Romper suits were a huge baby fashion sensation in 1984. Trendy moms all over the world wanted their tots to be kitted out in what the two-year-old Prince William was wearing for his very first media appearance in the U.K.
Cut to 2015. The prince is married and a father of two, and what do you know, those rompers (now more commonly known as ‘onesies’) are back in fashion. His two-year-old son Prince George was photographed wearing his father’s baby blue suit in June this year, for his great grandmother Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday, instantly sparking off a romper revival.
The large number of websites devoted to George and his fashion-astute mom (Duchess of Cambridge) Catherine Middleton’s choice of clothes for him shows us that when it comes to celebrity children, we all have our ‘awww’ moment.
In the U.S., President Barack Obama is not the only one whose every move is being watched since he assumed office in 2009. The gowns worn by First Lady Michelle, and the sartorial choices of their teenaged daughters, Sasha and Malia, are dissected religiously by fashion magazines.
We in India may have a shortage of adulation-worthy children of royal or political parentage, but we do make up for the shortfall with our film stars.
From milk baths for life-size cut-outs to marriage proposals written in blood, film fandom clearly has no full stops in India. But of late, there have been signs that the old-style star and fan relationship, moderated by the steely eye of the public relations officer, is on its last leg, if not completely dead.
Social media has liberated the star from his or her PRO and cleared the way for more hands-on, less politically correct information. And with it has come a niche genre: coverage of star children.
Most of it is pretty kosher: pictures from the baby album uploaded by doting moms and dads like those of Riaan Deshmukh (son of Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh), Imara Khan (daughter of Imran Khan and Avantika), AbRam Khan (younger son of Shah Rukh Khan) and Aaradhya (daughter of Abhishek and Aishwarya Bachchan) and so on.
But the tweens and teenagers of Bollywood prefer to generate their own pictures.
Thousands follow the antics of, among others, Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan, Saif Ali Khan’s son Ibrahim, Sridevi’s daughters Jhanvi and Khushi, Anurag Kashyap’s daughter Aaliyah, Amitabh’s granddaughter Navya Naveli Nanda and Pooja Bedi’s daughter Aalia Ebrahim online.
Pictures of these fashion-forward kids at their school parties, travels, or dress trials have become important enough to be featured as news items by leading media houses.
The posturing of the selfie generation plays out in many ways. There is a subtle power of suggestion that these good-looking youngsters, some who often strike very adult poses in revealing clothes, will eventually go on to take up a career in Bollywood. For the fans, who are usually adolescents themselves, the seemingly glamorous lives and attractive looks of their idols can create deep dissatisfaction with what they have.
The limited visibility of southern Indian film celebrity kids in social media shows that this could be a ‘Made in Bollywood’ trend, for now.
Hype creators will have to keep their eyes wide open.
