Style Partnerships

Now,actors collaborate with stylists to create multiple on-screen looks.

Be it Ranbir Kapoors eclectic harem salwars,turbans and applique jackets in Rockstar or Anushka Sharmas chic outfits,delicately cut trousers and chikankari tops in Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl,Aki Narulas designs are the latest trend-setters. However,the designer refuses to take the credit. It is as much an actors vision as a stylist and directors, he points out. Both Ranbir and I worked hard on his looks,picking up various abstract items of clothing to piece them together. Ranbirs character Jordan did not comply with any norms and so,it had to be free of any typicality in clothes as well, he recollects.

Though Narula is being modest,it is also a fact that most actors work very closely with their stylists to create their on-screen avatars. While stylist Niharika Khan reluctantly admits that male actors are less particular and often let things slip by,she adds that character-driven roles require more effort from the actors when it comes to styling. For instance,Vidya Balan in The Dirty Picture had to share her inputs on her body issues,colours that suit her and how comfortable she was in the outfits being planned, she adds.

Styling,like all other departments of filmmaking,follows a process. It begins with meetings between the stylist,actor and the director. After budgets are set and the script and directors vision is shared,the stylist broadly develops the looks. With feedback from the director and the actor,these are then taken forward. It is then that the actor plays a larger role,especially as he begins to embody the character he is to play.

However,Khan says it is crucial for the actor to trust a stylists sensibilities. While shooting for Rock On!!,Farhan Akhtar was unsure of my styling for his character. For the first concert scene,he wanted to wear a Jim Morrison kurta and I did not want him to carry the baggage of another personality for his introductory scene. I was so scared that he would yell at me that I asked director,Abhishek Kapoor,to communicate the same to him, she laughs. Khan was then signed on to do Karthik Calling Karthik for Akhtar.

This is also where actors personal stylists step in. Manish Malhotra established himself by reinventing Sridevi and Urmila Matondkar and his designs became synonymous with chiffon saris. But the designer is currently known most for styling Kareena Kapoor on and off-screen. He,in fact,became Kapoors favourite after he first styled her for Karan Johars Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham over a decade ago. The two,says Malhotra,have forged a strong bond ever since. This trust is the reason why Kapoor ensures Malhotra bags each of her films as a stylist. Ditto is the case with Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. For the same movie,Shiraz Siddique is styling Imran Khan.

A strong relationship forged between the two need not necessarily imply that the actor will admire and agree to wear everything the stylist suggests. Malhotra remembers numerous arguments and discussions he has had with Kapoor. But there are times when I realise that she knows best. After all,her comfort and confidence is of prime importance, he says.

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