WHY’S EVERYONE STILL TALKING ABOUT PEECEE’S GRAMMY COUTURE?
The actor’s outfit, which elicited close to 3 million Insta likes, garners mixed reviews from the fashion set
It’s been days since Priyanka Chopra Jonas made a red carpet appearance in a Ralph & Russo gown at the Grammys. The outfit had an enormous decolletage — with a mid-section slit going all the way down her pierced belly button — but the Internet hasn’t stopped commenting, critiquing and caricaturing the ensemble. Key in her name on Google and one finds numerous articles comparing her outfit with Jennifer Lopez’s iconic Versace dress. Priyanka’s Instagram post of the dress, which she captioned as “Tassel fun” gained close to a whopping three million likes (till the time of going to press), way more than her Met Gala (1,878,188 likes) and Cannes (909,564 likes) looks got.
Designer Wendell Rodricks was quick to make a tongue-incheek remark on Instagram: “@priyankachopra nailed it at the Grammys 2020. Truly the bold and beautiful in this @ralphandrusso couture fringed gown where the neckline goes all the way from LA to Cuba. Love it.” Later he wrote, “Of course not many saw my sarcasm. It’s not for her this @ralphandrusso...” He deleted the second post and wrote: “Did I say anything about her body? No... I just said the dress was wrong for her... It was more dress shaming than body shaming...”
And critiques are divided — some blame the badly constructed gown, others are hailing Priyanka for taking a risk. “This was one of the most unflattering looks on PeeCee.
There was so much going on in the garment, starting from a plunging neckline to tassels and embroidery,” says designer Anand Bhushan.
Designer Rina Dhaka hails it as a bold look “but certainly not wow-worthy. I thought of it as very JLO-ish. And she wanted to have a Liz Hurley moment”.
A section of designers is nixing the tendency to body shame. “A lot of people are saying the outfit was not ageappropriate. I don’t agree with that... but I personally didn’t like the look for other reasons. Also, it was trying too hard to re-do a JLO,” says designer Rimzim Dadu.
“Priyanka managed to grab all eyeballs. Though I feel the dress would’ve looked better on someone a little taller. But she experimented with her look which was bold,” says designer Suneet Varma.
Designer Monisha Jaising quips, “If you analyse the construction of the gown, the tassel detailing on the shoulder was required to balance the bare centre parting. However PeeCee carried off the tricky shoulder to navel silhouette with confidence.”
Designer Shane Peacock applauds her: “Every red carpet look of hers has always been a distinctive pick — some have worked and some haven’t. This look has become a talking point, the objective of fashion.” Designer Nikhil Mehra seconds that, “One has to be really gutsy to pull off such a look and Priyanka is certainly the one. I applaud her for the choice she made.”