For a year that Bollywood trade pundits are afraid has been one of the dullest in recent times, the fashion and movie styling moments thankfully have added some glitz and excitement. All you need a bit of glam to turn those dark days around right? This could be the year of prosthetic transformations both good and bad. Retro styles and attention to detail in some films left us impressed, while the lack of imagination in some others left us sad. But in moments like these we realized we could rely on Priyanka Chopra to take it up a notch. From her cool and edgy shoot for Paper Magazine to her fabulous international red carpet appearances – gold and sexy for the Golden Globe, white and structured for the Oscars – we were kept on our toes because of her.
Here we list out some of the best and worst moments of the year in Bollywood style and those that went beyond, leaving us a bit baffled, surprised or amazed making us go OMG!
BEST
A dose of nostalgia
We time travelled with these films – into the 40s with Rangoon and the 70s with A Death in the Gunj. While one was a big budget starry extravaganza, the other was a small, intimate film experience, but both managed to get us nostalgic in a good way. Kangana Ranaut in her retro hairstyle, vintage gowns and dresses and Saif Ali Khan aristocratic in his tuxedoes with boutonnières, both looked absolutely glamorous. The characters in Gunj with their bell-bottoms, cardigans and the Amby took us back to our favourite decade in the movies.
Little things made meaningful
It was the year of the small film doing big business. The small in the case of the styling in these films could really stand for the detailing. Two middle class women in different cities and distinct circumstances portrayed by Kriti Sanon (Bareilly Ki Barfi) and Vidya Balan (Tumhari Sulu), were similar as characters in their strength and independence. And also the fact that their stylists managed to achieve the combination of keeping their look as real as possible while making it imaginative and aspirational for viewers. Kriti's pretty kurtas and lehengas in handloom fabrics and Vidya's saris with unique prints were as much an intrinsic part of the film as the highlight.
Deepika Padukone's debut at Cannes
Come May and all news agencies breathlessly cover Sonam Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's style choices at the Cannes Film Festival year after year. In 2017, Deepika Padukone had her maiden outing as the L'Oreal brand ambassador on the red carpet at the French Riviera. And a memorable debut it was – in her merlot sheer Marchesa gown, middle parted waves and deep wine lips, the unapologetically sexy look became her. She followed it up with some other fabulous looks such as the cool blush slip dress by Galvan.
Impressive physical transformations
One portrayed a freedom fighter, the other an underworld don. One gained weight, the other lost a ton of it. Both Rajkummar Rao as Subhash Chandra Bose and Arjun Rampal as Arun Gawli made physical and cosmetic transformations that left us is awe, turning into characters they were portraying.
Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan in Tiger Zinda Hai
Bollywood calls it the event film – that one movie going experience with stunning stars, huge budgets and foreign locales that the country waits for and the family goes to together. Watching the Swag song from Tiger Zinda Hai with Katrina Kaif in military details and the shortest shorts, Salman in his signature scarf and attitude you realize these stars do drip swag like no one else. It wouldn't matter if spies actually dress like that or not, because these beautiful, fit people are there to look fabulous while taking us into that fantasy world of movies that our country loves.
WORST
Vidya Balan in Begum Jaan
If all the OTT shrieking and yelling through the film wasn't enough, we got to see Vidya Balan in an inexplicable unibrow, grey contacts and unkempt hair – truly an assault on the senses in every way, this film.
Shah Rukh Khan in Jab Harry Met Sejal
For a love story where we are supposed to swoon over the king of romance, the film left a bad taste in our mouth – as if Shah Rukh Khan's Harry wasn't bad enough as a character, his styling just made it worse. The tacky tattoo on his chest and the top three buttons of his shirt left open to showcase it – was it meant to be sexy?
Shraddha Kapoor as Haseena Parkar
If Arjun Rampal and Rajkummar Rao left us in awe, Shraddha Kapoor left us bemused. The awkward body padding, the inconsistent shade of her skin and what looked like two cotton balls in her mouth is everything bad movie transformations are made of.
Denim disasters – Sridevi, Sonakshi Sinha, Shruti Hassan
These are the times when we wonder if celebrities don't have full-length mirrors at home.
OMG
Rajkummar Rao, Kriti Sanon and Sushant in Raabta
If the sudden turn in the story didn't leave you confused enough, the inexplicable styling of Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon in tons kohl, leather, oxidized jewelry, and one of our best actor Rajkummar Rao's face drowned under prosthetics must have definitely made you go WTF.
Ranveer Singh in a skirt-pant
Ranveer Singh always manages to add fun and nonchalance to his red carpet outings with his fashion choices, and this time he also showed us that androgynous fashion doesn't just mean women in suits but men in skirts too.
Priyanka Chopra at the MET gala
She took a classic trench and turned into a jaw dropping moment – Priyanka Chopra isn't just surprising us all the time, but taking the international style lists by storm too.
Irrfan Khan's style evolution
Ranveer Singh isn't the only one embracing irreverence in his style, Irrfan's appearances this year in lungis and quirky jackets and kurtas speak of a style evolution that definitely had us surprised, pleasantly.
Rekha's completely unexpected avatar
This is what we are used to:
And then suddenly, we get this: