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An Indian Sex in the City? | 2008-08-05
Not really, coz the Indian stylist still has miles to go
Imagine Kareena Kapoor wearing a Viveinne Westwood gown and Christian Louboutin heels. Or Bipasha Basu in a Vera Wang dress with Manolo Bhanik slippers.
With concern for how these girls may look in such spanking clothes, I also have much concern for the fact that it will never happen.
Because Indian stylists are some of the most pretentious people I have ever seen. If a person already thinks they are the cat‘s whiskers, how will they ever grow?
Let‘s take the example of Patricia Field, the stylist for ‘Sex in the City‘, ‘The Devil Wears Prada‘ and ‘Ugly Betty‘. Now, if anyone of you has seen these movies, you will know what a genius this woman is.
It‘s is her uncanny ability to match designer totes with street treasures that makes her most-wanted stylist in all of America and beyond.
It was because she gave all these women a unique style- a style that completely redefined how we looked at fashion.
She is also a fashion designer, who is breaking all conventions.
The problem with Indian stylists is that they don‘t do their research. Most of them would not know the specialty of a Louboutin shoe, or that it was Yves Saint Laurent who invented arguably the most famous classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966, the Le Smoking suit.
They wouldn‘t know all this because they trust their own instincts for fashion more than anything else. That may be a good thing, but too much arrogance can harm a person.
As a stylist, you need to know the A-Z of all the designers. Isn‘t that the only way you will know what really suits your client?
If you knew that Chanel‘s little black dress has graced the pages of Playboy‘s third ever edition, wouldn‘t it add glamour to your client‘s wardrobe?
Just this morning, I was reading an article about the fact that two actresses are fighting over a fashion designer cum stylist, and what has happened is that one of them had ended up dumping him because he was dressing both actresses in the same way.
And therein lies the problem. If this designer was really worth it, he would have given both of them such unique looks that they would have never even dreamt of complaining.
It‘s the same way Patricia Field dressed all the four women in ‘Sex And The City‘ so uniquely that they never had a problem. It was also because their clothes defined their characters.
Another place that stylists come into play are fashion magazines, and that is surely a scam. I have worked at a fashion magazine and this is how it works.
They pour over foreign fashion magazines and then try and give that styling an Indian touch- so all the pictures that you see in a fashion magazine are copies of shoots done abroad.
It‘s quite sad as there is no originality involved. The trick here is to get the best of all the designers in the world and then add your special touch - the same way Field does, by matching designer clothes with flea market jewellery.
Let me end by telling you the story of Rachel Zoe - one of America‘s top most stylists.
Zoe became friends with Nicole Richie in 2003 and is famous for creating Nicole‘s reputation as a style icon. She is also noted for working with Cameron Diaz, Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, Keira Knightley, and Jessica Simpson.
Zoe‘s current client list includes Jennifer Garner, Salma Hayek, Kate Hudson, Demi Moore, Liv Tyler, Debra Messing, and Anne Hathaway.
Even the influence on her clients‘ weight has been questioned by the media; in response, Zoe said, "I don‘t think it‘s fair to say that I‘m responsible because I‘m a thin person, that because I‘m influencing their style I‘m influencing what they eat. There was this crazy rumour that I was getting diet pills from Mexico and distributing them."
She was just a stylist and now she controls most of Hollywood. Don‘t you wanna do that? Shape up your act. Read a lot, research a lot, browse the shops a lot. You will be an ace designer in no time.
Not really, coz the Indian stylist still has miles to go
Imagine Kareena Kapoor wearing a Viveinne Westwood gown and Christian Louboutin heels. Or Bipasha Basu in a Vera Wang dress with Manolo Bhanik slippers.
With concern for how these girls may look in such spanking clothes, I also have much concern for the fact that it will never happen.
Because Indian stylists are some of the most pretentious people I have ever seen. If a person already thinks they are the cat‘s whiskers, how will they ever grow?
Let‘s take the example of Patricia Field, the stylist for ‘Sex in the City‘, ‘The Devil Wears Prada‘ and ‘Ugly Betty‘. Now, if anyone of you has seen these movies, you will know what a genius this woman is.
It‘s is her uncanny ability to match designer totes with street treasures that makes her most-wanted stylist in all of America and beyond.
It was because she gave all these women a unique style- a style that completely redefined how we looked at fashion.
She is also a fashion designer, who is breaking all conventions.
The problem with Indian stylists is that they don‘t do their research. Most of them would not know the specialty of a Louboutin shoe, or that it was Yves Saint Laurent who invented arguably the most famous classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966, the Le Smoking suit.
They wouldn‘t know all this because they trust their own instincts for fashion more than anything else. That may be a good thing, but too much arrogance can harm a person.
As a stylist, you need to know the A-Z of all the designers. Isn‘t that the only way you will know what really suits your client?
If you knew that Chanel‘s little black dress has graced the pages of Playboy‘s third ever edition, wouldn‘t it add glamour to your client‘s wardrobe?
Just this morning, I was reading an article about the fact that two actresses are fighting over a fashion designer cum stylist, and what has happened is that one of them had ended up dumping him because he was dressing both actresses in the same way.
And therein lies the problem. If this designer was really worth it, he would have given both of them such unique looks that they would have never even dreamt of complaining.
It‘s the same way Patricia Field dressed all the four women in ‘Sex And The City‘ so uniquely that they never had a problem. It was also because their clothes defined their characters.
Another place that stylists come into play are fashion magazines, and that is surely a scam. I have worked at a fashion magazine and this is how it works.
They pour over foreign fashion magazines and then try and give that styling an Indian touch- so all the pictures that you see in a fashion magazine are copies of shoots done abroad.
It‘s quite sad as there is no originality involved. The trick here is to get the best of all the designers in the world and then add your special touch - the same way Field does, by matching designer clothes with flea market jewellery.
Let me end by telling you the story of Rachel Zoe - one of America‘s top most stylists.
Zoe became friends with Nicole Richie in 2003 and is famous for creating Nicole‘s reputation as a style icon. She is also noted for working with Cameron Diaz, Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, Keira Knightley, and Jessica Simpson.
Zoe‘s current client list includes Jennifer Garner, Salma Hayek, Kate Hudson, Demi Moore, Liv Tyler, Debra Messing, and Anne Hathaway.
Even the influence on her clients‘ weight has been questioned by the media; in response, Zoe said, "I don‘t think it‘s fair to say that I‘m responsible because I‘m a thin person, that because I‘m influencing their style I‘m influencing what they eat. There was this crazy rumour that I was getting diet pills from Mexico and distributing them."
She was just a stylist and now she controls most of Hollywood. Don‘t you wanna do that? Shape up your act. Read a lot, research a lot, browse the shops a lot. You will be an ace designer in no time.
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