Urvashi Rautela may have been one of the best dressed on the green carpet at the recently concluded International Indian Film Academy or IIFA Awards, but her beauty came with a price.
The Bollywood actress has spoken about the custom Michael Cinco dress that she wore to the awards held on June 4 in Abu Dhabi, which created quite a buzz for the Dubai-based designer but, according to the actress, left her in pain.
“I have never felt pain like that in my life,” said Rautela a few days later, while talking about her embroidered golden gown with a high-slit and plunging neckline, complete with cape sleeves. The outfit, which is estimated to be priced over Dh210,000, left the actress scratched and bruised as to her own admission.
Speaking to Gulf News, Rautela said her visit to IIFA was on the tail-end of a busy month that saw her travelling between countries and time zones. “I’ve been super busy with the Cannes Film Festival in France and the amfAR gala which happened there. And then I had the trailer launch of my pan-Indian film ‘The Legend’ for which I had to perform in Chennai and then I left for Bali as I am the newest brand ambassador for the Smile Train, which is a children’s charity…,” Rautela said, adding that it was after all of that that she managed to reach Abu Dhabi in time for the IIFA Awards.
“There was absolutely no time to try on my dresses as I landed on the day of the red carpet so I went ahead with the Amato Couture for day one and on the second day I work Michael Cinco,” Rautela said, referencing the two UAE-based designer labels.
“The Amato Couture was an orange dress that was really beautiful and had feathers attached to it. It was very eye-catching. The next day I had Michael Cinco which was a very glamourous outfit with super heavy sleeves. And while I admit that I got so many compliments for both these gowns but I also have to say that I have never felt such pain. It left indentations on my hands, back and stomach,” Rautela revealed. “I had scratches and bruises everywhere from wearing it for such a long time. There is so much going on under my dresses at times that I bleed at the end of award ceremonies.”
Rautela isn’t the first actress to pay the price for looking beautiful on the red carpet. Kim Kardashian had famously spoken about the pain she endured to look her best for the nude Thierry Mugler dress she wore at the Met Gala in 2019.
“I have never felt pain like that in my life” she told WSJ before detailing the damage the corset did to her body. “I’ll have to show you pictures of the aftermath when I took it off — the indentations on my back and my stomach.”
In February 2020, Kardashian (again!) attended the Vanity Fair Oscar Party wearing a vintage 2003 Alexander McQueen dress — one of only two in the world — and admitted that the corseted dress was so tight, she couldn’t sit down at all.
The reality star’s sister, Kylie Jenner has also suffered in the name of fashion. After attending the 2016 Met Gala in embellished Balmain couture, Jenner showed off bruises and swollen feet in pictures shared on Instagram. “When ur dress made you bleed and ur feet are purple,” she wrote at the time, adding later: “It was worth it though.”
In 2001, while filming for ‘Moulin Rouge!’ Nicole Kidman ended up breaking a rib due to a corset she wore. “I re-broke my rib getting into it,” Kidman later told Graham Norton on his show.
“I had this thing that I wanted to get my waist down to 18 inches, which Vivian Leigh had on ‘Gone with the Wind’ and I was just like, ‘tighter, tighter’.”
