An ode to a terrifying beauty

This was a very special shoot that I styled for one of my students. Nothing brings me more joy and pride than guiding my students through their collections. A fashion student puts their blood, sweat and tears into bringing out a collection and this is to honor them and all their hard work.  

This collection was conceptualized and designed by Deepanjali Hiremath. She drew her inspiration from Durjoy Datta’s book “The Girl Of My Dreams”. The book is a tragic story of a boy named Daman who wakes up from a coma only to learn that he had met with a terrible accident. The girl who accompanied him then had vanished after the accident. All he recalls now is a hazy face, hypnotic eyes, and the name “Shreyasi”. He wakes up to the nightmare of that accident every day while trying to remember her. He starts writing blogs about the faint memories he has of her. 

Deepanjali was inspired to take this story as the theme for her collection because of the different characters and their behavior throughout the book. Though the one thing that stood out throughout was Daman’s relentlessness in recollecting the face he last saw, a fading figure, an image etched in his memory somewhere.

He uses words like “a cold, frozen, and dead smile”, “a terrifying beauty”. And that encapsulates this collection aptly. A Terrifying beauty.

The collection is titled “Terrifying Beauty” and Deepanjali recreated what her version of ‘a terrifying beauty’ through the designs. Something that contains within it contrasting characteristics, something that haunts you and yet is so beautiful to look at that you cannot get it out of your head. Something elegant yet fierce, bloody and eerie yet charming with a hint of familiarity.

The mood board and color palette reflect the same. Deep blood red donating the horror of this terrifying beauty, along with a bluish-grey denoting the charm, elegance, and innocence of the blurry memory.

Daria was styled in 4 outfits from this collection.

For the first look, we styled a velvet jumpsuit in grey and blood-red tie & dye. The striking feature of this outfit was the black net cape with a grey velvet collar and a cage-like geometric lattice all over it reflecting Daman’s state of mind of being caught in that constant and repetitive nightmare. The makeup for this entire shoot was an element of its own. It consisted of slick, wet, and pulled-back hair. Over-the-top eye makeup helped bring out the hypnotic eyes and the overall bloody look. Daria captured the cold, frozen, dead smile just right. While a pair of black stilettos completes this look.

A collared button-down shirt-dress made the second outfit for this shoot. This was an interesting pattern with the red tie-dye placed at the waist and accentuated by a pull string resembling blood spurts. The hemline had a gathered black net to bring to life the horror and madness of it all. 

The next look included a classic tube dress with a sweetheart neckline in the same grey and blood-red tie dyed velvet. What added character to it was a black net full-length shrug with a collar and buttons.

The last look for the collection was a velvet grey and blood-red tie & dye bodysuit showcasing the fierceness and the boldness of the outfit. It was layered with a black net sheer shirt that has a solid black collar, cuffs, and button-down placket.

I loved and enjoyed styling this collection while guiding my student along the way on all that goes into bringing a collection and shoot to life. I hope this was something different and interesting for all of you as well. If you’re a fashion student, tell us what was your final collection and the inspiration behind it? And how would you style your collection?

Collaborators:

Photographer: Himanshu Shekhar

HMUA: Vinyasa

Model: Daria

Designer: Deepanjali Hiremath

Stylist: Yours truly

Graphic Designer: Ashirbad Panda