Blenders Pride Fashion Tour ‘The Showcase’ has been conceived to become one of India’s leading platforms for hidden talent among fashion designers, shutterbugs, models and content creators.
The definitive voice in the fashion and design world has collaborated with the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) to curate a platform that nurtures talent across diverse creative fields. This is a step towards building a more inclusive fashion ecosystem. Charting a unique course, it will catapult the journey of the aspirants, giving them a platform to exhibit their creative expression weaving diverse narratives of Pride such as ‘My Identity. My Pride’, ‘My Passion. My Pride’ and ‘My Planet. My Pride’ to unravel a holistic experience.
The jury features some of the leading names in fashion — Chairman of FDCI, Sunil Sethi, design extraordinaire Gaurav Gupta, celebrity stylist Shaleena Nathani, Bollywood’s favourite shutterbug Rahul Jhangiani, India’s leading content creator, Masoom Minawala and B-Town queen and trendsetter, Neha Sharma.
We caught up with celebrity stylist Shaleena Nathani, at the sidelines of The Showcase to get her to take on the event:
Q: How has digitalisation opened avenues for the upcoming talent across genres? Has it made the fashion ecosystem more inclusive and diverse?
A: Digitalisation has allowed aspiring and budding talent to showcase their skills and craftsmanship at a much larger platform. I am thrilled to be associated with Blenders Pride Fashion Tour ‘The Showcase’ powered by FDCI, a platform that will further give voice to talent across the nation. With massive reach and connectivity, the digital world has made it easier for the upcoming talent to connect with the relevant audience and build credibility.
Q: As a stylist, how important do you think it is for celebrities to keep reinventing themselves and experimenting with new styles?
A: I feel it’s very important for everybody, especially celebrities to keep reinventing themselves, to try new things because we all get used to dressing a certain way and we fall into our comfort zone very easily. We prefer something that looks nice and usually want to wear that again. It is important for us to challenge ourselves and make things more exciting. We must try new styles and try new trends and new cuts.
As a stylist, I feel it’s very important when we are working with somebody for them to be able to put their trust in you, to at least allow us to put clothes on your body because that’s where a big difference comes. So yes, I do feel it’s very important to keep reinventing yourself, to try new things, and to experiment. I believe only when you try something will you know if it works for you or not.
Q: The one celebrity ask you wish didn’t exist
A: Sometimes, to look great, you have to compromise a little bit on comfort, and a few other things in order to look fabulous — it has to be a mixture of both.
Q: Fitness and fashion go hand in hand; one could be wearing the most fabulous outfit but until you don’t feel good you won’t look good. Do you agree?
A: Actually, for me, I feel like they don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand. Fitness, to me, is a very therapeutic process which really keeps me energized through the day and of course it makes me feel good. But I do feel even on days I have not worked out and I wear a fabulous outfit, it can make me feel good. So, I don’t really think they go hand in hand. I feel like they are two very different things. However, I would agree that fitness does provide a feel-good factor to me, more than being thin. I think it’s so important today for our immunity, longevity and goes for anything.
Q: ‘My Identity. My Pride’, ‘My Passion. My Pride’ and ‘My Planet. My Pride’, which of these is closest to your heart and why?
A: While all different narratives are unique and cannot be compared, if I really had to, I would say I resonate the most with My Passion, My Pride. I have always been passionate about dressing up people and I was lucky enough to get the right opportunities to follow my passion. I love everything about my job because it gives me so much creative liberty to do so many different things.