EXCLUSIVE: Simi Garewal makes her Cannes Film Festival debut in a custom ivory ensemble by Karleo

LV: Simi is known as the Lady in White, and Karleo is a Brand that specialises in White Wedding Gowns. This was a match made in Heaven. We have discussed different shades of white for hours, ranging from eggshells, ivory, bone white, cream and champagne, etc. We also love to discuss different kinds of shines. Shines like Diamonds, Shines like Metal and Shines like Mirror. We vividly remember that the outfits created for her were dyed in different shades of coffee to get a natural shade of cream for Simi. She wore it for a red carpet event in Australia. We have always been fans of her sense of style and elegance.

VI: Simi Garewal is known for her style and candid conversations. She has been rebellious in some ways and does not hesitate to experiment. Tell us about your approach when you are designing something for her. Has her onscreen boldness translated to her fashion choices?

LV: The best part about Simi is her knowledge of fabrics and her references to the old world charm. Which, for designers like us, is a dream come true. We love a good story to complement the fashion. And there is plenty of that when working with Simi. Also, being generations apart makes things more interesting. It’s the contrast of the classic with the modern that keeps things fresh and bold in many ways when it comes to fashion. We have experimented with construction styles, different kinds of corsets, shoulder pads, etc, and many fabric textures to enhance the lack of colour. All these elements have been an important part of our design process for Simi Garewal.

VI: Simi Garewal is set to make her debut at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. What was the first thought that came to your mind for her ensemble?

LV: This was a true honour. In spite of knowing her, we knew this one had to be different. Hence, this is the first time Simi translated from a client into a celebrity whom we are so eager to collaborate with. So we invited Simi to our Studio and showed her all our design processes right from our artwork sketches to our embroidery swatches to our construction techniques. This gave her even more confidence that our aesthetics will match her specific vision for this particular event, which she is going to for the first time. Immediately, she took the sketching pad and drew out a very rough sketch of what she wanted. After explaining it in detail to us, both Karan and Leon took it upon ourselves to let Simi lead this one, while it became our duty to bring her vision to life in the best possible way.