“Make a Better Version”: Sandeep Khosla Calls Out Urvashi Rautela’s ‘Copy’ Saree
Fashion designer Sandeep Khosla has finally addressed the controversy surrounding Urvashi Rautela’s Cannes 2026 saree, which was widely compared online with the ivory-and-gold creation worn by supermodel Gigi Hadid at the NMACC opening in Mumbai in 2023.
But the controversy resurfaced after Rautela appeared at the Cannes Film Festival in an ivory saree with intricate embroidery, a dramatic gold border and a heavily embellished sculptural blouse.
Social media users quickly identified it with the Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla outfit worn by Gigi Hadid.
The original Gigi Hadid look was made by designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla and became one of the most talked-about fashion moments from the NMACC inauguration.
The handcrafted creation took nearly a year to complete, according to reports. Rautela’s Cannes outfit, for instance, was made by Mihir Designer Studio.
The similarities triggered a wave of reactions online, with some social media users describing Rautela’s outfit as a copy.
The phrase “gandi copy” became part of the online conversation around the look.
Khosla has now added his perspective on the issue. In an interview with NDTV, he discussed the wider problem of plagiarism in luxury fashion and specifically recalled seeing Rautela in a version of the outfit originally created for Gigi Hadid.
Khosla argued that designers drawing inspiration from existing works should take their own artistic interpretation rather than reproduce an outfit very much like in the same way.
He also criticized the growing trend of cheap replicas of luxury designs being made and marketed online.
“If you want to plagiarise and you want to copy, make a better version of what we are doing,” Khosla said in the interview.
He also characterized Rautela’s outfit as an “exact copy” and questioned the lack of creative distinction in such reproductions.
The designer’s comments have brought a fresh chapter to a debate that began when Rautela’s Cannes appearance went viral.
Fashion is often about reinterpretation, but celebrity red-carpet appearances can get intense scrutiny when a new outfit looks very much like an established designer creation.
Luxury fashion houses say that craftsmanship and original creative direction are a basic part of a couture piece.
This conflict also shows that inspiration is two sides of the same coin and so is imitation.
For now, the talk about Rautela’s Cannes saree is still generating some responses online, and Khosla’s words have reopened the debate on originality, craftsmanship and plagiarism in Indian fashion.
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