With his creative flair and impeccable attention to detail, the costume designer Rick Roy brings characters to life through the power of wardrobe. Steeped in a world of imagination and boundless creativity, the costume designer is a masterful storyteller in his own right. He has a unique ability of translating the essence of a character into visual form, crafting costumes that not only enhance the narrative but also become an integral part of the storytelling process. Each stitch, fabric choice, and accessory speak volumes, reflects the nuances of personality, era, and emotion.
He is a master collaborator, working closely with directors, actors, and production teams to bring their collective vision to life. He has worked with a variety of Bollywood films where his costume designing ability has melded his own artistic instincts with the broader creative vision of the production.
When asked about why he chose costume designing as a career, he inferred that he was always an artistic person with an eye for aesthetics and colors. He had never shown much interest in traditional studies and he was glad to have found the support of his parents since they were also pretty much inclined towards art. He further talks about what usually goes on inside his mind, revealing that insanity paves way to the creation of art. His head is usually brimming with multitudes of ideas and he finds it hard to fixate on one specific idea for a design. As a costume designer, he loves creating different looks for different characters in a variety of films and that way he is able to channel these ideas into multiple areas.
Diving into the topic of fashion critiques with the question of which Indian fashion critique, in his opinion, does their job well, he takes a moment before revealing his answer. He believes that there is a lot of fashion know-how that goes behind fashion critiquing and it serves more than just the purpose of entertainment. There is more to fashion critiquing than just criticization and he is slowly learning to master it on his own. So, there is no specific fashion critique that comes to his mind yet.
When asked about who his favourite fashion designer is, he immediately expresses his admiration for the international designer John Galliano. Other designers whom he really looks up to are Alexander McQueen, Manish Arora, Tarun Wendell, Abu Sandeep, Rohit Bal, Jivalaya Sabya, and Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna. He finds their individual voice and authentic, trend-setting viewpoint to be very inspiring.
His personal sense of style can be described as a mix of the eccentric rock grunge, showy disco colours yet something that brags a comfortable fit. He believes he is a maximalist with a bit of ‘extra’ in all of his looks, but he further clarifies how careful and economical he is with his purchases so that his every buy can be utilised in the best way possible. Another candid question of what place has he learnt the most about fashion from, he reveals that a lot of the major learnings of his career has come from people more than the place itself. They have taught him more than just the technicalities of fashion and one of the people whom he credits the most is one of his co-workers Malaika.
He elaborates more on the workings of the fashion industry when a particularly insightful question about what needs to be changed I the fashion industry is asked. He majorly talked about trends, iterating that people need to stop following trends and instead, start creating them. There is an individual point of view that needs to be developed. One of the major inputs in the Indian fashion industry comes from wedding couture and a lot of designers have followed through with the same genre, limiting the Indian fashion industry to that specific genre mainly.
He enunciates how he finds inspiration in people when asked the question of who or what inspires him the most. Most of his designs are for the characters on screen and hence, they also serve as the source of inspiration of him. He carefully understands the nuances of a character and works upon their wardrobe instead of creating a look that pleases his personal tastes. He further tells us about his favourite project till date which was one of the recent Bollywood films called ‘Sarvagunn Sampann’ that he has worked on. It was one of his best experiences as it gave him a lot of creative freedom and seamless support from the director and the producer of the film. There was a lot of trust involved in the process and he truly felt at home as he worked upon this exciting project. Perhaps this is what made it one of his favourite projects till date.
With his undeniable talent and passion, Rick Roy enhances and illuminates the world of storytelling, infusing it with an enchanting visual tapestry that allows us to truly believe in the magic of the characters we encounter. His artistry and love for fashion is a true reminder of the profound impact costume has in shaping our perception and connection with the stories we all hold so dear.
