For a long time, people have been confused by the role of a stylist. And, many times they’ve been confused for fashion designers. Yes, they could have studied design and maybe even possess the skills of a designer. However, being a stylist is different than what people understand of the career, itself. In my humble opinion, a stylist is someone who sells an idea, a construct and a lifestyle. Back in the day when fashion was nascent, the stylist was selling aspirational content through editorials. And it was brilliant because of the whimsy and larger than life ability that an editorial would possess. It was art that we were flipping through. As time went on by and consumerism was on the rise, people wanted a more affordable lifestyle. So, the structure of magazine culture faded to become achievable so to speak.
Here’s a list of my favourite stylists to have graced the fashion scene in Bollywood:
1) Shaleena Nathani
Shaleena is a stylist to the likes of Deepika Padukone, Madhuri Dixit, Sharukh Khan etc. She was formerly part of Anaita‘s squad called Style Cell. You could describe her styling as a mix of modern femininity and athleisure, for the most part.
2) Ami Patel
Ami Patel has been around for years and has rounded up quite a few B-town babes under her belt. Take, for instance, Alia Bhatt, Ananya Panday, Athiya Shetty, Kangana Ranaut and global kween Priyanka Chopra. Ami’s styling is more wearer-friendly and happy, shiny girl-next-door vibes.
3) Anaita Shroff Adajania
Anaita has sort of been the jack of all trades. You could say she started off as an actress/model and moved up to costume designer and stylist. She’s even won a few accolades for her styling and is currently the Fashion Director at Vogue India. She also hosts Feet Up With The Stars that airs on Voot. And, last but not the least, she is the champion stylist to Hrithik Roshan, Sara Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif etc.
4) Tanya Ghavri
Tanya started out her journey assisting Pernia Qureshi and went onto bagging work with Sonam Kapoor who became impressed with Tanya’s work during the filming of Aisha. She styles the likes of Freida Pinto, Shraddha Kapoor, Alaya F and many more. I would surely describe Tanya to have a keen eye for details and some fascinating and unique taste with her sartorial choices for her actors, which always make them stand out.
5) Aastha Sharma & Reann Moradian
Aastha and Reann collectively form The Wardrobist. They’ve recently styled Four More Shots-Season 2 as well and have driven us all to envy’s envy with all the fabulous clothes worn by the star cast. They’re also well-known for styling Aishwarya Rai Bachan, Kajol, Rakul Preet and many more leading ladies have been styled by this duo. These two have a penchant for luxury and drama which you will find to be a major part of their styling.
6) Mohit Rai
I get the sense that Mohit is a stylist that understands the female form and does it justice when styling. All of his actresses look so well turned out and sexy yet elegant. Sonakshi Sinha, Disha Patani, Janhvi Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan, he’s played to all of their strengths and only ever highlighted them. His work gives me some major inspiration on the daily.
7) Isha Bhansali
Isha came along and made menswear styling look easy, even though I know for a fact it isn’t. It is a tedious task filled with details one cannot miss. TBH, I find menswear boring AF, but each time Isha blows the ball outta the park and leaves me astounded with a look, I didn’t think a man could pull off. She religiously styles Ayushmann Khurrana to look dapper as hell. Isha has also styled Rajkumar Rao, Ajay Devgan and Ali Fazal. I have to say Isha’s style is eclectic and fun.
Which one of these stylists do you like most? Let me know in the comments below.
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