Rhea Kapoor: CinemaxStyle.
As a society at large, we are all recovering from the Jamnagar MET Gala held earlier this month (but better than the MET because it lasted for three days). I may not have been invited, but I was an active participant through my phone screen. I have now identified many outfits in my closet that can be worn for the various themed events at the next Jamnagar MET Gala (I can be reached here, on Instagram, and on Twitter). Obviously the Rihanna, Akon concerts were a huge deal, but my personal favourite was the Diljeet Dosanjh concert, and now attending the Dilluminati tour, is second on my concert wishlist, after The Eras tour (no, what do you mean, I would need money?).
The festivities saw a lot of glamour, safaris, and drone shows, but the one thing that stood out for me at the pre-wedding festivities was Rhea Kapoor. A lot of the best dressed women at the event were styled by Kapoor- Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Natasha Poonawala, and her sister, Sonam Kapoor (that Namza Couture outfit!!!). But Rhea Kapoor’s best styling was reserved for the bride to be. At this point, I just want to say, now that Rhea Kapoor is styling Radhika Merchant, everyone is going Rhea Kapoor this, and Rhea Kapoor that, but I have been a fan since she styled Sonam in Players. But this isn’t about me and my tastes being superior to yours (only occasionally).
This is about the behemoth that Rhea Kapoor created, it may have started with styling her sister in films, and appearances (Remember Sonam at her first Cannes in 2011?! Iconic), and also producing Aisha, an Indian ‘chick flick’, if we must use the term, which stood out for it’s humour, it’s songs (will we ever tire of Shaam, and Gal Mithi Mithi Bol), and it’s style. I remember seeing the detailed moodboards created for every single character by Pernia Qureshi (the stylist of the film) in an interview/BTS for NDTV GoodTimes (RIP), and understanding how intrinsic the look was to each character in the story. Style has always been a part of Hindi cinema whether in films, or outside of it (Madhubala in Mughal-e-Azam, Sharmila Tagore in An Evening in Paris, the Sadhana cut, the winged eyeliner that we are all still trying to perfect, the tshirt-patiala combination from Jab We Met, etc.), and it’s always influenced the style and culture of the country. We remember fashion designers, but we often don’t remember the stylists of iconic films and looks of yore, Manish Malhotra with Karishma Kapoor in Raja Hindustani, and Urmila Matondkar in Rangeela may be the first stylist that we remember from films in recent(ish) history.
Crediting one person to revolutionize an industry is often considered as giving too much credit, but it is true that Rhea Kapoor created this industry which now takes up significant space on our Instagram feeds with photoshoots, and looks, and ensuring that stylists, and hair and make up artists become familiar names to people. The result has sometimes created great looks, and a dramatic shift on Indian red carpets, but it has also led to over styling for every single appearance, and the worrying phenomena that is airport looks (can non celebrity people aka me stop dressing up for the airport? Celebrities fly Business, I am in Indigo). That’s not on Kapoor, that’s just poor styling.
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One of the great outcomes of styling becoming a full blown profession in India, is that now people get the credit they deserve for the work they do. They say it takes a village to create a red carpet look, or even a promotional visit to the mall, and yet we never see the people behind the celebrity who clearly did not wake up like this. So we finally see designers , hair and make up artists, photographers, and assistants etc. get the credit they deserve. Kapoor’s also worked with other stylists through her career who are now noted stylists themselves- Abhilasha Devnani, Meagan Concessio, Pernia Qureshi, Tanya Ghavri etc., all alums of the Rhea Kapoor styling school.
Kapoor has also broken ground as a producer, but the Jamnagar weekend was her returning to her styling roots. We have seen many a celebrity bridal looks in the recent past, they all usually blend into each other, the same designer, even the sunsets looks similar, but this stood out from all the pale pinks that we have gotten used to seeing (the bride-to-be did wear pale pink- the Versace gown, the Tarun Tahiliani sari, and the Ashi Studio outfit, all stunning pieces of couture).
Rhea Kapoor’s films have always put women at the centre, without adopting the godforsaken title of ‘women centric’ films, it may not always work, but we have never cared if male producers meet that benchmark. Fashion, and beauty is intrinsic to Indian cinema, all our good songs are an ode to them, it’s exciting to see a producer, and stylist, champion them front and center.
