This Mother-Daughter duo from Assam just made red carpet history at Cannes

In a first for Cannes, a mother-daughter duo from Northeast India - Urmimala and Snigdha Boruah of Assam, walked the red carpet not as actors, influencers, or industry insiders, but as the driving force behind a grassroots platform challenging South Asia’s outdated beauty politics.

Image sourced from @umbpageants

Representing their brainchild, UMB Pageants, they arrived not to blend in but to bring an entire community with them - one that rarely sees itself on global stages, let alone leading the charge. UMB Pageants, founded by Urmimala Boruah, has long stood for more than sashes and crowns. It’s a platform that gives a diverse range of women space to reclaim visibility, identity and purpose; not for the male gaze but for the global stage.

After being crowned Mrs. India in 2019, Urmi didn’t just wear the crown, she questioned what it stood for. What followed was UMB Pageants: her counter-narrative to the size zero beauty mold that still haunts South Asian standards.

In just 3 years, she’s taken her 'Queens' from local stages to global ones, we’re talking Paris Haute Couture Week, New York Fashion Week, and the Cannes red carpet, with no godfathers, no gimmicks, just grit.

Through the 'Queen’s Tour' at Cannes this year, they brought 10 diverse, South Asian women, models, titleholders, dreamers, to one of the world’s most exclusive carpets.

Image sourced from @urmimala__boruah

Just a lineup of women who didn’t wait to take up space, wear their culture without translation and lead from the margins with intent. Among them were names like Priya Saggi, Priyanka Bajaj, and Mamta Parvez Khan, each with their own chapters of grit. Mamta, for instance, walked the red carpet as the first runner-up of Elite UMB, wearing more than just a gown, she wore every small-town girl’s dream stitched into ambition.

These women weren’t just invited for diversity optics. They were chosen for how they showed up as entrepreneurs, risk-takers and quiet powerhouses. And they didn’t just walk for the camera. They walked for every girl who’s been told she’s not the ‘right type’ for global stages.

Image sourced from @urmimala__boruah

This year Urmimala walked the carpet draped in a custom gown, inspired by the oldest tree in the world, the ancient banyan tree - a symbol of rootedness, resilience and quiet shelter. It wasn't just the cut of the silhouette; its colour and embellishments symbolised the insects that live within the tree’s branches, turning a flash of Assamese nature into a story sewn in fabric.

Image sourced from @snigdhabaruah

For her debut Snigdha showed up in a dress made of actual bamboo fans - no metaphors, just material. It wasn’t trying to be ‘inspired’ by culture, IT WAS CULTURE. Assam stitched into every fold, sharp, specifics and entirely her own.

Why It Landed

Because this wasn’t about representation for optics. It was about ownership, of space, of identity, of the narrative itself. In a festival long dominated by industry insiders and imported glamour, seeing a mother and daughter from Assam lead 10 self-made women onto one of the world’s most watched carpets wasn’t just refreshing, it was a reset.

They didn’t walk to fit in. They walked to expand the frame.

And in doing so, they reminded us that South Asia isn’t a monolith. That beauty doesn’t live in one city, one language, or one body type. And that when the camera pans wide enough, our stories don’t just appear — they take the spotlight.