Best side forward

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Our heroes are keen on taking sides. Well, we are not referring to anything controversial, but we are focusing on the trend of side-parting hairdo gaining popularity. After the release of The Great Gatsy, the side parting style is a rage among actors here and in the West.

Be it Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham or our desi heroes including Emraan Hashmi, Akshay Kumar, Ranbir Kapoor — all are seen sporting this hairdo at various events and parties. We check with stylists, actors and socialites about this new trend and who they think can carry off this trend with great style.
Yatan Ahluwalia, grooming and image consultant and specialist on men’s skin, hair, grooming and fashion, recommends this look for a more formal occasion or setting. “It’s a classic look that has made a comeback every 20 years — the 20’s, the 40’s and 60’s as it is timeless and sophisticated. To achieve this look you need damp or wet hair, a strong and long-stay gel and a fine toothcomb. To avoid looking like a geek, sport this look when you are wearing sharp suits and dress shirts. What I feel is that men with wide foreheads, oval face shape and sharp angular features can easily go ahead with this look. However, men with wavy or wired hair should refrain from this look. Besides Bollywood actors like Akshay Kumar and Arjun Rampal, I think it would suit Rahul Gandhi really well.”
The hairstyle is no longer considered to be geeky among the fashionable circles. Celebrity hair stylist Sapna Bhavnani shares, “I think George Clooney has been sporting the side-parting for a while. And before him it was James Dean, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. None of them can by any chance be considered geeks. We need to be more open and experimental and not label it as geeky or champu.”
While some heroes have dared to embrace the Gatsby look for red carpet events, the look is often referred to as nerdy/geeky. “Our cinema is widening its reach in terms of looks, style and fashion statements. Whatever is raging with the Hollywood celebs tends to trickle down in Bollywood as well and even the common man ends up following the same. I think actors with young and cute faces like Shahid Kapur, Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Malhotra can carry off this look very well,” says Nida Mahmood, city-based fashion designer and socialite.