RUFFLED FEATHERS AND STUNNING SAREES
Feroze Gujral

Six days of sneaking backstage has made me into some sort of an addict – I get withdrawal symptoms even if I am delayed by a few minutes. I must tell that going backstage as a part of the catwalkers is one thing and going there as an observer, another. No points for guessing which one is my current favourite!

I meandered backstage just as my favourite designer duo Mona-Pali were getting their act together. The girls were in the middle of make-up and the normally calm Cory, Lakme’s make-up expert, had his feathers ruffled for a change. Cory was having trouble stringing feathers into the models heads. He decided to let the feathers be and complete the make-up. Mona-Pali had decided with Cory that the look should be unlike anything they had ever done before. Since the makeup for Mona-Pali’s shows has always been sober and subtle, he decided to go wild with shades to compliment the vibrant outfits by the designer duo.

Cory played around with lots of colours on the models’ faces, starting with turquoise blue on the eyelids and bright pink under the eyes. He then filled the lips with an electric pink. With so much colour thrown in already, he decided to spare the cheeks and leave them a subtle shade of pink. The make-up done, he got back to the feathers, and with his band of assistants strung blue and pink feathers through the models’ hair.

The girls then rushed in to the dressing room to change into the exquisite creations of Mona-Pali. As the clothes were mostly ethnic, the girls were having some trouble with them, especially where pleating sarees was concerned. Shivani Kapur, the latest Lakme face, was bewildered, having never worn a saree before, and heaved a huge sigh of relief when she didn’t eventually have to wear one. The salt-n-pepper haired Mona with Pali were like a couple of dynamos with more energy at their advanced age than most of the models put together. At the end of it all, the swotting and cold sweat was worth it. The models looked gorgeous. But the backstage manager had a different perspective to it – which left everybody in splits: not having had a single meal in the day, she was a victim of hunger pangs and kept thinking of them as colourful burfis!

The models, in the meantime, were being constantly reminded by Lubna Adams, the choreographer of the show, to line up for entry on the ramp. Since the last show for the day was with a different group of models, work was underway in the other make-up room to get them ready. Ambika Pillai and her team were getting the next batch of exhausted girls ready for the Raghavendra Rathore show. Ambika decided to give the girls a ‘Greta Garbo meets ’40s Indian maharani’ look with glistening eye shadow and maroon lips. The hair was curled into chignons and decorated with silver beaded ‘Amprapali’ head gear.

Meanwhile, the event management team was putting pressure to get the show moving at the earliest. Vidyun Singh, the choreographer, also got into the fray by dispensing last minute instructions to the models. The tension slowly started to spiral backstage and when Raghu, one of the calmest designers on Earth, started to get flustered when the accessories could not be found, I took that as a cue for my exit… until the next time.