Mumbai: May 18, 2005/Sawf News Service/ --Ever since the dark, svelte and sexy Bipasha Basu emerged out of the foamy ocean waves on a beach, like a nymph in a dream in Jism, Bollywood ‘looks’ have been going gung-ho all over the world. Soon after that, Pooja Bhatt’s flick Paap, with Udita Goswami and John Abraham in the lead, set the fashion industry on fire. Everyone copied the slinky look of Bipasha and the Buddhist robe-like look of Udita in India and other countries.
Bollywood fashions are a rage the world over. Bipasha Base’s style in Jism and Aishwarya Rai’s look in Taal started the fever and every new film release brings one more wave of demand for clones of filmi fashions. The Internet is loaded with orders for Bollywood-style clothes worn by actors and actresses. Films are a major vehicle for fashion designers like Nita Lula, Vikram Phadnis and Manish Malhotra.
From Hema Malini’s figure-hugging, dignified pastel coloured sarees with shimmering borders to Priyanka Chopra’s see-through kurtis with glitter all over, Bollywood fashions are occupying the mindspace of well-dressed women on both sides of the Atlantic and the Pacific. “Whenever I travel westward,” says designer Vikram Phadnis, “I see men wearing kurtas similar to those I designed for Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar for Mujhse Dosti Karoge. I feel proud that our fashions are going places.”
India is the flavour of the year everywhere – in food, fashion and lifestyles. Kurtis and crumpled, colourful, long skirts are the rage in Europe and England. In the US, people search the Internet to find copies of Bollywood ensembles and order them as soon as they see a film, actually naming the actress and the film. This is a big business now, with retailers cloning filmi clothes for the international market. The Indian Diaspora everywhere – which comprises millions of people – leads in this demand. But others follow quickly. They love Indian fashions because the clothes are casual or formal and offer a huge variety of embroidery and crafts, which are unique to India. From Aishwarya Rai’s Osho look in Subhash Ghai’s Taal to Udita Goswami’s Buddhist monk look in Pooja Bhatt’s Paap, all fashions have created their resonance in India and all over the world.
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