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Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

Height of fashion Wardrobe malfunctions are usually pure accidents

The word wardrobe malfunction gained global approval with Janet Jackson’s faux pas about four years ago. The world kept guessing whether it was a publicity gimmick or just an accident. The television folks were delighted at it all and more and more people got to know what exactly ‘wardrobe malfunction’ was, so much so that people were quite disappointed when the wardrobe functioned according to plan! India had its share of excitement two years ago when at the same show, a model found herself holding on to the clothes she was modelling, instead of wearing them, right on the ramp.

History repeated itself Friday last when at the same show, a foreign model showing designer Rajesh Pratap Singh’s clothes found herself a victim of wardrobe malfunction. The billion dollar question is, is this a ploy to get publicity?

“No, no, of course not,” asserts model-turned actor Swetha Menon, who is hundred per cent sure that it is an accident.

“It does happen to every model at times. When you walk on the ramp, with the music, attitude and the rhythm, you won’t even know, that it happens, sometimes. Why, it happens at a wedding at times, when the pallu comes off, doesn’t it? When I started out modelling, it happened to me twice. The first time was at Ooty, when I was doing the show with the likes of Meher Jessia during the mid-nineties. They were animal print jackets of Ashish Soni. During the rehearsal, I wore the jackets over sweaters as it was very cold. During the show, I wore the jacket outdoors and the fit was not okay, I guess, in the cold, your body tends to shrink. It came off a bit and I didn’t even realise it, can you believe it? Everyone was clapping like mad and I thought I was wonderful. Nobody told me either when I came off the ramp. When I saw the photos, I had tears in my eyes. The jacket had a V neck, something like the dress this model had on Friday. This type of neck cut is very dangerous if it doesn’t fit well,” says Swetha.

The second time it was for a students’ show (NIFT) when Swetha wore a skirt. She sensed that the skirt was loose and wanted to wear something else underneath, but the student started crying because that was not part of her design. Well, on the runway, the skirt fell down. Swetha simply picked it up and walked away, across the ramp. Of course the tights were there, but it looks like skin, you know. “In those 45 seconds, you don’t know what happens, it is cruel to call it planned,” believes this actor-model.

Fashion designer Hari Anand thinks too much is read into wardrobe malfunctioning. If the shoes come off and the model carries them away, that is also wardrobe malfunction, but nobody pays attention to it. Having the top come down is also like that, he says, a mere accident. “But these accidents can be avoided if trial fittings are meticulously done. Usually models come down just for a day and there is no time for proper trial fittings. Lack of proper backstage management is the main reason for wardrobe malfunctioning,” feels Hari.

“Any publicity is good publicity in this business,” says Shalini James of Mantra. “The hype factor is crucial in this business. It is a fact that rarely does the content of the work count as much as the hype that surrounds it.” Shalini wonders about the direct correlation between the hype and the sale of the entire collection.

But she sounds a note of caution, “In this industry things like these are bound to happen, like accidents. Nobody plans them these things just happen. And Rajesh Pratap is a good designer he really does not need to pull stunts such as these for his collection to sell.”

Maria Babu, a designer adds, “During events like these the backstage is chaotic and it is perfectly normal for things such as these to happen. But in the Indian context one has to be cautious because such things are not taken too well.” But given the proclivity of the media to lap it up and tom tom anything that smells of a controversy, one has to be careful what is put up there on the stage. “The designer has to be careful about the fittings…the whole deal before a show,” says Maria.

One of the bigger fashion shows in the country, which the whole fashion frat waits for every year, now seems incomplete without some malfunctioning, whether it is wardrobe or design, or designed malfunctioning.

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