Bollywood Fancy Dress...Ideas!

I'm attending a Bollywood fancy dress party in a few weeks, and have been trying to think of some iconic outfits which I can copy (based on the contents of my wardrobe and what's easy to replicate!)

Here's the top 5 ideas that I've narrowed down to - I'm still deciding on the pros and cons and what I think would work best though.

1. Madhuri in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun
This is nice and easy, a plain green kameez (I'm sure I can find one somewhere), a white skirt (I already have one, although mine has a bit more lace on it!) I'm thinking I may have a harder time finding the jewellery, but anything close enough would work! Personally I'm leaning a bit towards this one because I feel like I can also make it hijab friendly, and it looks pretty simple to copy.

2. Meena Kumari in Pakeezah
This is one of my favourite iconic Bollywood looks, not to mention one of my favourite golden-olden actresses. The key to this look, in my opinion, is the jewellery, it would be fairly easy to weat a simple, plain anarkali suit and jazz it up with jewellery. The half matha-patti would be fairly easy to find as well, as they are quite popular at the moment too. I'm also quite inspired by Dia Mirza's take on this too, although I doubt I'd be able to look as great as she does! If in doubt, otherwise, I can use one of my mum's old dupattas with tinsel along the hem!

3. Madhuri in Devdas
I have a green anarkali which I've always imagined looking like this outfit, it's a similar shade of green and it has a lot of gold work on it, although I'm less keen on this look than the others. I also love the iconic white and red sari worn by the two actresses in this film for the Dola re Dola song, and it would be easy to borrow a sari in these colours, but this idea has already been taken by the fancy dress party's host! Pity, eh?

4. Anything 60's, eyeliner flicks and vintage Bollywood
...like this Asha Parekh look, sari, eyeliner flicks and all, plus some added beehive. Can I also mention that I love Hema Malini back in her heyday? The only downside to this is that there's no one identifiable iconic look, which I would love to go for. Plus side if, all I'd need it a lot of eyeliner, back combing and some tight kameezes!

 

5. Deepika in Om Shanti Om
I think this would be another outfit which would be easy to copy, a hot pink dress (which I have more than one of!) and some beehive hair styling and eyeliner flicks. I think I would also enjoy trying to create this look, and it does allow for some flexibility in terms of jewellery and make-up. I'm not sure how 'famous' or iconic this look is though, or whether it would be instantly recognisable, which is a bit of a drawback.

 

Other ideas are:

• Something from Jodha Akbar, for a Rajasthani look, although this would involve a lot of jewellery
• The black dress worn by Aishwariya in Taal (nice and easy!)
•  The green lachcha worn by Kajol in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (although I'm not keen on the lime green, I'd love to wear a lachcha!)
• Kareena's t-shirt and salwar look in Jab We Met (okay, not really!)
• Madhubala's Anarkali in Mughal-E-Azam, quite possibly one of the most iconic costumes in Bollywood history, although I think this outfit would be hard to copy.

I'm still googling/asking around/brainstorming up ideas at the moment, and will most likely go to the shops for a few ideas as well.

In the meantime - what would you dress up as for an iconic Bollywood fancy dress look?

IN MY WARDROBE: Deepika's 'Om Shanti Om' Hot Pink Dress

I have a dress in wardrobe from a few years back, which wasn't really copied from anything, but still reminds me a lot of the hot pink dress that Deepika wears in her debut movie, Om Shanti Om, as shown below:

I know there's not a lot of similarities,but my version of this dress was an long hot pink anarkali dress with diamante work and stone work along the neckline, under the bust (as an empire-waist style), along the cuffs of the sleeves and as a motif pattern all over the rest of the dress I think that the main thing about it that reminded me of Deepika's dress was the swishy flow of it and the glittering silvery parts, as well as the fitted chiffon sleeves (not to mention the colour!). Not much to go on I know, but I'm a geek like that (and I'm always looking for ways to convince myself that I'm so stylish that I'm actually a secret-walking-Bollywood-wardrobe). But judge for yourselves, here's some pictures below:

 

I think my favourite part of this dress if the long sleeves with fitted cuffs. The dress actually came as a short-sleeved outfit, but I prefer long sleeves with most of my outfits so I got the sleeves taken off and used them as cuffs for the end of the chiffon sleeves I got made. It's a really great trick for outfits with short-sleeves that you may want to change the look of, actually.Despite the fact that I'm not really a fan of pink (especially the commonly seen hot-pink which has been done to death), I actually do like this outfit, it's simple, it flows in a very flattering way, and this way, I get to pretend I'm Deepika ;)

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Om Shanti Om's Retro Style

I know 'Om Shanti Om' has been analysed to death already since it was released a good few years ago, but just wanted to post a few quick pics about the retro style of the outfits in this fulm, and also a few of the traditional ones. This film is one in which Deepika Padukone really shines, and in my personal opinion, I don't think any of her other film has made her look as beautiful as she did in this one. What I loved about the fitted kameezes with small slits and the tight churidar trousers she wears is the bright simple colours which flatter her skin tone, coupled with the 70's style make up and hair which looks great (even with the little touches like the lace sleeves, faux pearls and beehive hair!)

Another outfit I wanted to look at is the pink outfit she wears, which is basically a long-sleeved choli with a lehnga skirt. I like this outfit as it's very feminine and elegant. I also wanted to point this outfit out as I have an outfit very similar to this (which will be posted in more detail later on!)

I also liked this layered, red-and-purple dress, which looks looks quite ball-gowny yet surprisingly pretty in its layers of colours.

The next, more traditional outfit is this gold and velvet black combination, which she modelled for the catwalk ramp shortly after the film's release. I think what I love most about this outfit is the fitted sleeves and hemlines of the dress.

Lastly, this green and black dress also deserves a mention, as I think green is one of those colours that can often go wrong, and in this case it looks lovely as a maxi dress with black work (apologies for the picture quality, it was really difficult trying to get hold of some!)

All images owned by respective directors, producers and photographers of Om Shanti Om

Some lovely outfits here, and justice done to the 70's style here I think!