue's best dressed list... And today it is one of the most talked about dresses at Cannes."
As for any alterations, Cinco says Aishwarya had the perfect figure for his gown. "The length was just right. We just had to make some changes in the waist and bust and change the puff, otherwise it was a perfect fit for her."
So how does he plan to celebrate? "I just want to rest!," admits Cinco with a laugh. 
Next on the agenda is to make his brand more international and with his designs made available on affordable luxury brand Couturissimo, he hopes to do just that. For someone who doesn't believe in planning much and would rather "go with the flow," he's done quite well, we must say. 
ambica@khaleejtimes.com