Anaita Shroff Adajania charmed a full house at Pala at ITC Sonar at a recent event titled ‘Meet the first lady of fashion — Anaita Shroff Adajania’ organised by ICC Young Leaders Forum. Moderated by Mudit Beriwal, YLF chairperson, the talk session was inspirational, informative and a laugh riot as Anaita charmed everyone with her filter-less answers. Excerpts.
From school to a stylist:
School was a school which was very very high on co-curricular activities like we learnt cooking, the girls learn electronics, the boys candle-making, stitching, everything, like there was no gender bias growing up. And in fact we had a talent competition and my best friend and I chose fashion design knowing nothing about it I promise you. We literally had a scissor and knots and we made like Yin-Yang outfits and we won the first prize. But after that there was nowhere to go, right? The only option in India was to become a designer and I always felt that I lacked the original thought that designers have. I think they’re extremely talented and I don’t think I have even an ounce of what they do. And I kept thinking of what it could be that I would do which does not need me to be trained as an absolute technical designer.... Unconsciously over the years you know I kept tearing things out of Vogue, and making folders for absolutely no apparent reason. Now I know that it was a foundation to something that didn’t exist.
So I was very fortunate. I started styling people. My youngest sister was my biggest guinea pig, poor thing, from cutting her hair to doing her make-up, she really had (to bear) the most of it,” said Anaita. It was followed by an internship with an international magazine that came to India as a junior fashion editor and gradually being the fashion director. “My love for styling just grew and I am proud to say that it’s now a very valid career option to many many people,” she added.
Being a part of DDLJ:
“Actually I was in college and Karan (Johar) and I were classmates, batchmates. And they said you know all the good-looking people so you help us cast the frames for the film. That’s how it started and I kept testing people, and you know also, in Bombay most young people either dabble in advertising or casting.We work as extras and make pocket money and go buy shoes. You know, that’s how it was. So I did the casting and they just kept rejecting everyone. And finally I went to Adi’s office and I said to Adi there’s no one left to test and he said ‘nahi tu he karle’. I said, ‘Huh? I’m not an actor, I don’t want to act’. So he said what would it take for you to do it? So I said a lot of money and to travel with a friend because I heard in Bollywood you get to travel with a companion. He said done. I said, ‘Karan , you are the other guy.That’s how it happened! But it was an amazing experience because we spent a month in Switzerland, of which I worked four days,” she said.
(L-R) Mudit Beriwal, Anaita and Arihant Parakh (incoming chairperson, YLF). “Anaita was one of the best speakers we have had. From being candid to entertaining, the session was too much fun.YLF wants to give a taste of all facets to its members, from having speakers from various fields be it sports to Bollywood, media to corporate honchos,” said Mudit
Day in the life of a celebrity stylist:
You know, no two days are the same. On most days, I wake up, have two cups of garam paani by myself at my window. Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at some of the mess the maali has made to some of the trees. And usually... unfortunately the industry is very nocturnal, so a part of our meetings happen at night, which I hate. I am a morning person… so we start chatting sometimes at 7am. Usually a day would involve fitting, sourcing, which would mean meeting designers, going to stores, putting looks together but then there are also shoot days where sometimes our call time is 6am. You know we go to a shoot, we create a brief for the entire team, they start hair, make-up and then for two hours we have nothing to do. It’s the most boring time ever so you start.... So on a shoot day there is no end time, we don’t know when we are gonna finish but the magic begins once we are on set and till today I get very excited being on set so I think I’m in a good place.
Fashion for art or fashion for function:
I think there’s enough place for both! I mean like today, I was having lunch with (designer) Kallol (Datta) and he said now he is only creating fashion but it’s for art. And I think that’s beautiful that he gets to express his fashion sense and his creativity just for the art world. At the same time we do need functional clothes. So I guess the meeting of the two is what’s lovely.
Biggest styling pet peeve:
I think sometimes they don’t listen enough and they want to be cookiecutter and look like each other or wanna have the same hair, same clothes, so for me I think you know I’m all about expressing your individuality so I wish they would push themselves a little bit more to be their authentic selves.
Style inspiration:
Madonna. She was a very very big influence in my life and still is…
Advice to youngsters:
Just dream big and it’ll happen. It’ll all come together. “Look at me, I’m just a girl from Colaba who dreamt of working in this industry. I knew no one, I knew nothing. I studied political science, so I can handle politics on set but apart from that it doesn’t help me in my career. Don’t stop learning, never stop learning. Surround yourself by people who can teach you something. I mean for me, my team is everything and I always ask for opinions.
One for the album! (L-R) Avanti Murarka Jhunjhunwala, Madhu Neotia, Kiran Uttam Ghosh, Saachi Bhasin Daga, Shilpi Goel, Dolly Jain,Vasavi Daga Shah and Chikky Goenka with Anaita.“It was a very enriching session and I loved it totally,” said Madhu post the event
A fool-proof styling tip:
Don’t forget to look at your backside before leaving! (Laughs) Don’t only look at the front. A lot of us forget to see what we look like from the back and then we see a photo.
(L-R) Rohan Arora, Abhilasha Sethia, Raphael Mantosh had his quirky style game on
Fave shopping destination:
Right now London is my favourite shopping destination because it’s too tiring to fly to New York. It takes me like 10 days to get over the jet lag and I am just too old for that, I can’t do that any more. But I also love Thailand. I think Bangkok has amazing young talent whether it’s in fashion, whether it’s in jewellery, art... everything.
Most challenging project:
Dhoom being my first film, it was challenging. I knew nothing, I had never worked with anyone in the industry before. So it’s all just going by you know whatever I learned and it was this biker film and I thought achha biker film then they should wear leather jacket. But nobody in Bombay ever wears leather jackets, right? So we did it and I travelled to Singapore and Thailand, my favourite, and bought all these clothes and you know also created very deconstructed street style for the first time. Then it’s Finding Fanny…
Rapid fire
A trend that needs to come back: A sharp tailored grey suit
It’s 7am and there are 23 missed calls. Which celebrity is it most likely to be: Well if it’s 7am then missed calls will be coming from the night before, it’s probably Katrina (Kaif)
Saris or suits: Saris with jacket
Crocs on a date night: Never ever!
Thrift shopping in Paris: Always!