Menu
Very few Bollywood fashion designers have managed to carve a niche with their creative designs and land up with a plum Hollywood film offer for styling a film’s look, that too for the entire star-cast. Renowned and seasoned costume designer Bhanu Athaiya bagged the bald statuette for Best Costume Design in Richard Attenborough’s biopic Gandhi and made India proud. The grapevine is abuzz that Bollywood fashion designer- celebrity stylist- makeover consultant Umair Zafar has been pencilled in and almost finalized for a big budget Hollywood film which will be shot in Lucknow and Jaipur from January 2014.
Obsessed with an old-world charm, Umair Zafar often attempts to recreate that certain ‘ magic’ through his garments. His fashion style is best described as super- feminine and classic are an extension of flogging the Indian heritage at its pinnacle. Detailing and fabrics have always played a huge role in his collections. Exquisite quality of embroideries, exotic embellishments put together on rich fabrics such as Swiss tulle, French lace, Italian chiffon and Indian silks make for beautiful garments. Somehow Zafar’s creations have always highlighted the Indianness that appeal to every woman.
When quizzed about his hushed door meetings with the Hollywood production team at a local 5-star hotel and he being finalized for the venture, Umair Zafar replied,
“Indian fashion is culturally rich and offers magnanimous variations. It’s ironical that we as Bollywood film designers have to blend them with Western inspirations and give the costumes a filmi touch. Having had a close affinity to Lucknowi tehzeeb and the local imperial heritage, I was floored when I was offered this Hollywood venture.”
Apparently it is said that the Hollywood venture would have some Bollywood actors too but the main pivotal roles are being played by some known Hollywood actors. Since the film is a biopic set in the pre-independence, the onus on the costume designer and Creative Style consultant is enormous. Umair was non-committal and maintained a stiff upper lip in divulging further details about the project. He summed up with a,
“Working with a Hollywood team is an honour for the pure fact that it takes us Indian fashion designers on a higher pedestal. You will have to wait for official announcements to be made by the studio.”
India is a big spot on the global fashion map and for someone like a talented and down-to-earth fashion designer like Umair Zafar making it big in Hollywood deserves a round of applause.
