SITARA*2012

My dear followers, it's been a hectic week for me here in Scotland working on a photo-shoot for Sitara*2012 which we did yesterday, but it's all been worth it! Being creative director for the show this year has made me realise how much I love and would love to develop this has my career once I graduate, working on set yesterday with the photographer and models was absolutely AMAZING! Check out some sneak peaks from the result of yesterday's work! A great Thank You to Gillian Gamble: Illustration and Photography and SC Makeup Artistry!

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

 Check it out, it's the new commercial for The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. I love the concept! And the song as well, it's so awesome, so Paris 1920s-30s it makes me want to swing (even though I don't know how... but that's another story :p ). I have been working on a video editorial for Sitara and we have finally decided to do something along the lines of the Victoria's Secret one with the lipsynch, which you can watch here. Tomorrow we're going to test the models to check who's best and most comfortable at lipsynching (of course they won't know we're testing them... we're simply making it part of the reharsal! hehe ). Ah, and this morning I'm doing a photo shoot as a belly dancer for a charity campaign, which I'm absolutely thrilled about, apparently there will be henna as well! :)) Whoo! 

Models have been chosen!

So, yes, we have our new models for Sitara*2012 (click to learn more about it)! We had a record turnout for auditions, over 95 people auditioned, which is a very high number for a small town like St Andrews! It was a very interesting experience being on the side of judging this year. Having been a model my past two years and having auditioned myself before, it was great to see how other people behaved in a similar context. So it was definitely a change of perspective for me!
I was surprised to see how many different attitudes people have when auditioning for something. You will have the very nervous ones, the shy ones who speak very quietly but once you get the music going will burst out of their shell; then you have the forever outgoing ones, who come in with a bubbly energetic personality and that is reflected in their walk. And of course you get the completely demotivated ones whom you wonder why even showed up.
During the auditions we had them walk two times. One standard walk first and then a fun walk where they had the opportunity to show us their personality and energy on stage. They could dance, roll on the floor... anything they felt comfortable with. We had some great people, were you could simply feel the energy coming from their performance! And that's precisely what we were looking for. Not your standard beautiful, long-legged model, but someone who was able to bring his/her own personality out in the light. At the end of the day our aim is to get ENERGY on stage, to blow the audience away and captivate them with the models performance. So hopefully we've chosen well and I'm very looking forward starting to work with all our new exciting people to make Sitara*2012 the St Andrews show of the year! ;)

A photo from last year were we choreographed a dance for the model to performs on stage, we had a great load of fun and the audience loved it!

Auditions

We had the second round of auditions for Sitara tonight. It was crazy! So many interesting people showed up, I never thought being on a judging panel would be so difficult! Now we have to cut down to our final 24 models out of about 100... and boy it's tough! Especially Sitara being a fusion fashion show we really want to have as many different ethnicity as we can, and all those who auditioned have some outstanding feature about them... so hard! I'll definitely have to sleep over it tonight and hopefully tomorrow I'll have a better idea...!

Good night lovelies,

xx xx

Sitara*2011 Photos

Sitara*2012

What is Sitara*?

Well, Sitara is a student run fusion fashion show at the University of St Andrews by the Asian Society. You'll be wondering what I have to do with Asia... well nothing really, simply a fascination with all its diversity and culture. Sitara started of as Diya in 2008 (I think...), I participated in 2010 as model and really had the time of my life. The following year the name was changed to Sitara* because of some copyright issues. Sitara meaning "bright star" in Hindi.
The show is a charity fashion show, all we gather from the event is sent to the Ashraya Initiative for children in Pune, India. You can visit their website to learn more http://www.ashrayainitiative.org/doku.php
The show is very unique in its kind as we provide not only fusion between eastern and western culture in terms of fashion, but the show incorporates a story line as well, involving actors and performers, all very talented university students. The show will capture you from the beginning with its music, energy and cultural diversity.


This year I am the creative director, a role which I'm very looking forward to fulfill. I'm passionate about fashion and culture and being able to use my personal creativity for the show ( such as photoshoots, what clothes model will wear, deciding upon hair and make up) is absolutely fantastic!


Currently we are still in the process of deciding what the story line this year will be. I have already a few photoshoots in mind, but I have to wait to find my models before I can do anything. Auditions will be held on the 17th of October. Check this page for further updates!

If you have any questions about what we do, just drop me a message, I'll be very happy to answer :)