December 8: Marari beach, Kerala. A hot day. Humid and sticky. But work goes on as usual. Well, not entirely, since there is atypical activity smoking up the golden sands of the beach. A blonde goddess donning a red maxi (not just any red, but a ‘shiny disco’ one) stretches lazily on her bed of fragile fishing nets as the sun rays bounce off her electrifying garb.

A grand sight for anyone to witness let alone the locals who are dazzled by what they are seeing! The ‘beheld’ is a 19-year-old model Karolina who rushes in and out of the ‘green room’, a nearby cottage. A pair of shoes is pulled out from a trunk exploding with big names in footwear. A magic shade of eye shadow is fished out of another trunk that has make-up flowing out of it. And lo! Another look is created!

Azim Haidaryan, specially-imported Turkish photographer based in London, clicks away unaffected by the harsh weather or by the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ of the earthy audience. “Beauuuutiful”! “Give me more! More!!” he motivates the fragile model into striking poses and it works too. Karolina, unscathed by the summer heat, delivers. Thus, glorious costumes come on and come off and on again.

Carpet of marigolds

As dusk falls, the venue shifts to a crowded street. This time, the belle stands on a carpet of marigolds, posing against a Malayalam graffiti-adorned wall. It is eight hours since the shoot started in the morning. The crew is exhausted, though no one is willing to admit it. Tempers are flaring. Loud chatter from the crowd that has gathered to see what the hullabaloo is about ticks Azim off. The onlookers are shushed. Suddenly, in quite a contrasting tone, “What’s that nice smell?” asks Azim, amused and amazed when told that the fragrance is coming from the orange flowers strewn around him. “Beautiful!” he smiles for a brief second and gets back to business in the next. He has a deadline to meet— images that will make it to the March issue of Vogue India and showcase its Spring-summer ’08 collection.

The brands that are used for the shoot include Gayatri Khanna, Emilio Pucci, Satya Paul, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo and others.

Hairstylist Piergiuseppe Moroni chose to give the model a vintage look: “The 70s mood is in the air, so I ‘teased’ her hair and added volume on the roots using a volume-boosting product. I have used a curling iron to add softness”.

On hair tips this season, he says, “Short is in especially the David Bowie look. For long hair, I recommend shape and movement. Play with colour. Don’t get a mono-colour. Opt for a bi-colour instead”.

Make-up artiste Yasuo Yoshikawa on his act: “I have played up the eyes of the model using colours that appear in her attire. I have used many eye shadows at the same time and really gone crazy with hues.” As for what you should opt for, he says, “Choose colours of spring. Sparkling colours for eye shadows are the ‘in’ thing.”

Says stylist and Vogue India’s fashion director Anaita Shroff Adajania: “We travel around the world for many of the Fashion Weeks and are constantly analysing trends and forecasting each season. But we always keep in mind the Indian woman – after all, this is for her. In keeping with this, we strive to be informative and are also deconstructing fashion for the Indian woman”.

On the spring-summer ’08 collection she says: “The story is about the explosion of prints. Prints from floral to graphic inundated the Indian and international ramps, forecasting this as one of the biggest trends for spring-summer. Prints should be combined with bright accessories – patent tangerine heals, acid-coloured 80s-inspired plastic jewellery, bright belts, and multicoloured bags.”

Smile, it’s going to be a bright summer!