A spontaneous Instagram message, over three hundred hours of hand-knitting and the seamless synergy between a budding designer and a visionary stylist led to Masoom Minawala’s jaw-dropping all-black look at Cannes 2026.
Anushka Sanghvi, a young twenty-four year old designer, on the brink of starting her own label designed the influencer and entrepreneur’s look for the premiere of sHEALed. Having walked the Cannes red carpet before, Masoom was no stranger to the film festival’s global impact. But the backless long dress she flaunted with no fancy embroidery or loud elements is not something you’d expect to see at La Croisette. Nevertheless, the look had an arrestive appeal that beautifully contoured her form while drawing attention to its knitted patterns. So safe to say, Masoom and stylist Dolla Baruah knew exactly what they were doing when they gave the job to Sanghvi.
“It actually started very organically. I had seen Dolla style another crochet saree previously, and I remember feeling like she really understood how to make handcrafted work feel modern and relevant. I reached out to her not expecting much at all – honestly, even a small collaboration would have meant a lot to me at that stage. But the following week, she came back to me with the opportunity to create a crochet look for Masoom’s Cannes appearance,” shared the designer. What followed was hours of sampling, efforts from a team of skilled women artisans and help from Sanghvi’s mom to handknit the outfit over a month’s time. “We worked with intricate hand-crochet, lace-like techniques to create texture and depth in a very intentional way. The strategic cut-outs and silhouette were designed to accentuate the body while still feeling elegant and refined,” she adds.
Although the Cannes appearance put Sanghvi’s work under the global spotlight, the young virtuoso has dreams beyond this singular successful stint. In a country that is fixated on opulence and excess, Sanghvi aspires to build a brand with crochet as the hero element. She adds, “I think knitwear hasn’t been explored in India enough because it’s strongly associated with winterwear. What feels especially meaningful to me is that these crafts already exist in so many Indian homes, and have been passed down through generations of women, yet they remain fairly unexplored in the modern luxury industry. I want to create pieces that feel emotional, feminine and elevated enough to exist in occasionwear spaces, while still carrying the intimacy of something handmade.”
While knitting and crocheting are considered as domestic crafts in India – something our grandmothers and mothers have been blissfully doing for years – studying knitwear in London College of Fashion completely changed the way Sanghvi perceived them. “I realised how detail-oriented, time-intensive and technically complex these crafts are. That’s when I started seeing knitwear and crochet in terms of couture.”
Although handcrafts are one of India’s biggest assets to date, some have been overshadowed by the others, like crochet and knitwear. Their understated nature never fit the traditional market demands but Sanghvi wants to proactively change that. However, she refuses to make it too predictable to conform to the existing norms. Her approach is rooted in pure artistry but with a global aesthetic. She says, “I think the key is balance. Handmade work can sometimes feel overly traditional if it’s not approached with a modern eye. I focus a lot on silhouette, texture and technique – allowing the craftsmanship itself to stand out.”
Speaking about her creative inspiration, she further shares, “I’m very inspired by contemporary brands that make craft feel directional and desirable, but I also want to bring my own Indian perspective into that conversation. The goal is never to recreate heritage literally, but to reinterpret it in a way that feels relevant to how women want to dress today.”
At a time when up-and-coming designers are changing the narrative of the Indian luxury landscape, Anushka Sanghvi is headed to stride the wave with a formula that is yet to be cracked. Elegant, extremely detailed and unapologetically craft-led, the designer’s vision is clear: she wants her work to redefine occasion wear that doesn’t need bling to command attention.
