{"id":42396,"date":"2010-01-23T14:51:52","date_gmt":"2010-01-23T14:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.tehelka.com\/?p=42396"},"modified":"2010-01-23T14:51:52","modified_gmt":"2010-01-23T14:51:52","slug":"dress-me-up-dress-me-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/dress-me-up-dress-me-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Dress Me Up, Dress Me Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Move over airhostesses, cricketers and models. Young people now lie awake dreaming of becoming stylists, says<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Aastha Atray Banan<\/strong>
\n

\"Sitting<\/a>
Sitting pretty Shyamli Arora is climbing the Bollywood ladder of success
Photos: Deepak Salvi<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nSHYAMLI ARORA REMEMBERS waiting restlessly every month for the fashion bibles to grace the magazine rack at her father\u2019s modest departmental store in Lucknow ever since she was a little girl. As the Chartered Accountancy student poured over models dressed in high fashion, she had no inkling that her fascination with the glossies would steer her as far away from balance sheets as possible. \u201cWhen I came to Mumbai, I didn\u2019t know there was a world outside. I chanced upon a job at a fashion magazine, but that I would become a stylist by profession was something unthought-of,\u201d says the young woman who recently dressed Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif in 2009\u2019s superhit\u00a0Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani.<\/em><\/span>
\n
\"Strike<\/a>
Strike a pose Stylist Roli Gupta loves dressing up herself as well<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nUnlike earlier decades when the ticket out of anonymity for young Indians was the Miss India crown, an air hostess uniform, or Sachin Tendulkar\u2019s job, every fashion-conscious youngster today dreams of becoming a stylist. It is being recognised as the career of the Noughties. \u201cIt\u2019s because everyone is conscious of how they look,\u201d says the 30 year-old Shyamli as she sprawls across her couch at her Bandra loft, busily typing on her electric pink Macbook. The small town girl is now responsible for choosing the wardrobes of hunk John Abraham and diva Sushmita Sen. \u201cI got chosen for the magazine for a simple reason \u2014 I used to dress well. Having personal style is very important,\u201d she says, \u201cYou need to keep your client\u2019s personality in mind. When the celeb steps out, their look should make a statement. Directors and producers now know that a stylist is worth their money. But it\u2019s still a growing industry \u2014 there are still no set rate cards for us,\u201d says the petite stylist who sets aside one day every week to scout new stores in the city. \u201cBut people need to get over the misconception that it\u2019s an easy profession. We are still treated as \u2018lesser beings\u2019 compared to the designers.\u201d<\/span>
\nInternationally, stylists entered the realm of fashion celebrity-hood a long time ago.Sex and the City<\/em>\u00a0stylist Patricia Field reinvented style when she dressed Sarah Jessica Parker and her gal pals in off-the-wall outfits, including the pink tutu Carrie Bradshaw sports in the show\u2019s opening sequence. Celeb stylist Rachel Zoe, who has worked with Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightley, is supposed to be so influential it was rumoured that she was manipulating her clients to be size zeros. Even Lady Gaga, who has been making headlines for her jaw-dropping outfits (she wore a red leather gown to meet the Queen!), has stylist Nicola Formichetti behind her.<\/span>
\n
\"Camera<\/a>
Camera ready Rick Roy feels stylists should get more credit<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nBACK HOME, stylists swear that some stars won\u2019t even step out of their homes in simple jeans and tee, without getting the look approved from a stylist. But actor John Abraham, who is known for his personal style, says, \u201cA good stylist is one who keeps in mind the personality of the actor, and then value adds to give the look an extra edge.\u201d<\/span>
\nStylist Rick Roy agrees, pouting stylishly in his tastefully done-up Bandra apartment \u2013 \u201cPeople don\u2019t regard styling as an art. You don\u2019t get credit when an actress looks good, but do get blamed if her outfit bombed.\u201d The 26- year old Kolkata boy, who garnered headlines in 2008 when B-town starlets Kangana Ranaut and Jiah Khan fought over whom the stylist would work for, moved to Mumbai in 2004. \u201cWhen I was five, my uncle used to ask me if everything he was wearing matched before he stepped out. I used to say \u2018Matching.\u2019 I was destined to become a stylist,\u201d smiles Rick, whose first movie had him styling Kangana Ranaut for Madhur Bhandarkar\u2019s\u00a0Fashion.\u00a0<\/em>The stylist, who often designs clothes for his jobs, is full of disdain for all those \u201cwannabes\u201d who think they can make it in the industry. \u201cIf I don\u2019t agree to do a movie because I think I am not getting my worth, the producer can easily get a cheaper stylist whose quality won\u2019t match up. A stylist can make anything from Rs 5,000 a day to Rs 15 lakhs a film.\u201d<\/span>
\nIt\u2019s no wonder then that the fashion brat has signed up with ex-model Lubna Adam\u2019s Mumbai-based firm, Celebutante. \u201cTill a decade ago, styling of movies was a clich\u00e9. But now movies are concept driven, and styling forms a big part of that. Can you imagine what would have happened if Dostana<\/em> was made a few years ago?\u201d Adam laughs, adding, \u201cThe aim of my firm is to make sure that the profession of styling gets professional.\u201d<\/span>
\nSapna Bhavnani, the owner of trendsetting Mumbai salon, Mad O Wat, feels that wannabe stylists need to get a complete knowledge of the business and will soon open an academy that will teach aspirants how to style clothes, hair and even apply make-up. \u201cYoungsters from small towns also want to style, even if they don\u2019t know what the word means. But they need to understand that they need complete knowledge of the craft.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Some stars won\u2019t even step out of their homes in simple jeans without getting the look approved from a stylist<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Roli Gupta, who has been styling for over six years, came to Mumbai to become a potter but found that clothes meant more to her than mud. The 32 year-old from Lucknow, who loves dressing up herself as well, says, \u201cIt\u2019s about selling yourself as well,\u201d and admits that being a part of the growing tribe has changed her life. \u201cI can\u2019t obviously go back to Lucknow, get married and have a family there,\u201d she laughs, \u201cthere is still a long way to go in this career.\u201d<\/span>
\nBut Roli needn\u2019t worry, because as the rage of being a stylist spreads like wild fire, her career choice seems to be the perfect one. As British diplomat Lord Chesterfield once said, \u201cIf you\u2019re not in fashion, you\u2019re nobody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

WRITER\u2019S EMAIL<\/strong>
\naastha@tehelka.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Move over airhostesses, cricketers and models. Young people now lie awake dreaming of becoming stylists, says Aastha Atray Banan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":42402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[5725,6224,6225,6226,6227,5766,5767,6228,6229,6230,6231,6232,6233,6234,6235,6236,6237,5657,6238,6239,6240,6241,6242,2752,6243,6244,6245,6246,6247,6248,6249,6250,6251,6252,6253],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}