For over 30 years, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been the face of Indian glamour worldwide, a person who automatically brings to mind not only beauty but also grace and eternal charm.
However, aside from this, it is the boldness of her style journey, which is hugely overshadowed by the ways. Now her signature red lips and sleek hair parted in the middle are the obvious things to tie her with, but behind it all, Aishwarya's is a fashion tale full of brave moves and quiet revolts.
Way before "beauty risks" became popular hashtags, Aishwarya was doing them. Can you recall her Cannes 2016 look—the one that went viral? In fact, she arrived on the red carpet in a magnificent gown and deep purple lipstick that immediately split the opinion of the public. Though there were quite a few ridicules, there was applause for the very act that no Bollywood actor had ever attempted before: be wildly different without any apology at a global red carpet.
Credit: AFP
Today, that same daring spirit is what is equated with high-fashion experimentation all over the globe. The funny thing is? What Aishwarya was derided for is now part of the Gen Z beauty lexicon.
Over the span of years, Aishwarya has done it all from dramatic eyeliner, shimmering lips, crowd-pleasing curls, elegant buns, gala gowns, to even minimalist, no-makeup looks. She was embodying the "clean girl aesthetic" way ahead of it becoming an Instagram trend, more often than not stepping out with fresh skin, earth-toned shades, and laid-back glam exuding quiet self-assurance.
Credit: AFP
Her choices back then and now, bold or subtle, elegant, have always been the ones of an artist who is at ease with her growth.
Aishwarya takes her red lip and middle-parted hair to the stage with uniformity, a gesture that is sometimes considered dull, but others perceive it as legendary. After countless years of playing around, she has simply come to the place that makes her feel most potent. No fashion icon lasts forever without ultimately settling on a look that transcends the fleeting trends and for Aishwarya, that moment had arrived.
Credit: AFP
Why, then, is she receiving such a barrage of criticism? The answer is that the internet seems to have almost zero tolerance for women who mature in public and opt for comfort instead of constantly reinventing themselves. Male stars do not get much negative feedback for maintaining their signature styles, but females, when doing so, are branded as "boring."
It is also worth mentioning that Aishwarya had already done all the testing, the risk-taking, the transformation - and she did all of it when the world wasn't very merciful.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is much more than a staple on the red carpet she is a fashion risk-taker who redefined India’s global beauty narrative. Whether it was the Miss World days or the Cannes era, she has been the true Indian of elegance with the traits of uniqueness and bravery.
Perhaps it is the right moment to quit dissecting her current works and start valuing her previous ones - for if anyone had, it’s Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who rightly deserves to define beauty by her own rules.
