In May this year,Mumbai-based expat Gustavo Bechtold got a pleasant surprise. The advertising planner got a call from a friend asking him to be a part of a photo shoot for the clothing label bhane. I am no slave to trends; instead I am someone who loves his flip-flops and likes to keep it casual. So I was taken aback when I was first asked to be photographed, recollects the 29-year-old. What convinced him to pose before the camera was the fact that the brands stylist Tania Fadte let him be himself. It didnt feel like I was imitating someone else as I wore a comfortable shirt and a pair of shorts that I coupled with my flip-flops, says Bechtold. In what has been hailed as a record of sorts,the retail brand,bhane,has featured as many as 150 people as part of a street-style shoot that took place recently in Delhi and Mumbai. From an advertising professional like Bechtold and a sportsperson such as Nishant Mehra captain of the Mumbai Football Club to graphics illustrators,bloggers,actors,musicians and photographers,we have represented them all, says Kassia Karr,the brand and culture manager,bhane. Today,an increasing number of labels and designers are looking beyond the gloss,lent by a Bollywood star or an established model,for their promotional campaigns and events. Not many can forget luxury brand Burberrys Art of the Trench project that featured people from all walks of life. Among the Indian designers,Delhis Nitin Bal Chauhan has been teaming up with musicians,bloggers and stylists to spread the word about his funky and edgy clothing label,Bhootsavaar. Members of the band Minute of Decay and DJ Augustine Shimray have featured prominently in the promotional shoots as well,while others have walked the ramp for him. I want Bhootsavaar to reach out to real people,so it makes sense to rope in people with like-minded sensibilities,who appreciate Bhootsavaar for what it is, says Chauhan,who wants to remove the plasticity from fashion. Stylist-turned-designer Mehma Tibb,who has worked in Bollywood,agrees that today brands and designers can reach to out to a larger base through people who are not celebrities. Its also about carrying off a certain look; its important that he or she is comfortable in the clothes they are wearing, says Tibb,who plans to approach musician Ankur Tewari,among others,to model her creations. However,Aneeth Arora of Pero doesnt believe in indulging in promotional shoots. But Arora has had no qualms about assigning the people of Pero tag to the Tetseo Sisters,an all-girls band from Nagaland,alongside the likes of other Pero loyals such as celebrity hairstylist Adhuna Akhtar. Its not about whos famous but about who understands Pero well. For instance,at a recent show,the Tetseo Sisters turned up wearing my creations all from different seasons. Their ensembles reiterated the fact that our clothes are not season bound. Also,like Pero,their music too promotes tradition, she says. Photographer Manou,whose street-style photography for his blog Wearabout fetched him the bhane project,points out that though the label had shot a campaign with models last year,this year they asked him to shoot real people. The idea was to engage the very people they make clothes for and let them be part of a fun and fashionable experience. We got interesting people together and dressed them up without meddling with their individual style, says Karr. So while bhane featured young people that their team knew of,a wide circle of friends and a shared love for music and madnesshave brought Chauhan in touch with his set of models. Karr is also intent on taking her strategy a step forward. We are throwing our next shoot open to people from Mumbai and Delhi. Anybody can go online and suggest a name or even nominate themselves for the shoot, she says.
