Bringing in Bollywood celebrities as showstoppers is a new trend at fashion shows, but many designers believe putting celebrities on the cat walk displays a designer’s lack of confidence in his creations.
The recent Lakme Fashion Week in New Delhi enlisted celebrities from Bollywood including Priyanka Chopra, Mugdha Godse, Kangana Ranaut, Rituparna Sengupta, Sonam Kapoor, Sameer Dattani, Prachi Desai Adah Sharma, Sameera Reddy and Sonakshi Sinha (Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter) to walk the ramp.
But some designers participating in the show felt the presence of the celebrities not only suggested a lack of confidence on the part of the designers but also takes away the limelight from their creations.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee, who displayed his wedding collection at the grand finale, did not use celebrities in his show.
“I have never used a showstopper for any of my shows to date as I don’t believe in them. I feel my clothes are showstoppers or rather traffic stoppers, and I don’t need any celebrity to carry them. If any designer is not confident about his clothes then he needs a showstopper to carry them,” Mukherjee told IANS.
Mukherjee said acting and modelling are two different professions and the actors and models should be left to do their own jobs.
Kallol Datta, a Kolkata designer, also expressed similar views. “Celebrity! Who is a celebrity? Do you want me to celebrate their lives? Honestly, I don’t think of celebrities. It depends on people. It’s different strokes for different folks. Whatever suits is fine,” said Datta, who is in his third season at the fashion week.
Delhi-based designer Zubair Kirmani, who has been in the industry for five years, said “designers rope in celebrities so that they can get media attention. There are very few people in the media who understand fashion, so if there is a celebrity then the media writes about it and the news reaches every corner of the country.”
“As far as I am concerned, I don’t believe in it as I think as long as one believes in his work, he does not need to get other people to endorse for him,” he added.
However, a few designers felt that having a celebrity wear their garments boosts confidence in the designer in addition to giving them publicity and good business.
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