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Ask, who’s your favourite muse and every designer’s answer is Sonam Kapoor. She’s been the first choice for not only Indian designers, but many top international couture designers as well, including Elie Saab and Ralph & Russo. It’s surreal how Sonam’s sartorial choices seamlessly blend into every fashion designer’s aesthetic sensibility and eventually paving the way for their entire collection. From revolutionising celebrity styling in India to pushing boundaries at international red carpets with her striking looks, and turning showstopper for designer Ralph & Russo, Sonam Kapoor has redefined Bollywood’s style game. Even though she’s synonymous with couture and elite choices, she never misses out on supporting homegrown and budding brands and dons them with equal elan. She’s perhaps the only Bollywood actress who’s never shied away from experimenting with her looks, and that’s exactly what sets her apart.
In fact, even for her pregnancy announcement and maternity looks, Sonam ditched the customary bikini-clad baby bump photos and laid down new rules of pregnancy fashion with her sense of vintage and power dressing. Sonam is currently in her third trimester and is all set to embrace motherhood and welcome her first baby with husband Anand Ahuja soon!
The actress chooses to dress how she feels - “Pregnant & Powerful, Bold & Beautiful…” read the caption of her recent post in which she’s dressed in a gorgeous Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla creation that brings out the fiercest parts of her femininity. As she celebrates her birthday today, let’s take a look at her most iconic looks that defines bold and powerful persona like no other.
1. Redefining pregnancy fashion
Let’s start with her most recent maternity photoshoot reviving pregnancy couture with her relentless passion for fashion. Dressed in an off-white Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla chamois satin skirt with delicate sequins and pearls, paired with a long trailing multi-panelled dress, hand embroidered in pearls, Sonam channels her inner apsara.
2. Ralph & Russo’s favourite muse
Sonam has been Ralph & Russo’s favourite muse for the longest time. For the Paris Couture Show in 2017, Sonam turned a bridal showstopper for the London-based designers Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo in an ivory lace gown that took approximately 8000 hours to make. She accessorised her look with diamond jewellery and finished her look with minimal dewy makeup.
3. The iconic Marilyn Monroe look
We still haven’t gotten over how she recreated the evergreen style icon Marilyn Monroe look for Halloween 2020. We love how seamlessly she aced the signature red lipstick and puffy hairdo look and bore an uncanny resemblance to Monroe. Sharing a BTS video of her transformation, Sonam wrote, “This Halloween has got me going… Oh, my Monroe! Becoming this diva was such a fun experience for me and my team. Definitely one of my fav looks I’ve recreated for Halloween, ever! (sic)”
4. Elevating comfort wear
Trust Sonam when it comes to elevating a regular wear to a runway look and a haute couture. Giving her own spin to comfort wear, she is a vision in this classic Taller Marmo white turtleneck kaftan with tassels on the hem.
5. Her unbreakable union with designer Anamika Khanna
Sonam’s tryst with designer Anamika Khanna is not new. Their long-lived sartorial association gave us some of the most iconic and much talked about looks from the Cannes red carpet and otherwise. At the 2014 Cannes red carpet, Sonam made sure she added a contemporary twist to the traditional saree draping and stunned in a beautiful pink pastel Anamika Khanna couture net sari. Even for her wedding reception, Sonam opted for a striped monochrome cape lehenga set by Anamika Khanna.
6. The only drama we don’t mind!
It’s hard to pick the most iconic looks when it comes to the OG style icon Sonam Kapoor, but our list would be incomplete without this edgy and dramatic look that she donned last year at the launch of The Business of Fashion show in London. Dressed in a cherry red Alexander McQueen dress with elaborated ballooned and ruffled sleeves, Sonam looked phenomenal.
7. Be it casual or high-fashion, Sonam is always on point
Every time Sonam is in London, her Instagram feed serves as a masterclass on how to get the casual street style look on fleek. This one might not be iconic but we love how she’s layered a basic t-shirt with a Bhane denim jacket and added just the right amount of bling with the solid silver pleated skirt.
8. Sonam turned muse for Jean Paul Gaultier
Apart from international labels like Elie Saab and Ralph & Russo, the diva is a favourite of legendary designer Jean Paul Gaultier too. For the Paris Fashion Week 2020, Sonam’s fusion take on pairing her black asymmetrical top and boot-cut pants with a long white cape and accessorising it with traditional Indian silver jewellery and bindi is what we call brilliance.
9. A sheer piece of art
Sonam turning muse for renowned international designer Iris Van Herpen for her ‘Roots Of Rebirth’ collection is iconic in the truest sense. She looked nothing less than a piece of art in the perfectly crafted mythical dress made with recycled plastic.
Photo: Instagram/Sonam Kapoor