Lakme Fashion Week: Kareena Kapoor Khan rocks the ramp with baby bump

Kareena Kapoor Khan looked stunning as she walked the runway for Sabyasachi Mukherjee. We talk to celebrities about the actress’ bold move

Lakme Fashion Week has had a penchant for grandiose shows and path-breaking designs, and the finale show for the Winter/Festive season, which wrapped up yesterday, was no different. With symphonic melodies playing in the backdrop, designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s opulent collection, titled Illuminate, filled the runway. In the audience were Sabya’s high profile clientele, including Karisma Kapoor, and Deepika Padukone, who minutely observed the designs on display.

Even as the music reached its crescendo and the chandeliers went dim, a resplendent looking Kareena Kapoor Khan walked out, and gasps filled the room. As she walked slowly across the ramp, the five-month pregnant Kareena caressed her baby bump with every pause she took. It was a watershed moment in Bollywood and fashion, with the actress becoming the first mainstream heroine to walk for a designer while pregnant.

Designer Pria Kataria Puri was all praises for Kareena’s act. “Kareena is the brand ambassador for Lakme, and it was already decided that she would walk the ramp,” she says. “However, the fact that she agreed to do so, despite being pregnant and the organisers too deciding to go ahead with it, is worth applauding. I think she looked absolutely radiant and beautiful.”

Kareena’s walk for Sabyasachi seems to be a sneak-peak of the signs of times to come. The actress, who is expecting her first child with husband Saif Ali Khan, was asked earlier if she intended to take a maternity break. She shot down the suggestion with a simple, “I’m pregnant, not a corpse.” True to her word, Kareena made an appearance at the fashion week, and is reportedly going to start working on her upcoming movie, Veere Di Wedding too next month. In an industry that has often seen actresses quit at the peak of their careers, to get married or to start a family, Kareena’s attitude towards maternity comes as a breath of fresh air.

Calling the move empowering, photographer Vikram Bawa says, “It is definitely very empowering, not just for her but for all of us. To be able to take this time in a woman’s life and make it fashionable and beautiful, what can be more empowering than that I am not sure that Kareena is the first mainstream Bollywood actress to have done this, but she is definitely an inspiration for everyone. Hats off to her!”

Pria adds, “I think that Indian fashion shows have more scope for experimentation since they are more theatrical than their Western counterparts, and it is heartening to see that they are being used to do away with stereotypes. Women in every stage of their lives are walking the ramp, young, old, pregnant, and I think this is a great step towards women empowerment.” Earlier this year, supermodel Carol Gracias and actress Shveta Salve too walked the ramp flaunting their baby bumps. Designer Gaurang Shah, for whom Carol had walked, said, “I’d make her walk the ramp for me even when she’s a grandmother.”