As told to Nishi Tiwari (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 9, 2019)

My association with Katrina Kaif is over nine-10 years old. I started out in my early 20s and I was styling Sonam (Kapoor), Bebo (Kareena Kapoor) and Lolo (Karisma Kapoor). Katrina was literally the fourth person with whom I started off as a stylist. It’s a relationship that has grown over time. I have understood her work and her style, which is very simple and elegant.

Over the years, I have realised that Katrina is someone who takes her time to open up to people. Now, I understand her style completely. I can look at a garment and tell if she will like it or not.

She really moves with the times. When I had first met her, she liked to stay in her comfort zone. Katrina is a sort of a comfort baby in that she likes to wear silhouettes that she knows work on her. It could be a sheath, something shorter with an A-line or a fit-and-flare dress.

When I had just started working with her, she had told me that there’s this one dress that she really liked so she picked up one in every colour from the label. Once, she went to two events in the same dress in different colours. When I asked her why she did that, she said, “Because it’s comfortable and I feel good in it. It doesn’t matter if people think I am repeating a dress in different colours.”

Over the years, however, Katrina has become more open to trying new silhouettes and experimenting with different styles. Within dresses she will try an asymmetrical, a deconstructed, sheaths, flairs, a geometric… She loves wearing a well-made pantsuit. But above all else, she is extremely particular about the way a garment fits her.

She prefers soft fabrics like chiffon, georgette or silk; stuff which feels easy and comfortable on the body. She doesn’t like stiff material or anything bulky, like organza or taffeta. She doesn’t like raw silk that much either. In colours, she loves red and enjoys wearing a white dress or even a salwar-suit. She likes Indian clothes and is particular about them, be it Lucknowi anarkali or a lehenga. If you notice these clothes on her, you will see how well they fit. Other than that, bright colours really work for her, like mango yellow, coral… She even wore a popping pink sari in Singh Is Kinng, which became famous. Whenever in doubt, she likes to wear black but for Indian clothes, she prefers colour.

You can say that Katrina plays safe but within her zone, she is experimenting. She will not go out there to make a statement because she doesn’t care about that. One of her standout looks from recent years was this red pantsuit which had an in-built waist-coat and a cut-out back. A few years ago, she wore this electric blue lehenga with a tie-up crop top, for International Film Festival of India in Goa. For Filmfare Style and Glamour Awards a few years ago, she wore this edgy Jean Paul Gaultier gown with a very ’80s shoulder and a slit on one side… a cool, classic dress.

Katrina is really tall and she has a very proportionate body. I have never heard a stylist say they can’t give certain things to her because they won’t work on a certain part of her body. Anything you put on her, she works it. Also, the fact that she was a model before she became an actress; she can carry different kinds of outfits.

Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 4, 2017)

Steering clear of the paparazzi, Deepika Padukone avoided the red carpet despite her red-hot avatar and made a quiet backdoor entry at the Reliance Digital Filmfare Glamour and Style Awards 2017. Keeping the threats to her life over the past few weeks in mind, the actress prudently chose not to sit with the audience and, looking stunning in a Gauri and Nainika gown, she accepted the ‘Most Glamorous Star – Female’ award from Bollywood diva Rekha, before exiting the event. But even after she was gone, the conversation on the red carpet revolved around her and her upcoming period drama, Padmavati, with Hrithik Roshan (‘Most Glamorous Star—Male’), Varun Dhawan (‘Best Dressed Male’), Sonakshi Sinha (‘Fashion Reinvention of the Year’), Kriti Sanon (‘Future of Fashion – Female’) and Yami Gautam condemning the death threats. “It is a reflection of the fact that we still have a long way to go to evolve into beings,” Hrithik, who has worked with filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Guzaarish, pointed out, while Kriti rued that now others will think twice before picking up a controversial historical.

Deepika’s Padmavati co-star, Raja Rawal Ratan Singh aka Shahid Kapoor, the ‘Most Stylish Actor’, flaunted shoes which had the word “king” inscribed in gold. He was joined on the red carpet by Varun and Prateik Babbar after which the trio made their way together to the ballroom of the SoBo five-star where the recently-crowned Miss World Manushi Chillar was the star attraction and was presented a ‘Special Mention’ trophy by Karan Johar, who exulted, “What title can we give the most beautiful woman in the world?”

Sridevi who was adjudged the ‘Timeless Glamour and Style Icon’, flew in straight from Udaipur and the set of KJo’s production, Dhadak, which marks her daughter, Janhvi Kapoor’s debut. Rekha and she had plenty to chat about but not many understood a word of what they said as the duo was jabbering away in rapidfire Telugu. After the gala, it was back to the City of Palaces to chaperone daughter dearest.

Katrina Kaif, the ‘Fashion Trailblazer of the Year’, was in a hurry to be someplace else. ‘Best Dressed, Female’ Alia Bhatt had a dinner engagement while her ‘Best Dressed Male’ counterpart Varun had to be at a friend’s engagement. But before leaving, he rubbed shoulders with “Jacky Fernando”, the two sharing her seat for a while. ‘Hotstepper of the Year’ Jacqueline Fernandez hooted the loudest when he won.

‘Most Stylish Star, Female’ Sonam Kapoor shimmered in gold and posed with Sonakshi, Jacqueline and her Veere Di Wedding co-star, Kareena Kapoor. The hot topic of discussion was not her crown but her much-awaited engagement to her beau of two years, Anand Ahuja. “Sonam and Anand’s chemistry is better than that of Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon’s in Raabta,” Neha Dhupia joked, quick to add that it was all said in good spirit.

Interestingly, Sushant Singh Rajpur wasn’t around to pick up his trophy for ‘Future of Fashion—Male’. Kriti and Ankita Lokhande’s respective publicists made sure that they didn’t cross paths. Ayushmann Khurrana (‘Hotstepper of the Year – Male’). Adaar Jain, Saiyyami Kher, Sonali Kulkarni, Daisy Shah, Harshvardhan Rane and Karan Singh Grover were there too, the ‘Vaanar’ surprisingly minus the Mrs.