Look at me, I’m flying!

Some amble some bolt some dodge Some actors never fail to sparkle and shine These are celebrities being papped at the airport Malaika Arora recently flew in from the Maldives wearing a Gucci blazer casually thrown over an athleisure sports bustier beau Arjun Kapoor in an allblack ensemble complete with a Prada backpack Sara Ali Khan breezes in and out more often than not in roomy kurtasalwars while Shraddha Kapoor strutsmdashquite like the bossmdashin boots and cropped jackets Itrsquos a postpandemic fashion moment a winwin all over again for brand placements and stylistsAs cases remain under control and air travel opens up celebrity airport style spotting is refinding its mojo Through 20 months of the pandemic airports sat bare celebs cooped up in their homes stylists out of workCarefully coordinated in red and ivory silk Padukone and Ranveer Singh arrived in Mumbai from their Italian destination wedding indulging in the antics that photographers live to captureViral Bhayani founder of a photo agency called Bollywood Pap has tracked the famous over a twodecadelong career ldquoIrsquom not starstruckrdquo he says matteroffactly ldquoCapturing celebs at the airport is work itrsquos our dalroti I have to support my own family and those of my staff Everyone has responsibilities EMIs to payrdquoThe airport is not exactly a glossy ramp it lacks the glow of a red carpet event So how and when did the arrival and departure gates begin to rival coveted runways ldquoMarilyn Monroe was one of the first glamorous jetsetters she taught us that air travel was nothing if not a photo opportunity I remember this image of her leaning against a United Airline aircraft in stilettosrdquo says designer Narendra Kumar ldquoAir travel was not always affordable so it was celebrities who became icons of glamour and travelrdquo he addsPriyanka Chopra according to Bhayani was one of the first Bollywood stars to leverage the opportunity that an airport photo presented PicViral BhayaniThat was then The idea of travel fashion truly began to firm up when mass travel took off in the late 1990s But it wasnrsquot until the midnoughties a decade from 2000 to 2009 that airports became a crucible for celebrity content The Indian editions of People and Vogue and celebrity chatter blogging sites like High Heel Confidential HHC and Miss Malini had launched Entertainmentphotographers flocked to this promised land Bhayani was there too This was a big change from earlier when he had had no reason to wait hours at the airport ldquounless Michael Jackson was scheduled to show up in Indiardquo And then Priyanka Chopra took charge ldquoShe leveraged the star power of celebrities by starting the airport look trend in Indiardquo Bhayani thinks ldquoShe was also the first to get a styling team in order sometimes it was they in fact who tipped us off about her arrival and departure details Dum hai bhai she is an astute strategistrdquoSoon Choprarsquos celebrity colleagues followedAastha Sharma Narendra Kumar and Viral BhayanildquoBlogs like HHC and other digital publications watched and dissected celebrity airport looks their clothes bags shoeshellip it became a competition It opened up an untapped market for stylists reps brandshellip sab ki dukaan chalu ho gayirdquo Bhayani explainsAround this time actors also began frequently travelling overseas for awards events and shoots ldquoAnd the presence of the paparazzi made them conscious about their public image they could no longer get away with wearing what they likedrdquo says Aastha Sharma a celebrity stylist and founder of Wardrobist and The Wedding Style ProjectThen Instagram arrived Introduced in October 2010 the photosharing mobile app effectively rewired celebrity culture for the better and in some cases for much much worse The layout of the social media platform a steady stream of samesize images turned into an equaliser of sortsmdashyour holiday selfie found the same grid space that Sonam Kapoorrsquos did With speedy reach and the like and comment option it marked the rise of Instagram influencers birthing terms like ldquotrendingrdquo while also giving more power to trolls ldquoThe platform upped the stakes of the airport look Some celebrities went crazy with OTT dressing thankfully everyone has calmed down in the pandemicrdquo laughs SharmaThe core Instagram demographic is the first generation of millennials and Generation Z for whom being online is a default option rather than something they actively do This Kumar believes pushed the focus from reel to real loosening up fashion and kicking off athleisure wear in a historic way The notsofamous were now also taking a selfie at the airport selfstyled in a trench coat and booties with jogger pants and posting it on their social media handles airportlook announcing their arrivalKumar says while the naive believe that itrsquos the stars that pull out what they wear on flight itrsquos usually a team of stylists who put together the ldquofull lookrdquo basically tailored for inflight purposes Sharma a stylist for Aishwarya Rai Kajol Disha Patni and Neha Dhupia says that a stylistrsquos job is not only to dress the stars for special occasions but also take care of their overall imageAnd it is designers who have much to gain Indian athleisure labels like Kumarrsquos FKNS compete with younger names like Kanika Goyal her rsquo80s and rsquo90sgroomed denim outfits regularly endorsed by Deepika Padukone ldquoWhere else can you get this kind of reach and publicityrdquo Kumar asksWhile technology allowed celebrities to rewrite their codes to correspond with their own ambitions it also peeled away the lustre of exclusivity slowly moving focus off of the paparazzi ldquoItrsquos not the same Stars now prefer hiring a team of photographers and makeup artists to shoot their airport appearances These images are often heavily stylised and corrected Where is the spontaneityrdquoThat Instagram is thrusting short videos or Reels is yet another buzz kill Bhayani a selfconfessed ldquosocial media keedardquo though is in no mood to crib He serves his celebrity airport looks in bitesize videos with music ldquoItrsquos content itrsquos entertainmentrdquo he reasons Which explains why he is now thinking laterally in the language of TRPs ldquoUnless you donrsquot get trolled there is no engagement People come to Instagram to be entertained while watching stars at the airport Who wants to be at a fashion week anymorerdquo