An obvious parity in style statements

The 18th edition of the IIFA was a star-studded show, with all the Bollywood divas putting their best ‘fashion’ foot forward. However, what was unmistakably obvious on the green carpet was the parity between the style quotient of various actresses. While actresses such as Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt broke the style-o-meter with their glamorous looks and wooed the audience, others like Neha Dhupia and Huma Qureshi failed to leave an impression. Interestingly, the bigger a star is, the better their fashion sense seems to be.

Celebrity stylist Indrakshi Pattanaik explains the process of styling a celebrity. “Celebrity styling is always last minute, no matter how much I want to plan in advance. To have 2-3 days is like a dream!”

Many times, the stylists of lesser-known actresses do not get access to a big designer’s wardrobe and are left to choose from whatever is on offer or go to a not-so-good designer. 

A celebrity designer, on the condition of anony-mity, reveals, “If Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra or Alia wear a particular designer, it certainly gives them more fame and hence the stylists of these actresses get full access to the latest collections of big designers. Sometimes, the designers even push the boundaries to make a customised outfit for these stars. However, the new heroines or the ones who are not very famous, don’t get this privilege. Firstly, many of the designers don’t want to lend their dresses to them, and even if they do, it’s only two or three dresses, and hence the stylist has to choose and experiment with only what is made available to them.”

Sharing her experience, a young Tollywood actress says, “For my first ever appearance at an awards show, I approached a stylist to help me out, and that’s when I came to know that if I wanted something from the top designers, I needed to be either a well-known name or have a huge following on Instagram. These appearances help you get noticed, and for that, you need to dress well. But even to dress well, you should have already been noticed!”

Indrakshi also feels that being more popular helps the stars choose from many options. “Sometimes an actress may not be in the top league, but the way they get photographed in designer clothing, their fashion holding in the blogs and how they promote a designer on their social media also helps in getting more options for them.”

Interestingly, the Sabyasachi outfit that Kalki Koechlin wore at the IIFA was similar to what Deepika wore at the same event last year. Meanwhile, Neha, who is known to have a great fashion sense, tried to experiment with her look and was criticised for wearing a collared printed dress, which made her look weirdly big. 

“Of the dress-pool that a stylist gets, they try to do their best to make sure that the celebrity looks fabulous on the green carpet. They style an outfit, but it’s mostly the stars who decide what they want to wear at the event,” says Alia Bhatt’s stylist, Ami Patel.