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Stumbling on style

Shobhaa De has moved on from writing to designing with her line Serendipity. NANDINI NAIR checks out the socialite's new avatar

PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

IT'S A NEW DE Shobhaa De in one of her self-designed outfits

She has done it all. Walked the ramp, written sizzling fiction, held forth on marriage... Now Shobhaa De is turning a fashion designer of sorts. A new fashion line, Serendipity, has been put together by a bunch of designers based on De's ideas.

Showcasing the line recently, she asserted: "Indian textures and textiles need to be revived in a contemporary way." The line is characteristic De style: bold. Tops with plunging necklines are paired with casually draped saris in muted shades. Kurtas and dresses come in diaphanous material. The dresses are girly without being childish.

The men's line comes with pink stripes, bold prints and embroidery. A bit too loud for comfort.

Are these meant for the metrosexual male? De offers her own definition of the metrosexual male: "A metro person is a professional who cannot be obsessed with appearances due to lack of time." She states the principle behind her personal style and her collection: "People should be able to get in and out of it in 10 minutes." Playing with a cookie-sized ring, she adds: "Clothes have to reflect contemporary needs."

Forever willing to offer comments on anything, "an overdose" is how she would describe the recent Wills India Lifestyle Fashion Week. At WIFW, fashion ceased to be about commerce and trade, she says. "The spring-summer collection had nothing spring-summer about it," she offers, looking at herself in the mirror.

Youth today

She then moves on to drop a few comments on the sexual mores of the day. De feels that even today our media and society treat sex like a taboo. "The strong reaction to Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna is an indicator that we have not grown up. The moral outrage from your generation to the Rani-Shah Rukh hotel scene shows that we are yet to mature in our reactions."

Mother of six children and author of Speedpost, De clearly has strong opinions on the youth. Jennifer Lopez, she once wrote, is an icon for today's 20-somethings. "Hot, successful, surrounded by men, a compulsive attention getter and hugely rich." These traits of JLo are aspirations of today's generation, she states.

And she signs off with an explanation for why her line is called Serendipity: "Because I like the word. Because people didn't expect me to do this. Because it means stumbling across something wonderful."

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