THE DIALOGUE is steamy, the actors pout and smoulder, but this isn’t a typical day at a Bollywood studio – the movie icons are part of a fashion trend that’s got Indians wearing their favourite movies.
Fashion designer Nida Mahmood’s creations include jackets printed with memorable lines from classic Hindi films such as Sholay and Don while the faces of superstars such as Amitabh Bachchan adorn bright wraps.
Mahmood, who is showing at India’s biggest fashion event this week, said her clothes were a throwback to the now outdated art of painting Bollywood movie posters by hand.
“Poster artists went out of work 15 years ago. My main endeavour is to get this art back into circulation,” Mahmood said at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in New Delhi.
“In my own small way I would like people to remember what this art is all about.”
Slick digital billboards or computer-generated images have replaced the large-than-life hand-painted posters which once provided a livelihood to hundreds of artists.
Today, only a handful remain and Mahmood has employed five of these artists to create her unique collection which also includes handbags, traditional sarees, keychains and coasters.
Business has so far been brisk, with many buyers picking up Mahmood’s fashions at the event and from overseas.
“There’s been a lot of business. I’m booking orders in Japan and the Middle East,” Mahmood said as a customer picked up one of her $43 (£26) purses.
Mahmood does not recreate old posters but designs her own using a computer. She then asks the artists to paint the design on clothing fabrics and other materials.
The designer has become so enamoured by poster art that she created a company dedicated to maintaining the artists’ livelihood.
Mahmood captured the attention of India’s prolific fashion industry last year with a collection based on tea, the beverage of choice for most Indians whose country is also major grower of the crop.
The Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, which ends today, saw more than 100 designers vying for the attention of around 175 local and international buyers.
