FASHION 
Sunshine look sells
Nilima Seth

Designers prefer models with a cheerful disposition

Whatever the excuse of designers like Sabyasachi Mukherji for ‘deglamorising’ their models, style gurus are increasingly acknowledging that more than the dress, it is the wearer who draws attention first. The best dress on a bad model has no takers.

Funnily, the opposite also holds true. Very ordinary dresses, when paraded by models with the right attitude and perfect looks have proved total sellouts at ramp shows. Somehow, at a subliminal level, it is easier for buyers identify with the person who models a dress. And thus trends are set.

So what is the look that sells?

Designer Tarun Tahiliani, who took 18 "sunshine girls", mostly from Mumbai for his recent Milan show, is very particular about those who model his clothes. He reportedly even advised catwalk queen Carol Gracias to tone down her scowl and keep her face from contorting, or else...

Clearly, like most other designers, Tahiliani goes for the pleasant look and admits to be partial toward Mumbai models because of their attitude. "They are somehow freer on the runway, have more energy and do not suffer huge traumas about wearing something skimpy," he explains.

Likewise Monisha Jaisingh insists on smiling sirens to carry her kimono kurtis for a look that many fashion watchers describe as one of a "pleasing geisha entering the Delhi’s cocktail circuit". Also for the FTV launch in Delhi, where milkmaid peasant girl flounces competed with virginal Victorian frills, models ambled down the staircase with a cheerful disposition.

Raghavendra Rathore describes the attitude as "aggressive vamp glam", a mix of overt sullenness and sexiness: "After the dark aggressor of the past season, we are seeing the beginning of the glamorous, luxurious, as opposed to the previous season’s grunge, look."

On the contrary stylist Yatan Ahluwalia feels that a winsome look and a cheerful smile can launch a million designer dreams. "The move in the past few season has been towards a more feminine look and this season, it has become a strong trend."

The scowl, and the sulking sullen look which models like Nayonika Chatterji, Nina Samuel and Ujjwala Raut sported, have become things of the past. "Collectively, they looked like a bunch which has been slapped before being let out," observed a fashion writer.

In their place is a new generation of girls like Yana Gupta, Sapna Kumar, Shivani Kapoor and Tapur Chatterjee radiating impish oomph and killer smiles. Classic woman Michelle Innes, with a hint of smile and mischief of her eyes, is the new mascot for this so-called cheerleader chic.

It does not matter if they are fair or dark, chubby or lean, have rosebud lips or thunder thighs....All that can be taken care of (no matter if it takes several hours in the make-up room to get the right sparkle in the eyes) so long as they care to look kindly at the audience and remember to smile while parading the ramp.

Some observers attribute this transition from the sullen to sunshine to global fashion’s reaction to the US 9/11 bombings. As depression set in worldwide, fashion was forced to go commercial, luring the buyer with an overdose of soft suggestive appeal and feminine charm.

Others say it is merely fashion repeating itself, as it must every few seasons. Make-up artist Prasad Bidapa argues that though dusky will always be beautiful, its dominance on the Indian runway was more of a deviation. "Thanks to their colonial hangover, Indians are much more supportive of the fair beauty."

Bidapa, incidentally, happens to be the original pusher for the dark, dusky look, which got associated with attitude. It involved the use of a lot of eye shadow and emphasising of the eyes — an effect that designer Manish Arora took to its limit with models, whose mascara smudges made them look like decked up owls.

"When you are doing a dark face, you need to use make-up to emphasise the darkness and it heightens the effect of the exotic siren," explains Kapil Bhalla, another make-up artist known for turning out models as distressed as the jeans they sported.

"That was the underground, low-energy look," points out Ahluwalia. "Thank God, we are coming out of it and moving towards real women. Some models might still have the spaced-out look, but at least they don’t scare you while looking down from the ramp." — MF