How Priyanka Chopra has proved she is the reigning beauty queen of the fashion world
Chopra’s choices show she is not a mannequin for gorgeous clothes, but a woman with a mind of her own.
For most people, this writer included, black dresses are that rare thing — both prized asset and safe bet, your first choice when you are dressing to kill, and your last option when nothing else seems to work.
Priyanka Chopra is not most people.
Her black dress, which she wore recently to the Daily Front Row’s Fashion Media Awards, part of New York Fashion Week, was miles away from a safe bet.
Look at that outfit. It begins life as a simple, straightforward top and skirt. As you progress down, however, you notice what looks like folded handkerchiefs attached to it, the kind doting Indian mothers would pin on toddlers’ school uniforms back in my day.
What could have been the reasoning here? Chopra has the body most people would die and kill for. She can wear anything she wants — and make it look good. Why would she then choose a black dress, which we mere mortals use to hide what, despite our wokeness, we consider ‘flaws'? Then, after making a ‘safe’ choice, why would she add triangular tassels to the hem of the skirt, giving the word ‘edgy’ a whole new meaning?
Simple answer: Because she can.
She is Priyanka Fabulous Chopra, and she can do whatever she wants and get away with it.
She is so hot, she even makes this cliché look cool, that your best attire is confidence.
If I stepped out in that skirt, dogs in my street would chase me. People would point. Children would laugh.
When Chopra wore it, the international press oohed and aahed.
Of course, this is not the first time Chopra has worn what popular wisdom would call 'weird', and make it look totally wow.
When you are as visible a person as she is, with every outfit subjected to minute scrutiny by not just the fashion world, but the merciless glare of social media as well, it must take a lot of courage to push the envelope and experiment.
Chopra’s dresses have landed her in all types of soups, social and sartorial. But the best thing about PeeCee is that she has responded to all the controversies coolly, and stepped out in a hotter outfit the next time.
Here are some of the times her dresses attracted controversy, but she continued to walk in beauty, like the queen she is.
Met Gala 2017: Chopra turned up at the event in a sweeping gown that swept us off our feet, but also spawned a whole sub-genre of Internet memes and jokes. The gown was bold and sassy, a far cry from the safe, pretty choices many actors make for events as big-ticket as the Met Gala. But what was bolder and sassier was Chopra’s response to the jokes — she curated a list of the ones she liked the best and put them out herself.
When PeeCee met PM: A few months later, Chopra met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Berlin, and was attacked viciously on social media for her “inappropriate dress” — the length of her skirt apparently a measure for the amount of respect she had for 'Indian culture'.
To all those who tried to shame her for “showing her legs to the PM who is her father’s age”, Chopra gave it back with another picture in a short skirt, along with her mother, also wearing a lovely skirt.
Talk about the mother of all comebacks.
View this post on InstagramLegs for days.... #itsthegenes with @madhuchopra nights out in #Berlin #beingbaywatch
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Met Gala 2018: Then, in May this year, Chopra managed to be counted among the best dressed at an event that had the likes of Rihanna and Madonna in attendance. At the Met Gala 2018, she wore a Ralph Lauren strapless gown, paired with an embellished gold chain mail coif, inspired by the image of a medieval knight.
While Chopra looked gorgeous, what stood out was her courage and confidence to experiment, and pull off something this bold.
Lingerie blazer dress: In the same month, Chopra set fashion magazines on fire in a dress that would have looked ridiculous on anyone else, but looked ravishing on her. The dress was stunningly sexy and feminine — without the usual swirls and drapes required to achieve the effect. The blue lingerie blazer again managed to offend the Indian Morality Brigade (IMB), and again managed to prove that Chopra could not care less.
The Royal Wedding: Chopra attended Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s May 2018 wedding as Markle’s friend. In her lilac Vivienne Westwood dress, with a matching fascinator, she looked fascinating, but of course managed to offend many — including former Samata Party president and textile revivalist Jaya Jaitly — for not wearing a saree and trying to look like a ‘wannabe brown sahiba’.
However, she showed what she thought of the criticism by opting for a “western dress” for the reception too — a glittering gold Dior gown that made her shine like a million Diwali diyas.
View this post on Instagram@priyankachopra x @dior #styledbymimicuttrell #royalwedding
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Of course, not all of us — in fact, very few of us — can manage to look like Priyanka Chopra. But what makes her appeal more than just about clothes is that no matter what she puts on, her personality remains her own — she is not just a well-shaped mannequin for sexy clothes, but a person with a mind of her own.
And for that alone, Chopra will remain the beauty queen of my fashion world.