Lakme Fashion Week 2019: Bollywood Takes Over Yet Again; Where Are The Models?

Lakme Fashion Week 2019 for the Summer/Resort collection kicked off on January 31, 2019. The fashion extravaganza has been all over the news ever since. Day after day, Bollywood celebrities have taken to the ramp, thanks to their nepotistic connections or to the buzz their new films have created. Also, if you happen to be Karan Johar, then you’re assured a spot in anything involving the paparazzi.

The first day of the fashion week commenced with Uri actress Yami Gautam’s walk as the showstopper for designers Gauri and Nainika’s collection. Yami has been riding high on the success of Uri and that seemed to be the only reason why she was chosen to be a showstopper for the evening. The actress was seen wearing a gorgeous tulle gown with floral designs. There’s no second thoughts about the fact that the actress looked stunning, but given her poor ramp walk where she almost tripped, left us thinking if she was the best choice to carry it. Even as we laud her courage for holding herself up with confidence, the question remains if she was the best person for the job.

Not just Yami Gautam, there have been a string of actors who had been roped in for the Fashion Week such as Bhumi Pednekar, Kriti Sanon, Arjun Kapoor, who rather seemed uninspiring as models despite their celebrity status. LFW 2019: Aditya Roy Kapur and Arjun Kapoor Walk the Ramp for Kunal Rawal (See HD Pics)

Here's Yami Gautam's walk at the Lakme Fashion Week 2019:

For Shehla Khan’s Summer/Resort 2019 collection, actress Bhumi Pednekar wore a beautiful black ruffled lehenga. With her sleek hair and spot on makeup, Bhumi certainly looked ramp ready. Although it is unfortunate that she lacked the charm to pull off that signature model walk. The one that young girls from the 90s would remember as the walk achieved by balancing heavy books on their heads. We missed having to see a dreamy model own the stage as opposed to an actress's uncomfortable stance.

Check out Karan Johar's look at the Lakme Fashion Week 2019:

The same can be said about director Karan Johar who walked for the same designer. His inherent dramatic posture works well when it comes to his show Koffee With Karan but we expect more when it comes to the ramp.

Has Bollywood killed the ‘supermodel’ career in India?

If we take a look at the fashion industry currently, it would be hard to name models who have reached top magazine covers because they are all busy promoting star kids and movie stars (remember the Suhana Khan Vogue cover controversy?). When was the last time you picked up an Indian fashion magazine and found an unrecognizable face on it? Unrecognisable, I say, because do we even know the models taking up the ramp these days? Seeing Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput’s Poor Walk at Lakme Fashion Week 2018 Make us Cringe About Runway’s Obsession with Bollywood Celebrities as Showstoppers

Gone are the days when teens would swoon over a Milind Soman or an Ujwala Raut because they were seen on magazine spreads and advertisements. Today, when we see Milind Soman judging the popular MTV show India’s Top Model, we can’t help but wonder why we are putting these contestants through some unnecessary tasks if they’re actually never coming close to even owning a big brand photo-shoot. Unfortunately, modelling may soon be limited to having appearances on reality shows.

If only Bollywood would learn a little more from Hollywood than just aping their films, they would have left the fashion industry alone. There’s an equally crazed fandom for Hollywood celebrities in the West and all over but that does not make them the single entity when it comes to endorsements or sporting label designs. There’s a reason a Gigi Hadid and Kylie Jenner would rather stay away from the films.

Isn’t it high time Bollywood realized this too? After all, modelling requires a lot of efforts and going by what we see, so far Bollywood is making it look like one big lazy affair.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 04, 2019 03:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).