The paparazzi delights in pursuing celebrity baby bumps. Remember their constant updates on the Duchess of Cambridge’s maternity looks? Thanks to their blow-by-blow account, her immaculate appearance in a cheery yellow Jenny Packham floral dress, a few hours after delivering her second child, remains etched in our style conscience.
Who can also forget Kim Kardashian’s outrageous sheer gown, revealing her baby belly at the Givenchy Spring/Summer 2016 show, or actor Keira Knightley dressing her bump in a tiered white Chanel gown at the Golden Globes last year?
Bump culture has never been out of style for celebrities in the West. Most of them show it off with pride on red carpets and at premiere events, though never in voluminous or tent dresses. Maternity wear today is all about showing off curves or the lack of it, in couture creations!
Back home, actors and models have always shied away from being caught in their mom-to-be avatars. Not anymore.
Guess what was the biggest takeaway from Day Two of the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2016 — supermodel Carol Gracias walking the ramp with a baby bump, the first of its kind on an Indian runway. The showstopper for master-revivalist Gaurang Shah’s Calico line that’s a throwback to the 1920s in its styling, motifs and colours, Carol brought in the 21st Century feel by breaking stereotypes and becoming the toast of the online world.
Looking radiant in a green-and-pink khadi jamdani sari and jacket-styled blouse, she catwalked as gracefully as she is known to and set a new trend. She completed the look with her hair in a bun, decorated with flowers.
The top-notch model, who is expecting her first baby with French journalist-husband Samuel Ziza, also broke the contemporary convention of posing in a maternity gown or dress. A sari could look gorgeous too!
“Oh, please, we were not planning to create a record,” says Gaurang Shah, who is amused by the overwhelming response to Carol’s act. “I am definitely delighted because I have always designed keeping the real woman in mind. And this has reiterated that,” says the celebrated designer, who just wrapped up a hectic fashion schedule.
“Carol has been a staple at my shows for LFW. Though she did not figure in the list of models that I was given by Lakme this year, I made it a point to include her. When she was approached a month ago, we didn’t know she was pregnant. We discovered it at the fitting session three days before the show,” he laughs.
When his stylist informed him about it, Gaurang’s first reaction was, “So what”? “Carol was fine with catwalking. So we decided to go ahead.”
Initially, he thought of dressing her in a comfortable gown.
“But my choreographer Lubna Adams felt Carol would look better in a sari. She beautifully carried both my design theme and her bump. Since I was backstage, I couldn’t fathom the excitement that her appearance generated. It was only at the press conference later that I realised how Calico and Carol threaded the past and the now.”
