3 min readAug 30, 2013 05:36 AM IST
With the Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai,it has been raining film celebs on the ramp,all of last week. Bollywood’s dominance over fashion weeks and all things fashionable has been almost complete in the last decade but this year,the filmi turnout,which included not just top-bracket glamazons but a whole range of actors and directors (yes,Anurag Basu and Ashutosh Gowariker were there too) was something of
a surprise.
But the most unexpected and ironic presence was that of actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui (for designer Troy Costa) who has wowed the critics at international festivals with his stand-out performances in new age films such as Gangs of Wasseypur,Kahaani,Bombay Talkies,Shorts,and The Lunchbox.
Surely an interesting turn in Nawazuddin’s fortunes. Because,earlier this year at Cannes where he had three films being feted,he was short of designer threads as designers usually prefer catering to the sartorial requirements of well-established stars. So the resourceful Siddiqui opted to repeat his suit stitched by a neighbourhood tailor instead. After all,a black suit is a black suit and nobody would be
any the wiser.
His endearing,low-cost fashion philosophy no doubt would find resonance with a whole lot of fashion offenders who find keeping up with periodic twist and turns of the hemlines and necklines just too much trouble.
Sonakshi Sinha,now a regular showstopper sashaying down the ramp for various designers is yet another example of a celeb who makes fashion seem approachable and a DIY process. I had met Sonakshi years ago at Lakme Fashion Week when she was a part of the team that was managing the event. In between,confidently ushering guests to their seats,she was absorbing and learning about fashion,something that she has put to good use in her stint as an actress. Though the young star does not fall in the conventional size-zero frame,she has never let it come in the way of being well turned out. And in holding her own,she has found much appreciation both within and outside the film industry.
Why,her co-star Imran Khan in an interview with yours truly,for Screen,admitted to an admiration the confidence she exudes before the camera despite having received a lot of flak for her weight.
That the likes of Nawaz and Sonakshi (as was evident from the fashion week photos) are joining the ranks of front row fashionistas is a good sign. After all,unlike supermodels with their perfect,reed-thin bodies,film personalities (which includes directors,musicians,and actors) come in different sizes and hold a less puritanical view of fashion.
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Given their wide appeal Bollywood personalities are now a necessity for the burgeoning fashion industry — a development that fashion purists are not entirely happy with — but the best thing their presence on the ramp has
done really,is that it has democratised fashion.
And in doing so,has turned the phrase ‘being comfortable in your own skin’ into a contemporary style statement.
