Bollywood Beauty

By Sunili Govinnage

My most recent trip overseas included a visit to India, the home of the Taj Mahal, saris and Bollywood. Three words that describe those three things and India in general, are big, bold and colourful. Well, maybe colourful doesn't cover the Taj, since it's white... but it certainly is huge, it really was a bold declaration of undying love (the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan built it as a tomb for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal) and hey, white is made up when you mix all the colours in the rainbow!

Colour is big in India and, unlike in the blink-and-you-miss-them designer seasons we're used to, always has been. In from small rural towns where ladies do their shopping swathed in six meters (yes, six meters!) of bright silk to the narrow bazaars of Old Delhi and Jaipur were stall after stall is stacked to the rafters with glittering bangles and beads, India is just full of colour. And it looks like the fashion and beauty world has recently picked up on this trend.

I picked up a copy of Vogue India while I was there and found that the main fashion spread featured Bollywood star-on-the-rise Katrina Kaif styled by none-other than Jean-Paul Gautier himself. A self-confessed 'Indophile', Gautier had borrowed vintage saris from Vogue India's editor to drape around the set. Gautier's Spring Summer 2008 RTW collection for Hermès also featured strong Indian influences, as shown by the Nehru collars (named after the jackets favoured by former Indian President Jawaharlal Nehru) and the bejeweled turbans sported by models on the runway.

Our own Vogue has also found inspiration in the colours of India. After last year's spread of Gemma Ward, wearing ridiculous gym tights and emo-boots, riding camels in Rajasthan, the April 2008 issue features Catherine McNeil in an Indian-inspired shoot where both the clothes and makeup, as well as the location, is Indian-y!

For something a little more wearable than the $4,665 Fendi dress on the cover this month, the trend continues in the beauty department.

OPI's most recent offering is their 'India Collection' -- fabulous bold, colourful nail polishes with their signature quirky-names: MonSooner or Later (orange-red), Keys to My Karma (rich red), I'm India Mood for Love (hot pink) and Curry Up Don't Be Late! (metallic gold). I picked up a bottle of ElePhantastic Pink, which is a bright coraly-pink (they describe it as 'carnation pink'), and I lurrrrrrve it!!

Kenzo have also released KenzoAmour Indian Holi perfume, which is inspired by Holi, the festival of colours that celebrates spring. My fave beauty-expert, Kat at www.beautyeditor.com.au , describes it as "a musky floral that features a flurry of pink notes (rose essence, pink pepper, peony petals) and the very Indian-inspired notes of rice steam, incense and sandalwood" and notes that $10 from every sale will be donated to Plan, an organisation which works with children in poor and remote Indian communities.

The Indian thing isn't necessarily new. Aishwariya Rai (ex-Miss World turned Bollywood royalty) has become a familiar face outside of India as the ambassador for both Longines and Loréal, and Stila have had their Kajal eyeliner , which was "formulated to mimic the ultra-soft texture of the Indian eye darkener of the same name", out for some time.

While, as I said, trends come and go, I wonder if the current Indianitis infection may last a little longer than most fads. With one-fifth of the world's population, India is BIG market. The cultural influences have been fairly strong for a while in the UK, where the national dish seems to be tikka marsala, it hasn't been the same story here. Maybe with the Indian Premier League nabbing all our cricket players, we could be seeing quite a bit from the Subcontinent for a little while yet.