Katrina choses her own attire

Reports say that Katrina Kaif did her own shopping for her wardrobe in Namastey London, and if that is so, the girl has a future as a designer.

Except for the make-up that was over done for her young and flawless skin, Katrina looked as trendy as no leading lady had looked in the recent past. Though she wore strappy and backless dresses and mini skirts, the sexiness was never in-your-face, like say the costumes of the girls in Dhoom 2, which screamed 'Hot'. Katrina was hot without even trying. Except for a couple of places where she was inappropriately dressed-like the knee length denim shorts and glittery cowboy boots in the cowshed scene and the distracting off-the-shoulder top when she calls Akshay to meet her. But the cool dresses she wears like the polka-dotted number in the dance-lesson scene or the black mini in the pub scene - flattered her youth and healthy (as opposed to anorexic) figure.

Whoever thought of the jeans and calf-length kurtas for Akshay Kumar's Punjabi farmer character got it quite wrong-and that too in colours like bubble gum pink. When he shifts to somber suits in the London portions, he looked classy-except for the carroty hair. Akshay is one of the few film personalities, who because if his height and built, carries suits well-and the fact that he wears them with casual ease, and not with a look of stiff formality that ruin the effect of a good suit.

Of late, our actresses (except Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukerji) have abandoned the self-conscious grace of the sari and switched to gowns and cocktail dresses for formal wear. They don't even hesitate to wear revealing dresses with plunging necklines - a very no-modesty, flaunt the figure look that Bipasha Basu carries off very well, and Celina Jaitley overdoes. Whether in real life or on screen in a film like Red, the neckline of Celina's dresses plunges a little too much-that's not sexy it's a desperate attention-getting ploy that Mallika Sherawat employed in her pre-diva days. Her dress sense may not have improved much, but her cleavage is a bit more in control. (Remember the Cannes horror when her push up bra pushed up her bosom almost to the chin!)

And who'd have thought that small town girl Kangana Ranaut would get her look together so stylishly. She has been seen around town in the loveliest and most lady-like of dresses. The only thing wrong is that she has straightened her hair, which makes her look like any other starlet-it was the tousled curly style that made her stand out in the crowd of girls with identical clothes, accessories and make-up.

It takes the care-a-damn attitude of Tabu to appear at a premiere (of The Namesake) in plain and severe black-no bling means a lot of confidence. That's real cool. In the film too, Tabu has a wardrobe of exquisite Bengali saris and perfectly fitted blouses--where does the character she plays get them tailored in America of the seventies? But never mind, she looks delicate and dignified.

The worst film costumes for a leading lady in recent films-decidedly Esha Deol's 'behenji'-type churidar kurtas in unflattering colour combinations in Just Married.