A small variety of celebrity showstoppers were present for the spring/summer season for the finale of several Indian designers. Within the finales, we saw Aditi Rao Hydari for Payal Singhal, Koyal Rana for Joy Mitra, Sania Mirza for Ritu Pande, Monica Dogra for Kanika Saluja and Arjun Rampal for Rohit Bal. For a long time now, Indian designers have included celebrities in big events such as Wills Lifestyle Indian Fashion Week, because it’s a sort of distraction to have Bollywood celebrities walking on the ramp and even better for the audience. However, having these celebrity showstoppers during these events remains strictly business.
For example, this year for Amazon India Fashion Week, there were an unprecedented number of celebrities who attended, but not necessarily for walking the ramp. The first celebrity that we saw in a show was Sonal Chauhan for Nikhita Tandon, which wasn't until Day 4 of the event. And for the rest of the week, it was more about focusing on the clothes than anything else.
Nikhita Tandon, the only designer who featured a celebrity in her show, stated that she was surprised to be the only one. Because for her, it’s not that important to have a celebrity walking during a show, but for sure it helps to get easily noticed, especially for the new designers and can be very interesting for them.
Showcasing a celebrity within your show is a big choice to make, and sometimes some shows need a celebrity showstopper to gain more attention, depending on the major part of the collection that the designer wants to share.
For some designers, they believe that there is no particular need for a celebrity because their collections are already well known. And obviously, they have to take in account that showstoppers are attractive of course, but they are also very expensive.
For a Grand finale of an event such as Lakme Fashion Week or Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, it can be very interesting and important to have a celebrity in the show. This is because the finale will close the fashion event, so it’s understandable that the designer will want to make a lasting impression somehow, sometimes the sponsor will even ask the designer to do it.
For others, it’s also the fact that showstoppers will not necessarily walk for a show without a particular reason. Often, it’s because it will bring the showstopper a kind of gratification, or because there is a friendship between the designer and the showstopper.
So the real question is, do you think that Indian designers really need celebrity showstoppers during an Indian fashion week?
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