The Magic of Lamhe's White Dress

Renowned costume designer Neeta Lulla has shared an interesting anecdote about creating late star Sridevi's iconic white outfit for the song “Kabhi Main Kahan Hoon” in Yash Chopra's 1991 film “Lamhe”.

Calling it one of the most difficult costumes she has ever stitched, Lulla on Instagram shared how the ethereal look came together, which remains one of Sridevi's most memorable on-screen outfits.

She shared a video speaking about the outfit and said: “Did you know that the most difficult outfit to stitch is a simple white dress? I realized this while creating an outfit for the song Kabhi Main Kahan Hoon for Sridevi, for Lamhe.”

Lulla has worked in over 300 films and has as created the look for leading Bollywood personalities including Sridevi, Juhi Chawla, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Rajinikanth, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan.

She revealed that she had picked up these white georgette chiffon sarees and that “three to four sarees” were what she picked up to “create the volume of the dress.”

“I picked up a basic white lining fabric. What happened, to my surprise, was that the white from underneath was showing very starkly through the white on top. I couldn't figure out, for the life of me, how to structure this. So then, after thinking it over, we planned to put a layer of chiffon underneath so that the white would diffuse.”

“And that's how we created the outfit for the song.”

For the belt, Lulla revealed it was scarves that she had used.

“We had these scarves that we made, which were tied around her waist. And not to forget the off-shoulder top that she carried off brilliantly well,” said Lulla, who has been feted with the National Film Award for Best Costume Design in 2009 for ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ and 2012 for the Marathi language film ‘Balgandharva’.

The designer concluded: “The song was filmed in Switzerland, and I had not seen how it would look because there was so much volume. We had shredded it, we had cut it, slitted it. The way it looked surprised me, and the kind of shots that Yashji had taken from the helicopter were something ethereal. And I think that was the shot that everybody loved in the movie.”

She wrote in the caption: “.,..The hardest colour to make on screen? White. For the song Kabhi Main Kahoon from Lamhe, every detail of Sridevi’s white costume was thoughtfully considered, from the choice of fabric and silhouette to the way it would catch the light and translate on camera. What appears effortless on screen is, in reality, the result of meticulous craftsmanship, and an unwavering eye for detail.”

“Because in cinema, the most timeless costumes are not just designed they are carefully crafted to become part of a cinematic story..”