Film stars influence the fashion for Festival of Lights

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JOHOR BARU: Deepavali is around the corner and many in the Indian community are spoilt for choice when it comes to dressing up for the occasion.

Apart from the traditional attire such as saree and salwar kameez, many of the apparel for this year’s Festival of Lights celebration have a mixture of Arabic and Punjabi influences, thanks to the latest Bollywood and Kollywood movies.

“Many actresses in these movies have set the trend for this year by wearing costumes with these influences; hence many ladies are following them,” said Grace Bollywood Fashions owner Joan Twinklin Gomez.

Her boutique in Jalan Segget offers numerous variations of such apparel, specially selected and brought in from India.

A variety of choices: An attendant showing the intricate beading work on the pants of a punjabi suit sold at the Deepavali bazaar in Johor Baru.

Most of the costumes available this year were influenced by movies such as Dilli 6 and Dil Bole Hadippa, featuring famous Bollywood stars Soonam Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee, she said. Others include suits made famous by Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and saree from the latest Kollywood flick Kandasamy.

“The costumes sold also have intricate embellishments and detailed works on the pants which are baggy and have many tiers,” she said, explaining that the colour palette for this year was vibrant and many Punjabi suits had at least two contra colours in them.

“Indian shirts or kurtas for men are also elaborate,” said Joan, adding that they came in an array of colours that were bright and studded with stones. Also available in many Indian bazaars are Anarkali suits, embellished cotton suits and two-toned saree.