A few Indian newspapers lamented over the weekend that the Bollywood stars who attended Cannes this year did not wear Indian dress or Indian designers but opted for Armani, Tom Ford, Lanvin and so on. I think this is quite hypocritical as Indian actors are part of a global celebrity industry and it’s only natural for people to want a new look every so often.
Many blockbuster Indian films have been launched in Leicester Square before India, the industry loves their exotic western location shoots and token white people prancing around in dance sequences. I don’t see the problem then if an Indian celebrity wants to try western fashion especially if the designs are couture, who would refuse? And personally I think that even though the sari is one of the most elegant forms of dress in the world, sometimes it’s just plain wrong and doesn’t look right or it looks bad-ethnic not good-ethnic, I present exhibit A by Sabyasachi Mukherjee:
Not my cup of tea at all and I think the outfit looks cheap on the red carpet, more £10.99 Indian Barbie than the calibre of Cannes.
Exhibit B is the first image above of Ashwariya Rai. Whether or not Ashwariya pulls it off is a different question but there is no doubt that it is a very glamorous dress by Armani Prive and the dress makes her look like a mega watt celebrity without fuss.
I say well done and about time too, there is life after red and gold after all.
Bubbly
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