She was crowned Miss India in 1972, walked the ramp with the likes of Meher Castellino, Persis Khambatta and Phyllis Mendes before she went on to create a successful career for herself as a fashion choreographer and then a grooming expert. Today as her three sons – Siddharth, Aditya and Kunal Roy Kapoor – take over tinsel town, Salome Roy Kapoor continues to be a force to reckon with. What else could explain the demand for her skills as a grooming expert at finishing and fashion institutes across the country.
In the city for the launch of designer James Ferreira’s fashion institute, Salome Roy Kapoor is looking forward to lending her expertise as faculty member at the design school.
Incidentally, Salome is the one who gave James his first assignment as a designer in the fashion industry over 40 years ago.
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Ever since, the two have shared a wonderful professional rapport and it was only natural for James to ask her to come on board when he launched his own institute. “When James asked me to come on board as the grooming expert, there was no way I could refuse. When he called up and told me about what he had planned, it sounded very exciting and here I am,” she says.
Salome, who conducts grooming and etiquette workshops across the country, will have her hands full with teaching at the Deccan Institute of Design. “I’m slated to come to the city four times a year to conduct my classes. That is our initial plan. So it should be quite doable,” says the expert whose course module is usually a mix of dance, drama, personalised grooming and fitness tips.
“It is important to groom oneself from the inside as well as from the outside. For instance, an ill groomed individual can wear the most expensive outfit and make it look like a rag. How one carries oneself matters. Another thing that I will cover during my course here will be etiquette. Things like conversations dos and don’ts, voice modulation, diet and exercise as well,” she explains.
Ask her why it is so important to groom oneself and she says, “It is important because it makes the over all character of a person. It smoothes out the rough edges and makes one more prepared to face a career and society in general.”
The trend of going to a grooming school has always been there but the awareness levels have increased of late, says Salome.
She adds that grooming is for everybody and not just folks in the fashion industry. “I have everyone from teenagers to housewives and working professionals come to me for grooming tips. It deals with different aspects like diet, exercise, conversation skills and analysing one’s positives and negatives. It is important to be able to judge oneself and highlight one’s positives and play down the negatives.”