Very few Bollywood fashion designers have managed to carve a niche with their creative designs and land up with a plum Hollywood film offer for styling a film’s look, that too for the entire star-cast. Renowned and seasoned costume designer Bhanu Athaiya bagged the bald statuette for Best Costume Design in Richard Attenborough’s biopic Gandhi and made India proud.
Grapevine is abuzz that Bollywood fashion designer- celebrity stylist- makeover consultant Umair Zafar has been pencilled in and almost finalized for a big budget Hollywood film which will be shot in Lucknow and Jaipur from January 2014.
Obsessed with an old-world charm, Umair Zafar often attempts to recreate that certain ‘ magic’ through his garments. His fashion style is best described as super- feminine and classic are an extension of flogging the Indian heritage at its pinnacle.
Detailing and fabrics have always played a huge role in his collections. Exquisite quality of embroideries, exotic embellishments put together on rich fabrics such as Swiss tulle, French lace, Italian chiffon and Indian silks make for beautiful garments. Somehow Zafar’s creations have always highlighted the Indian-ness that appeal to every woman.
When quizzed about his hushed door meetings with the Hollywood production team at a local 5-star hotel and he being finalized for the venture, Umair Zafar bemusedly replies, “Indian fashion is culturally rich and offers magnanimous variations. It’s ironical that we as Bollywood film designers have to blend them with Western inspirations and give the costumes a filmi touch. Having had a close affinity to Lucknowi tehzeeb and the local imperial heritage, I was floored when I was offered this Hollywood venture.”
Apparently it is said that the Hollywood venture would have some Bollywood actors too but the main pivotal roles are being played by some known Hollywood actors. Since the film is a biopic set in the pre-independence, the onus on the costume designer and Creative Style consultant is enormous. Umair was non-committal and maintained a stiff upper lip in divulging further details about the project. He summed up with a, “Working with a Hollywood team is an honour for the pure fact that it takes us Indian fashion designers on a higher pedestal. You will have to wait for official announcements to be made by the studio.”
India is a big spot on the global fashion map and for someone like a talented and down-to-earth fashion designer like Umair Zafar making it big in Hollywood deserves a round of applause.
Umair Zafar is a Celebrity stylist, Fashion designer, image consultant and versatile consultant in the fashion business believes that fashion trends and designs should translate at an affordable price. His vision is to make style comfortable and affordable. His venture into the commercial market has been enduring. The designer is known for consultation of and with various brand building projects and customised outfits.
In 2012, Umair made shopping easy for his followers as he launched his online shopping portal to offer his designer collection with affordable pricing, which includes Indian & western collection.
His designs are available on ebay, SBI smart card, HDFC, Junglee , Niketes etc. The designer handles different clients from the glam and fashion world including Padmani Kolhapuri, Tejaswani, Geeta Basra, Rituperna Sen Gupta, Sayali Bhagat, Nisha Kothari,Yukta Mukhi, Nandana Sen, Aditi Sharma, Shilpi Sharma, Claudia Ciesla, Reshmi Ghosh, Deepshikha Nagpal, Anushka Shetty, Gauhar Khan, Rajkumar Yadav ( Kai Poche ), Divyanshu ( Pyar Ka Punchnama ), Sawara Bhaskar (Tannu Weds Mannu), Pakistani Actress-Meera Ali, Singer Mamta Sharma, Rahul Roy, Kiran Kumar, Raj Kumar Yadav, Shahbaaz khan and his fantastic list of small screen celebs goes on.
USP of Umair Zafar’s collection- Umair creates trendy & international look, with an amalgamation of western & Indian colour palette with a minimal embellishments, Indian body type is always into consideration while designing his collection.
