Designer Dilnaz Karbhary has no formal training in fashion design – except for working under Tarun Tahiliani for fifteen years -and now, she makes her Bollywood debut by designing Farah Khan’s costumes in Bela Sehgal’s Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi which releases next Friday.
Being a Parsi herself, and having known Farah Khan since 2008 made it relatively easy for Dilnaz to execute the costumes. Yet, she says, “Dressing the character of Shirin was challenging because the portrayal of Parsi’s in the industry, barring a few films, has left a lot to be desired. I wanted to change the stereotypes,” she explains!
So what did it take to get Shirin’s look just right? “A fair amount of research, by physically lagaoing chakkars of Parsi baugs and studying the styles of a 40 year old Parsi office going women’s dress, to raiding all the Parsi women’s closets in the family, referring to books online and pouring through old Parsi magazines,” reveals Dilnaz.
Dilnaz has also experimented with many fabrics, typical Parsi-style prints, lycra, beautiful silk georgetts, heavier weights of fabrics for skirts and trousers and the traditional Parsi gara embroidery. In fact, she interestingly combined Parsi gara embroidery on knits, which you will see in the film.