Is your friend your most reliable fashion critique? RITZ takes three BFFs on a no-holds-barred fashion journey. We dress them up as they would themselves, then as they reinterpret their friend’s style in their own manner. Meet some well-known fashion icons from the South as they play around, get candid and even sometimes a bit cheeky with their best friend’s fashion quotient!
The results, of course, are unique, and stunning!
Roshni Laura George and Sounak Sen Barat – Bengaluru
She’s the brand ambassador for Peroni beer, a former model with oodles of attitude and a super sharp mind. He’s a fashion designer, one of the rising stars on the Indian fashion circuit, for he can see and visualise things many others can’t. Roshni Laura George has known Sounak Sen Barat for the longest possible time. They’re both as comfortable with the other as only best buddies could be.
Her years as a model have given her a unique sense of fashion – earthy, but sometimes a tad naughty. “I love wearing what young designers create. Their perspective of fashion is so unique,” says Roshni, as she idly swigs on a bottle of Peroni. “I rarely put on make-up, stick to high heels and usually go without jewellery.”
Sounak on the other hand is a very unique dresser. His pants always allow his socks to glimpse the outside world. He tends to cover his beautiful curls with a hat and he loves natural fabrics. Hence, the friends choose to stick with their trademark style for the first look.
However, when it was time to dress each other they pulled out all stops and went the whole hog. “I wanted to style Rosh in something traditional… despite all the hype surrounding western fashion what are we if we ignore our roots? We have no identity without them,” says the deep-thinking designer.
Out came the Bong in Sounak and he decided to dress his friend in a black Khadi Jamdani saree. Naughty Rosh paid him back in his own coin by choosing to leave the conventional blouse off! A simple tube, completely not visible above the palla, did the trick for her. And in keeping with her naughty ways she chose to dress Sounak as a Bong babu, but with a twist. No white kurta or dhoti for this babumoshai!
It was a black kurta, enhanced by a beautifully embroidered shawl, all highlighted with a sheer black dhoti sporting a heavy gold border.
Dia Bhandary and Aamer Sharma – Hyderabad
She’s a luxury brand consultant with oodles of panache. He’s an interior designer with a keen sense of style. When Dia Bhandary first came to Hyderabad she met Aamer Sharma at one of the trunk shows that she was hosting. A quick friendship formed and their mutual love for fashion just cemented their closeness.
One of the most stylish dressers on Hyderabad’s social circuit, Dia says that she tends to lean towards dresses rather than pants. “I have a petite frame so it looks better. Heels are a necessity in my dressing and like every girl, I love accessories,” she quips, flashing us a charming smile. “The casual look I’ve chosen for myself is a golden bandage dress teamed with matching heels and a spiked bracelet. I’ve highlighted my eyes and the lips and let my hair down.”
Aamer, on the other hand, tends to keep his look more classic, but with a little twist. “Ripped jeans, white shirt, teamed with shades – it’s a look you can’t go wrong with,” he says. His smile is disarming, but we’re a bit taken aback when we look at what he’s put together for his buddy. A strapless dress teamed with black stilettos, diamond and ruby drop earrings, hair pulled back slick and minimal makeup. So unlike the version of this beautiful lady we’re used to seeing at parties.
Dia post makeover looks stunningly sexy, edgy even.
Knowing her friend’s casual with a twist mantra, Dia upped the glam quotient a bit for him and put him in a light jacket over a navy blue shirt teamed with tan shoes and a belt. “I think the look is very complimenting and is a fresher approach for summer,” she says with a sly grin.
Vishwajit Thirumurti and Amrutha Anandanathan – Chennai
His lineage is impeccable. He is a tennis player himself. His on-court staples of shorts and a playing tee hardly mean that the young sportsman doesn’t like dressing himself up! “I love the cut of the Nehru jacket, I feel it goes well as a formal outfit or for a casual lunch. Right now I am interning at an investment banking firm and suits are the required look – I love wearing them. I think the formal look makes men stand out and look extremely classy,” quips the youngster.
His best friend Amrutha Anandanathan, however, is very careful of what she wears and she says her sense of style is based partly on current trends and on what suits her body type. “I really love the one shoulder look for dresses, I have a lot of clothes with that cut and I thought this orange dress brought out the two things that really describe my sense of fashion,” she tells us, pointing to her figure-hugging orange outfit.
Vishwajit feels Amrutha looks amazing in semi-formals, and hence took the liberty of choosing a black formal skirt with a semi-casual top to dress her in. “It suits her beautifully. I went with flats for her shoes to add a casual feel to the look. This is something I’d love to see her wear for a dinner date with me,” he tells us with a fond smile thrown in her direction.
Amrutha tells her friend that she loves the look he’s planned for her, adding that she’s chosen to keep his look completely formal as she loves men in that kind of attire. “I think that’s one look they can’t go wrong with. One thing about the look I really like is the white shirt, and that’s why I picked it. I know he loves to experiment with different kinds of knots for his tie, which I love, so I added the tie to complete his look,” she explains.
