The first signs of an actor making his or her presence felt in Bollywood can be gauged by the number of billboards they are staring back at you from. Television endorsements to appearances as showstoppers on fashion shows are also good indicators of the actor emerging as a star. After her noticeable debut last year in Karan Johar’s campus caper “Student of the Year,” Alia Bhatt has been spotted making fashionable strides on the ramp a couple of times. On the red carpet, her sartorial choices have also seen more hits than misses and it comes as little surprise that the 20-year-old newcomer has been roped in by designer Anushka Khanna (a newbie in the fashion industry who is fast climbing the popularity charts herself). Bhatt is the face of Khanna’s campaign for her fall-winter 2013 collection titled Starry, Starry Night. Incidentally, for her spring-summer collection, Khanna had worked with documentary photographer Hashmi Badani and collaborated with artist Rewati Shahani.
Describing the collection as one that’s all about “fresh, easy glamour” the designer says Bhatt was a “natural choice”. Shot by Badani, the campaign echoes the contemporary look of the collection. The designer has worked to bring new focus and perspective to her prints and surface textures. Using geometry as the starting point, the designer has translated details of Badani’s photographs into digital prints. The colour palette is in true winter spirit bringing in the likes of navy, grey, black and white. For the first time, Khanna has also incorporated leather appliqué into her embroidery, and worked on creating graphic shapes. The collection also has a strong sportswear influence. Heavily embroidered sweatshirts, track pants as eveningwear, and racer back and slip dresses for the red carpet play a starring role in the show. With only bursts of colour, Khanna has kept the palette a bit subdued and has let the embroideries be the focus. As far as the silhouettes go, this collection continues with the designer’s strength of classic silhouettes with intricate embroidery and out of the box prints.
For those looking to catch a behind-scenes look of the campaign shoot check out the photos below along with a video directed by Arjun Menon. In true Alia style, it’s got a fun vibe and that pout is unmistakable.
