Designer Robert Naorem's larger than life canvas

They often say that at a fashion show, clothes look better when the model stands out less; it is after all only about the clothes!

But larger than life themes and ‘interesting’ demands often stress out even the most capable of make-up artistes. As the sixth edition of the Blenders Pride Bangalore Fashion Week rolls out, we speak to Robert Naorem, the official stylist of this edition of the fashion week, unravelling just how he and his team manage to keep everyone satisfied.

“This is my third time at the Blenders Pride Bangalore Fashion Week and each time only gets more interesting. My work force has increased and that reassures me a bit, but when one realises that the styling for every single show will be done by me and my team — the pressure does kind of make me go dizzy,” Robert admits.

But he is no child playing in an adult arena filled with experts, he has skilfully adapted himself to the needs of BFW and his prior experience always comes to the rescue.

“We’re focussing on spring-summer collections mostly in this edition and so we’re going to have a lot of fun. The colours are mostly blues, greens and yellows and the brightness of it all excites the whole team — we’re looking forward to a lot of madness during the week,” he reveals.

Some trends that we might spot at the shows, according to Robert are that “single colours are in, especially when it comes to make-up. India is following a global trend by keeping the blending to a minimal, adding more definition to the single colour palette and focusing on the eyes and lips quite thoroughly.” “Bold eyes and natural lips are also something that we’re heavily focussing on this year,” Robert adds.

Irrespective of what the trend might be, we know that a few designers always ask for ‘special’ looks and themes that need the styling to be interwoven into the larger picture. “Yes, Ritu Beri has asked for something different; for her show we’ll be looking at elaborate hair and heavy eye makeup, but otherwise we’ll stick to the accepted norms. We are experimenting with curls however, across all shows, even though straight hair is the easiest thing to do — my team has slogged and rehearsed to ensure a method by which curled styles can be incorporated quicker. Let’s hope it all works out,” says Robert.

The other designers who have asked for theme-specific make-up are Swapnil Shinde and Ramesh Dembla. “Ramesh’s collection is interesting and since most of his saris are in the colours of the early morning, we’ve decided to go with orange and smokey eyes, while we’re incorporating some interesting head gear that I prefer to leave as a surprise,” Robert teases.