Traditional is cool, not Western: Dia Mirza

Bollywood actor supports home-grown outfits over Westernised ones.

MUMBAI: Bollywood actor and former beauty queen Dia Mirza, who looks as charming in traditional wear as in western outfits, is concerned about how a large part of today’s generation finds western outfits ‘cool’. She hopes they support home-grown creations for the betterment of Indian textile and handloom.

The actor-producer was in Mumbai to attend designer Anita Dongre’s show for her new label Grassroot - a brand that pays tribute to the glorious craftsmanship of India at the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week winter-festive 2015.

“A large part of our generation today is of the opinion that if we are in western garments, we are cool, and if we are not in a western garment, it’s not cool. I think we need to change that,” said Dia, who herself looked stunning in an elegant traditional outfit designer by Dongre.

Read: Hand-in-hand: Shahid and Mira walk the runway at LFW 2015

Often, it is seen that when Bollywood actors flaunt Indian wear at international red carpet events, they receive brickbats for not choosing something appropriate.

Stressing on how actor Nandita Das looked “amazing” in a sari that she wore at the Cannes International Film Festival earlier this year, Dia said: “This really is a time for the fashion bloggers in our country to think about what their prerogative of ‘cool’ is. I think when Nandita Das was at Cannes, she looked amazing with her exquisite clothes, but in that sense, everybody is open for their own opinion.”

Nevertheless, she believes that traditional textiles and handloom are ‘fashionable, cool and beautiful’. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st,  2015.

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