Every year, around this time, we have the usual suspects making rounds of the red carpet at Cannes, putting their most fashionable foot forward. From Sonam Kapoor, our fashion innovator, to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the original fashion diva, and to the latest entrant with her trademark thigh-high slit skirt, Deepika Padukone, they all have the media and the paparazzi eating out of their hands. With adjectives like princess, ethereal, warrior queen, and picture perfect weighing down articles with their increased word count, the reality is viewed through rose-tinted glasses, that often they aren’t there for the movies; nor are they there as actresses. Cannes is their visiting ground as endorsers of brands that are eponymous with fashion and beauty.
This time, though, as I scrolled through the 100th article on Deepika’s gorgeous green outfit, I was struck by a thought. Why are we more obsessed with what our actresses wear on the red carpet of a film festival where no work they are in is showcased than when they walk down the red carpet of our own Filmfare? Tags like “slay” and “lit” define what even mainstream media, previously devoid of colloquial lingo influence, has to say. It’s fashion coverage directed towards their idea of millennials; articles devoid of analysis and criticism and full of statements that would put Captain Obvious to shame. It’s obviously a reaction to how as a society we react to our actresses and their showcase of glamour.
Every time I want some nuanced idea of the fashion that these stars are strutting, I don’t look at the articles doing the rounds, unless I want 13 reasons why Sonam Kapoor killed it. I look at the comments column. Sift through the trolls, and the easy to offend; the super fans and super haters, and you will find some gems posted by ordinary readers, who are honest, speaking from their gut about what the outfit makes them feel, and whether the associate beauty brand matters to them or not. So, if you want to know what PeeCee’s Met Gala outing really meant to the crowd, look at the comments section. When we live in the fashion bubble we have constructed for ourselves, we somehow believe that we think brighter, bigger, and better to only learn too late, that we have been humbled by the insightful thought of a 14-year-old with a blank slate.
Don’t get me wrong! I have nothing against the red carpet or the beautiful gowns or even the number of times their clothes are splashed across my timelines. My problem lies with the uni-directional, one dimensional, often boring coverage of the red carpet. My problem lies with the fact that we don’t cover the men as much as we do the women, leaving us, the fashion media, open to criticism of being sexist. And my problem lies with the fact that we are so over-the-top in love with our stars in Cinderella-esque ball gowns by international designers, that we often miss moments where we have a Nandita Das owning the world in her Anavila linen sari and barely-there lipstick.
- Shirt Skirt Dress - September 1, 2017
- Dangling Dungarees - August 31, 2017
- Suited Pastel-y - August 30, 2017
