The Bollywood glitterati is no stranger to serving some major looks on a hot platter and it is the celebrity stylists who deserve the credit for putting together such eye-catching looks. To second that thought, we have Bollywood celebrity stylist Amandeep Kaur taking us through her journey and spilling the beans on her personal style statement.
Drooling and obsessing over several celebrity looks while spending hours scrolling down our gram feeds is one habit I’m sure we’re all guilty of. Having said that, just in case you’ve been wondering what goes behind curating those stunner looks well, then it’s the celebrity stylists acting up as real heroes behind most of those looks. And just like that, we have yet another stylist shaping the sartorial sensibilities of celebrities with her sheer passion for fashion aka Amandeep Kaur. I’m sure this name has been popping up on your gram feeds quite often, courtesy of the splendid niche she’s been carving for herself. From styling B-town divas like Radhika Madan, Taapsee Pannu, and even Sonam Kapoor Ahuja earlier to being responsible for the Kaushal brothers’ sartorial excellence, Amandeep is on a journey to make an everlasting impact in the style space. Furthermore, so as to unveil her journey and her experience over the past years, we decided to catch her candid in an exclusive tête-à-tête about all things style and fashion.
From style sensibilities to fashion prowess, Amandeep Kaur bears it all
Tell us about your journey in this industry and how has your sensibility evolved over the years.
My true calling for styling emerged when I began my journey at NIFT. While I was in college I interned and worked with various media houses, publications, marketing firms, and even fashion designers and brands to get as much experience as possible. This included publications like HT, Vogue India, Business of Fashion, Sportswear intl, etc. I have even worked as a contributing editor for a coffee table book on Indian Fashion. Then I joined Marie Claire magazine as an Assistant Fashion Editor, and eventually the Cosmopolitan magazine as a Fashion Director. This was my last stop before I realised I wanted to venture out on my own as an independent celebrity stylist.
To be honest, the process has been a learning and an unlearning one throughout because fashion by itself is a constantly evolving space. There is always some new trend to pick up or even just create through one’s understanding of fashion. At times, some styles don’t work as you might have envisioned or imagined and that’s where you let go of some learnings. I would say that this space is more about adapting and understanding rather than just focusing on improving on your own terms.
How do you come up with different aesthetics while styling? And whose style inspires you?
As a stylist like any creative individual, I am constantly absorbing culture from global and domestic trends, through the internet, fashion shows, editorials, red carpets, travel, and of course my own personality, which comes into play while creating varied aesthetics. But the most important aspect is derived from the personality of the artist that I am styling. I like to build on the individual’s aesthetic and take it to the next level in collaboration with my expertise, instead of forcing my vision on them.
A lot of people inspire me, and there is not anyone in particular that I could name. It could be designers across the globe, stylists and content creators, actors, and varied magazines, blogs, etc.
From the first time you styled a celeb to today, what’s changed in the industry and styling in general?
The first time I styled a celebrity was easily around 9/10 years back, fashion styling was a more exclusive service that only actors/entertainment industry artists needed for their appearances, performances, films, etc. However, now with social media taking such centre stage in life, every single content creator is styled, either by themselves, or they have a stylist at hand, which has changed the game quite a lot. Because while the exclusivity factor has definitely gone, it has also made styling celebrities a high-pressure job. There is this competition where they are constantly pitted against each other by various media houses, or with content creators who are also getting styled every day and putting their work out there. It has definitely made the market more competitive but has also widened the playing field massively which is a big advantage, considering there are a lot more options and bigger clientele out there.
What are some essentials that one should have in their wardrobe?
Essentials can be: a couple of solid colour button-down shirts, white, beige, and black for sure; (LBD & LWD for women), a sweat suit, a classic blazer; pair of well-fitted jeans; some tailored pants, a classic suit, a basic white kurta, some neutral colour tees; pair of white sneakers and black boots.
How would you describe your signature style?
My signature style is androgynous, street style mixed with tailoring. Tone-on-tone layering play is one of my favourite styling techniques to make everything look chic.
A trend that you want to make a comeback and which is your favourite fashion era?
I would love to come back to the 70’s hippie era, everyone and everything seemed more liberated with lesser judgment, also bright and experimental.
Tell us about a memorable experience while styling/working.
There are many but one of them is a recent one of styling Vicky Kaushal for Lifestyle Asia India’s cover shoot which was done in Bandra, and we created some amazing tone-on-tone layered looks along with some pop colours that we haven’t tried on him before, in the most rustic, earthy yet high fashion way with Zegna outfits. The energy, the weather, clothes, team, ambience, food everything was just perfect, and very rarely does that happen on a shoot. We were shooting in the narrow lanes of Bandra, (which kind of felt like the narrow beautiful lanes of Portugal or Spain) while managing to escape the crowds. All of us had great fun creating those visuals.
Hero and Featured Image: Courtesy Amandeepkaur87/IG.
Jhanvi Duggal
Lifestyle Writer
