For one brief moment before she stepped on to the red carpet, a little nagging voice at the back of my head asked, would Freida Pinto do a sari for the Oscars? Or would she use her newfound clout to have Valentino or Ellie Saab or her favorite Oscar de la Renta interpret the sari for her Oscar moment? Or would she use the occasion to showcase an Indian fashion designer, whether in an Indian dress or a Western one?
Freida, of course, chose John Galliano’s royal blue one-shoulder beaded confection – paired with her 1000-carat smile – and I think she looked absolutely lovely. Would she have looked less lovely in an Indian outfit? With that exquisite face and that dazzler of a smile, she would look gorgeous even in slumrags.
But that’s hardly the point. You are what you wear, and Freida is carefully packaging herself for a global audience. Given the choice between being a Bollywood sweetie (which an Indian outfit/Indian designer would have achieved) or striding the global stage in a Galliano gown, she has wisely plumped for the latter. Freida and her dress are being discussed in the same breath as Kate Winslet’s elegant grey YSL dress, Anne Hathaway’s shimmering Armani Prive gown, Sarah Jessica Parker’s white Dior scoop-em-up number, Marisa Tomei’s elaborate Versace creation. In marketing speak, Freida has “positioned” herself alongside Oscar-worthy actresses and Hollywood fashionistas in one fell swoop.
She is now rubbing her fine-boned shoulders with Hollywood’s best dressed. Only ten lucky ladies make Time.com’s “The Best Oscar Dresses” and Freida is right there with “kudos for going fashion forward with the lace sleeve and electric color of this dress”. (On the flip side, the dress has been criticized by some - the Guardian for example called it boring - but at least she is in good company, the Guardian had similar views about Angelina Jolie's black strapless Ellie Saab. Better to be discussed than ignored.)
Notwithstanding that, her sartorial choices have been applauded by the international fashion police in a big way. Even before the Oscar night, Freida’s glamour gear for the pre-Oscar parties had her picked by Vogue.com's Ten Best Dressed three weeks in a row. She topped the week of 02.02.09 with her the Donna Karan salmon pink gown that she wore to the Producer’s Guild Awards. She made number three the following week with her silver grey Zac Posen dress which she wore to the Director’s Guild of America Awards. And this week she is at number two with her Chanel black dress that she wore to the Elle Style Awards.
Real life seems to be imitating reel life. Slumdog Millionnaire has hit the Oscar jackpot and captured the global imagination, and with it our Mumbai girl - and her designer frocks - have catapulted her on the world stage. I wonder what else "is written"? Will she be clutching a real Oscar in the future?
PS: This is big in the fashion world: Freida's blue gown just got her into fashion bible Vogue's Ten Best Dressed: Special Edition for the Academy Awards. The others in that list: Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Beil, Tina Fey, Marion Cotillard, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, Penelope Cruz, and Angelina Jolie. Check it out at http://www.style.com/vogue/bestdressed/022409/.
And her make up is highlighted in Vogue's Beauty Roundup for the Oscars, http://www.style.com/beauty/beautycounter/2009/02/oscars-beauty-roundup/
Photo courtesy: Vogue.com, http://www.style.com/beauty/beautycounter/2009/02/oscars-beauty-roundup/
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