Colour me red
Ambika Pillai has earned and held onto the reputation of being one of the countrys best make-up artists for almost three decades. Her understanding of beauty goes beyond current fads and instead, explores the context of the beauty world and its evolution. Crowned Best Make Up Artist by Vogue, and awardee of Bharat Nirman Super Achievers Award, Ambika Pillai, forecasts the make-up trends for this season and tips on how to recreate them 1. Au Naturel Enhance your features with a minimal look that will leave you looking fresh and radiant. Add a hint of colour on the cheeks and complement it with subtle contouring to amplify the dimension of your face. Fresh and clean eyes with a hint of colour to the lips will guarantee a look of understated elegance. 2. Colour Craze Add a splash of colour with shades of bright berry, pink or fuchsia on the lips or a bright blue eyeliner for the eyes. For a statement look, wear a touch of vivid green eyeshadow on either the upper lid or the outer corner of the eye. 3.Give me wings From Twiggys signature hooded look to Monroes classic wing, the eyeliner has singlehandedly created memorable looks through periods of history. This season, wear a dramatic eyeliner and pair it with a soft and neutral colour on the lips. 4.In the Pink Think pink this season by adding a bright shade on the cheeks for a fantastic flush of colour. The versatility of this colour that ranges from a dusty pink pastel to its shade that borders on coral, pink will illuminate the face instantly. 5.Lash Out With generous use of mascara, create an exotic frame for the eyes with luscious lashes. Go a step further and experiment with a variety of mascaras and subtle false lashes. 6. Lady in Red For time immemorial, the red lipstick has been the savior of many looks. Take this age-old hack a step ahead by pairing luminous skin with a bright matte lipstick in the shade of brick red, fuchsia, orange, dark cherry or the classic scarlet.
Hair Trends with Ambika Pillai
Today, its all about embracing individuality. Be it Fenty Beautys revolutionary range of foundations or Gisous unexpectedly real campaign, the industry has changed its direction from overdoing it and moved towards keeping it natural. This season is about looking natural, with lots of texture a balance between looking tousled but gorgeous, says leading hair stylist Ambika Pillai. The most sought after hair stylist in the country, on the trends to look out for this season, and how to create them: 1.Beach waves Tousled curls, now also knows as beach waves are having a moment. Create an illusion of messy hair with soft curls that will add an element of effortless beauty. 2.Mane mania Take the plait a step ahead by creating an elegant fish tail. Tease the fishtail for a messy look and casually drape the plait over one shoulder. This look can be carried through a day of work into a night out, the messier the better! 3.Pin it up Go the extra mile by applying heat and crimping the strands to add beautiful texture. Pin it up with hair clips into a soft bun. This easy to achieve look goes a long way! 4.The big blowout For those with shorter lengths apply product and blast dry your hair to achieve an untamed look within minutes. This technique will assure a windswept look within seconds, giving your tresses a wild and raw appearance.
A different mirror
Fighting colourism world over, black models have emerged victorious a bit like this Brazilian beauty Marcella Jackie, a first timer at LMIFW19 By Asmita Aggarwal Even till today on the runways they exist in single digits and beauty companies only now have woken up and looked at launching products that work for their skin tones and kinky hair. Marcella Jackie is black, beautiful and articulate, despite English not being her first language, she expresses herself with candour. It was a brave move to come to a country where half the population still longs for fairness and dark-skin is considered a taboo. My parents were a little worried, but I took a risk. I am the only child so it took a lot of convincing and they are really supportive. They knew it was my dream to model internationally. To make sure they know I am safe, I speak to them everyday, this summer I am headed home, she confesses. From the picturesque Fortaleza, Brazil, Marcella began modelling with friends at the age of 18, and just last year signed on with an agency. I am a vegetarian, so unlike Brazil, India is heaven for me. There are so many choices for non-meat eaters here, she smiles. There are two things that motivated the young model to step into unknown territory—- yoga, which she is a devotee of, and spirituality which she believes is the only way to approach life and what curveballs it throws in your direction. My moms wish was that I hone my yoga skills and maybe go back and teach her too. But there is much more than that I discovered in India. Almost 20 different languages people speak here, which are region-specific and it is the second biggest country that speaks English, she laughs. Marcella, 21, was studying journalism in Brazil and worked for a fashion magazine before she came here last year in September. Covering fashion shows, she discovered what makes Brazil unique is there are all kinds of girls who walk—red heads, blondes, brunettes and even black, making it multi-racial. My father is black and my mom is Brazilian and I never thought I will get any work here, but I was in for a surprise, she says. Travelling has been a passion and being a journalist reading and writing have remained her soulmates which she hopes to pursue once she gives up the spotlight. Maybe one day I can start my own brand, cosmetics is my interest area as there arent enough for black girls as our skin and hair is different from white girls. I want to create a specific line so that backstage girls like me dont have to struggle to get the right foundation. Jewellery designing using alternative materials is another area I would like to explore, she admits. The Indian runways have recently seen an influx of Brazilian models, a far shot from Eastern European women who were the flavour of the season a few years ago. It is not easy being a black model, some of the girls who had earlier worked in India had warned me about prejudices, though I havent faced anything as yet. If you look at history, black girls have faced discrimination not just in modelling, but every profession, but they fought back. I admire Victorias Secret model Jasmine Tookes, though whether it was Naomi Campbell or Jourdan Dunn (the first black model to walk for Prada) they both made a place in fashion, she adds, adding, Dunn was a young mother and everyone told her she wont make it as there is no place for moms on the catwalk. She proved them wrong.
Princess of Tides
There is more to Brazil than soccer, carnivals, Gisele Bundchen, stunning coastlines and Christ the Redeemer…. meet Radylla, who gave up her white nursing coat for designer tunics and turned into an India lover and intrepid traveller By Asmita Aggarwal She has graced the covers of Swimsuit Illustrated, and is a Victorias secret angel, Brazilian bombshell Lais Ribeiro, is the perfect inspiration for Radylla. From the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, situated in Brazil’s north-eastern tip, it is where Radylla discovered her love for the sun, sea and sand. The seed and fervent wish to travel made her abandon the safe environs and come to India last year. I always had my biggest motivators, my parents. They believed in my dreams and supported me in everything. I remember the day I spent the night in the street, with other girls who were also aspiring models, to participate in a modelling contest that took place in my city. It was heart breaking that I couldnt qualify, says the 23-year-old. This is her first trip as a model outside home and what made the nurse-turned-model give up the white robes was the archlights of the ramp. I was unhappy because my dream was to be a model and the first opportunity I got to change my life I grabbed it. I consider myself very strong— I came to a culturally different country, without knowing how to speak English and I learnt to live alone. I am very happy to be here, and I am not going back, India is my home, she laughs. After rejection, she did learn that to be a model, besides being beautiful, you must possess a positive attitude and believe in your potential. I come from a broken home, my parents separated when I was young, so I kept shuttling between the two different homes my parents stayed in. I have only one brother and he is the love of my life. We are very close and we have never stayed so far away; this is one of my biggest regret that I cant see him everyday, explains the first-time model at LMIFW’19. What remains synonymous with India and Brazil, is the simplicity of thought that people share, even though the food is too spicy for her getting around has become easier after a friend taught her a few key words of Hindi. I was spotted by an agent in Brazil and he asked me if I was willing to travel. Initially I was hesitant, but my fears soon faded when I was flooded with work here from catalogues to ramp requests, she admits. Coming from a city known for its vibrant nightlife, beaches that caress the Atlantic coast, clear blue waters, Radylla wants more people to know about what she calls home. I want to open a tourism company after I retire. I identify myself as someone who would like to show the world what the real Brazil is all about. Now that I have lived away from home, I value my city more, I want everyone to see how beautiful it is— a charming island, brimming with beautiful beaches, she concludes.
Silent Spring
Practising Ahimsa, or non-violence Eri silk became the leitmotif for a Telugu from Hyderabad, Jyoti Reddy, who travelled to the North-East and revived the lost art of caring By Asmita Aggarwal The chances of meeting a Reddy in Assam are more than bleak, but Jyoti not only climbed the hills, literally and metaphorically, but also elevated the living standards of the indigenous tribes there, employing almost 250 languishing artisans. Ereena by Jyoti is a five-year-old brand and works with only sustainable eri silk, which is made through a non-violent process. Here the silkworm is not killed, as the cocoons are open-ended. Almost 17 years ago Jyotis quest for an intelligent fabric took her to Assam, where she met a textile technologist, who told her that we dont need to create one, as Eri silk already exists. What lacks is the awareness. Few know that Eri possesses the softness of cotton, warmth of wool and the sheen of silk. It is also isothermal (warm in winter and cool in summer) and it is this versatility that Jyoti hoped to celebrate. A post-graduate in business studies from Cincinnati, US, she converted a cottage industry making Eri silk, 50 km off Guwahati, into a factory that today employs almost 250 artisans, primarily women, who earlier had looms at home and were not being able to make ends meet. The locals there consider Eri sacred, as it is pure, made with no chemicals thats why Buddhist monks in Nepal and Bhutan wore this, says Jyoti. The designer wanted innovation to be a part of the making of Eri, so where earlier only 5 metres of fabric was attained out of 1 kg of yarn, now 25 metres is produced, organically. Jyoti has worked on different concepts and surface textures —- tie and dye, printing, Bagru, block prints and natural dyes, Ikkat as well as Jamdani. The story behind the name Eri comes from the fact that the silkworm eats castor plant. In the local language Eri is called Eranda or Endi, so probably the name is a derivative from a Sanskrit word, she adds. The idea was not just to make silk, but create a lasting social impact, by training families in the North-East and building an industry. It was almost 30 years ago that I got interested in textiles, but marriage took me to the US, and I had two babies to look after, so it became impossible to work. My interest in art and textiles grew so I would visit trade shows, and there I met a technologist in Frankfurt, who told me the world today doesnt need any fabric, but a thinking one, so my quest began, she smiles. She did find what she was looking for and till today carries samples in her bag as she confesses that all what she learnt in three decades, is through back breaking field work. Dilip Baruah, my partner invited me to look at Eri and then as they proverbially say, there was no looking back 17 years ago, she admits. What Jyoti had done is added value to the yarn, by introducing 64 shades in natural dyes of Eri silk and combining various techniques (Ikkat and Jamdani). Sustainability doesnt need to be dowdy and boring as well as predictable, it can be glamorous and fashion-forward too, she says, adding, My aim is to get young people thinking about the idea of constant consumption and how it is damaging the environment. Having said this I dont think the world can be fully sustainable, but we can urge millennials to make socially responsible choices. The economics major, who grew up in Mumbai, Jyoti admits that her grandson is her inspiration for the latest natural dyes collection. Sustainable is anything that is recycled, reusable and you dont waste raw materials; the goal should be not to create anymore waste. Young people want to wear new things to be popular on social media, it is a race to the finish line. But I tell them be creative and learn how to effectively mix and match rather than buy endlessly, she explains. It is this need to be responsible that won her an invitation to show at the Salvatore Ferragamo museum in Florence, her natural dye Eri silk collection, will be a part of a curation from all over the world. The sad part is that internationally I have got more recognition, but my Eri ikat silk saris have made quite a splash domestically that I sell through the Crafts Council. And I dont get tired of explaining why my saris are expensive when buyers quiz me. I have understood that it is part of the job, she laughs.