Why would one need a movie star to walk the ramp?” seems to be a pertinent question. The simmering debate reached the pinnacle a few months ago when Karan Johar made a rather scathing remark: “The only people who mind that (stars on ramp) are the fashion cynics and those who don’t get anyone to walk for them”. He, however, forgot an important factor: money. A star of repute doesn’t come below Rs 10 lakh and that’s a lot of money, Mr Johar!
In our fashion industry, the stalwarts have never used a filmstar to walk the ramp. Manish Arora, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Anamika Khanna, Ashish Soni and Sabyasachi Mukherjee never used a Bollywood star to walk the ramp. (Yes, during grand finale shows they have had a filmy showstopper but that was more a need of the sponsor.) Arora, who has become the creative director of the Parisian Fashion House, Paco Rabanne, says, “In a fashion show, the garments are the stars. Why should I put a filmstar to distract attention?” Rajesh Pratap has similar opinion, “Models are cloth-horses... their bodies carry an outfit perfectly. The idea is to show garments and not pretty faces.” Many seasons back, Pratap covered the faces of the models and truly the attention on the garments was heightened. Soni did a similar thing. Well Karan, are Manish, Pratap, Sabyasachi and Soni fashion cynics?
But then we have the other bloc that negotiates with movie stars to walk the ramp. This group shifts the blame on the media and says if a filmstar walks the ramp, the pictures are splashed in the newspapers and TV goes in for repeat telecast. We can’t ignore the argument. Newspapers splashed the pictures and TV channels had reruns of Sonam Kapoor who walked the ramp for Manish Malhotra at the Synergy1 Delhi Couture Week and so was Sonakshi Sinha’s who didn’t do justice to Shantanu & Nikhil Mehra. Her ‘H’-shaped waist was mocked upon by the fashionistas.
Film stars gracing the front-row is, however, a better strategy. Varun Bahl had Madhuri Dixit in his creation in the front row while Manav Gangwani had Zayed Khan, Fardeen Khan, Rahul Khanna, Raveena Tandon, Soha Ali Khan and Dino Morea in front row.
But Karan has a different take. As quoted in a daily, he says, “Bollywood celeb presence always complements the show… Cricket and Bollywood contribute not just to fashion, but almost everything.” Cricket and Bollywood in fashion? Isn’t it confusing?
Designer Namrata Joshipura says, “If one is not confident of his/her collection then he/she goes for a celeb. Have you ever seen a movie star walking the ramp in New York, Milan or Paris? Yes, at the most they grace the front-row.”
