ऐक्ट्रेस सारा अली खान नवाबी परिवार से ताल्लुक रखती हैं। दो बड़े स्टार्स की बेटी होने के नाते उन्हें बचपन से ही सबकुछ टॉप क्लास मिला है। बावजूद इसके इस अदाकारा को डाउन टू अर्थ रहना पसंद है। इसका एक सबूत उनके कपड़ों के सिलेक्शन में भी नजर आता है। अगर इस बाला के पास लाखों की ड्रेस है, तो ऐसे कपड़े भी हैं, जिनकी कीमत इतनी कम है कि कोई भी उन्हें खरीद सकता है। ऐसा ही एक क्लोदिंग पीस सारा का टॉप है, जो बेहद सस्ता है। लॉकडाउन की स्थिति से पहले सारा को लगभग रोज ही जिम प्लेस पर स्पॉट किया जाता था। इस दौरान उनके कपड़ों की चॉइस कूल ऐंड फंकी होती थी। उनका ऐसा ही एक लुक येलो टॉप और ब्लैक वर्कआउट लेगिंग्स का था, जो सारा को खिला-खिला लुक दे रहा था। सारा ने USPS priority boxy crop पहना था, जिस पर ब्लू ऐंड रेड कलर का प्रिंट था। इसमें हाफ स्लीव्स और राउंड नेकलाइन पैटर्न था, जो उसे वर्कआउट के लिए परफेक्ट बना रहा था। इसका क्रॉप्ड डिजाइन सारा को उनके टोन्ड ऐब्डमन को फ्लॉन्ट करने में मदद कर रहा था। अब बात करें कीमत की, तो आप शायद इस बात से हैरान हो सकते हैं कि सारा जैसी स्टार इतने सस्ते कपड़े भी पहनती है। सारा का यह टॉप अमेरिकी डॉलर में 17.9 की कॉस्ट का था, जो भारतीय मुद्रा में करीब 1,337 रुपये होता है। अब आप ही बताइए, है ना यह सस्ता? इसे तो शायद कॉलेज गोइंग गर्ल्स अपनी पॉकेट मनी से भी ले सकती हैं। अगर खरीदने का मन हो, तो इस टॉप को ऑनलाइन ऑर्डर किया जा सकता है।
साल 1997 में अपने फ़िल्मी करियर की शुरूआत करने वाली बॉलीवुड एक्ट्रेस () ने यूं तो अपने शानदार एक्टिंग से हर किसी के दिल पर राज किया है लेकिन जब बात फैशन या उनके ड्रेसिंगसेंस की आती है तो वह कभी दूसरी एक्ट्रेसेस की तरह जम नहीं पाईं। सिनेमाई पर्दे पर धूम मचाने वाली रानी ने यूं तो ऑन स्क्रीन एक बढ़कर एक ड्रेसेस को पहना लेकिन ऑफ स्क्रीन जब भी बात उनके स्टाइलिंग आई तो हर किसी को निराशा ही हाथ लगी। ऐसा ही हमें तब देखने को मिला जब यह अपने सबसे अच्छे दोस्त करण जौहर के बर्थडे बैश में पहुंचीं। जी हां, साल 2012 में रानी मुखर्जी उस समय सभी की नजरों में चढ़ गईं जब वह अपने दोस्त करण जौहर के बर्थडे बैश में अपनी उपस्थिति दर्ज कराने पहुंचीं। इस पार्टी में जहां बॉलीवुड के एक से बढ़कर एक कलाकार अपने स्टाइलिश अंदाज से हर किसी को मात दे रहे थे वहीं रानी मुखर्जी साटन से कपड़े बनी एक ऐसी ड्रेस पहनकर चली गईं जो गाउन कम नाइटी ज्यादा लग रही थी। जैसे ही रानी ने इस पार्टी में अपने कदम रखे वहां मौजूद सभी लोग उनके इस अवतार को देख सोच में पड़ गए। रानी मुखर्जी के ओवरऑल लुक की बात करें तो उन्होंने इस पार्टी के लिए साटन फैब्रिक से बने V शेप हैंडमेड एम्ब्रोडरी मेटैलिक सिल्वर Shabby लॉन्ग गाउन को पहना हुआ था। जिसकी शेप एकदम हनीमून वाली नाइट मैक्सी की तरह थी। यही नहीं, अपने लुक को कम्पलीट करने के लिए उन्होंने मिनिमल मेकअप के साथ रेड लिप्स कानों में डायमंड इयरिंग्स और मेसी बन से खुद को स्टाइल किया था। जैसे ही पार्टी की तस्वीरें सभी के सामने आने लगी वैसे ही ट्रोलर्स ने उन्हें आड़े हाथ ले लिया। जी हां, रानी मुखर्जी को इस अवतार में देख उनके फैंस बुरी तरह भड़क गए और उन्हें ड्रेसिंग स्टाइल से जुड़ी न जाने क्या-क्या सलाह देने लगे। कुछ लोगों को जहां रानी की यह ड्रेस नाइट मैक्सी की तरह लगी, तो कुछ लोगों के लिए रानी का यह फैशन एकदम समझ से परे था। वैसे अब आप हमें बताएं ऐसे अवतार में रानी को देखकर आपको कैसा लगा?
“I like my money right where I can see it: hanging in my closet” is a quote every Gen X and Millennial fashion fan knows well. Carrie Bradshaw, portrayed in the HBO series Sex and the City by actress Sarah Jessica Parker, famously said it in the Season 6 premiere in 2003.
Almost 20 years later, that line could have just as easily been uttered by The Politician’s Astrid Sloan (played by Bohemian Rhapsody star Lucy Boynton). A Santa Barbara rich high schooler who traded in her glitzy (from the outside) lifestyle for the freedom of living sans trust fund in New York City, Astrid’s collection of electric blue tights, pearl-embellished collars, and animal print faux fur may scream Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) of Gossip Girl, but she channels the spirit of Carrie — spending what money she has on Louis Vuitton boots, Tibi raincoats, and Marc Jacobs coats. “She’s scouring the downtown vintage stores,” the show’s costume designer Claire Parkinson — who says she frequently watched Sex and the City and “loved Carrie Bradshaw’s sensibilities” — says of Astrid. “Although she might not have the money, it was our goal for her to maintain her fashion sensibilities.”
From Season 1 of The Politician to Season 2, a lot has changed. Three years have passed, and the political powerhouses from Saint Sebastian High School have picked up from sunny California and settled East, where Payton Hobart (Ben Platt) is running for Senate in New York. This move makes sense for Astrid. “The one thing that Astrid can control in her life in Season 1 is her clothing, because everything else is out of control,” Parkinson explains. “Then she rebels and goes to New York.”
It’s in New York that viewers start to see an evolution for Astrid. While in Season 1 her looks were fashionable, they were somewhat inconsistent, reflecting her sense of being at times uncertain about her life in California. After briefly running away to New York mid-season 1, she finally gets a taste of freedom — freedom away from money, privilege, and the tragedy that often coincides with both. In Season 2, she finds herself and discovers who she wants to be. “It’s in New York that Astrid realizes that she doesn’t have to be perfect all the time,” Parkinson says. “But she definitely still cares about how she looks — she loves clothing, she loves fashion.”
This results in a new sense of style, with looks ranging from a Louis Vuitton monogram motorcycle jacket paired with a hot pink & Other Stories turtleneck to a feathered Ganni mini dress styled with LF Jewels heart-shaped earrings. And whether she’s having a threesome with Payton and Alice (Julia Schlaepfer), working behind Payton’s back for the enemy, or realizing what she is and isn’t ready for, that absolute sense of self is now apparent. Like Bradshaw, she’s confident, resilient, and, of course, always dressed for the occasion.
The two also share a knack for effortlessly styling their respective looks. In many a Sex and the City episode, Carrie’s seen grabbing a slip dress from her hallway-sized closet, throwing on that fur coat, and slipping into a pair of (likely jewel-toned) Manolo pumps before dashing out the door to hail a cab. Never is she worried about what people might think of her, say, wearing a cropped tube top with a belt tied around her abs, paired with a tutu. On anyone else, a look of that level would be gaudy. On Carrie, “it’s Vogue.” Same goes for Astrid. “It’s almost like she just has that edge where she can find anything and make it fabulous,” Parkinson says. “Getting ready, she’ll find a random top, throw on her over the knee boots, and be like, Awesome, and walk out the door like, I’m ready to conquer the world.”
But, as a Gen Zer to Carrie’s Gen X, or even Blair’s Gen Y, Astrid doesn’t source inspiration from copies of Vogue. Instead, she’s on Instagram, blowing through saved folders filled with Fashion Week men’s street style, grainy shots of Françoise Hardy — a personal style icon for Boynton — and off-duty pictures of Alexa Chung. “She’s on her phone all the time, scrolling through her Instagram and being like, ‘Holy shit, did you see that look that so and so wore to a Paris show? I need to get something like that,’” Parkinson says.
Speaking of Boynton — who’s known to stun on red carpets in Celine, Erdem, Gucci, and Rodarte — she was heavily involved in her character’s wardrobe, especially as it pertained to Astrid’s development in Season 2. “It’s a true collaboration,” Parkinson says. “There’s definitely pieces of Lucy — of her personal style — that go into the Astrid world” The very Gossip Girl-like tights? Those were actually inspired by Boynton. “She’s from England, so she’s always the girl wearing the tights,” Parkinson says.
Where Astrid Sloan and Carrie Bradshaw are different: Astrid has a sense of certainty in herself from a young age; she doesn’t need a partner to get what she wants in life. Like her fellow Gen Zers, Astrid is also committed to saving the planet, fighting for equality for all, and demanding to remove the stigma of abortion. While her style is just as eclectic, effortless, and daring as Carrie’s, it takes on a new significance on a character like Astrid, who is unapologetically confident in her choices.
This much is clear in Astrid’s last scene of Season 2. Sitting alongside Alice at the women’s clinic waiting to get an abortion, Astrid appears in a purple jumper and heart-shaped earrings, her aforementioned Marc Jacobs leopard print faux fur coat resting on her lap. “I don’t want kids,” she says to Alice, who responds, “You don’t know that.” “I do,” Astrid says. “I don’t care anymore if people think that makes me less of a woman, I know it doesn’t.”
“When I walk out of here, it’s going to be on the path that I want,” she says. And there, despite what’s about to happen next, she looks ready to tackle anything, no matter the odds. Even better, she’ll tackle it in straight-off-the-runway Louis Vuitton.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
Designers do a lot to keep our attention — especially when it comes to dresses. They channeled 18th-century style with prairie dresses, ventured into the lingerie realm with slip dresses, and went rogue designing dresses with quirky, asymmetric hemlines. Animal prints of all kinds were added, not to mention neon, floral, and plaid. From the looks of it, there really is no end to the lengths they'll go to keep us adding dresses of every variation to our wardrobe.
Now that summer is finally here, our favorite dress designers are back at it, revamping that beloved clothing item with a fresh, new spin. But out of all the new dress trends on the market, one is, by far, the fairest of them all: poofy dresses. And we're completely smitten with dresses of the super-sized variety.
From Cecilie Bahnsen's billowing baby dolls to Tigre et Tigre's shapeless (in a good way) frocks, here are 20 poofy dresses to add to your warm-weather wardrobe.
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Vero Moda Curve Curve Midi Wrap Dress With Puff Sleeves, $, available at ASOS
The Source Unknown Animal Print Dress, Russian Green, $, available at The Source Unknown— PAID —
A floral princess dress: great. A floral princess dress made from sustainable fibers: even greater.
