Nancy Tyagi accused of lying about her ‘self-stitched’ Cannes outfit

Nancy Tyagi rose to fame during her appearance at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, wearing a voluminous pink ruffled gown—a product of her own creation. Since then, she has made headlines and garnered quite the following on all her social media platforms, posting videos of sourcing humble fabric and converting it to couture-level outfits.

This year, she returned to the same ground that shot her to fame. The 24-year-old made her day one appearance at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in a green ensemble paired with over-the-top silver jewellery. But it is the dress that she sported on her second day at Cannes that caught the internet’s attention.

Indian playback singer Neha Bhasin accused Tyagi of lying to her audience about her self-made dress. Bhasin posted a photo of a similar dress she wore to one of her concerts, which she purchased from The Source Bombay. “The corset looks too familiar. I wonder,” she wrote on her Instagram story, which featured a side-by-side comparison of both fames wearing the outfit. She later shared a post by The Source Mumbai, dated February 19, which shows a model wearing the same sequinned beige corset. Internet personality and fashion commentator Sufi Motiwala also exposed Tyagi and accused her of misinformation.

In her post sharing her second look, Tyagi said she designed the dress keeping her mother in mind, owing to the fact that it was her favourite colour. She further claimed that the dress had taken over a month to make. “I kept preparing till the last minute because the dress was too heavy. Heartfelt thanks to all those who were a part of this lovely journey. Without you all, this moment would not be so special,” the caption concluded.

In a statement to the Free Press Journal, Surbhi Gupta, founder and stylist at The Source Bombay, confirmed the claims surrounding Tyagi’s outfit. "Nancy claims she stitched it herself and all of that, but she bought it from us. She got it from our Mumbai store. We don’t have any problem. She purchased it, so she's free to do what she wants with it. But it is our design. We didn't do a barter or a collaboration. She did not stitch it herself, which she claims she did. The cape she wore doesn't belong to me... that's something she seems to have made herself, I guess," Gupta said.

This is not the first time that Tyagi has been embroiled in fashion controversy. Last year, reports emerged that the influencer had been stealing from small businesses, engaging in barter system collaborations—send her the product for free, and she will promote it. But according to multiple social media posts, Tyagi never fulfilled her side of the deal. 

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