If you are studying in a design college and you are tall, chances are that you will be held up by one person or the other to model for them or become their mannequin for a few hours! So, being tall, I couldn’t really get away either. This happened in the last semester of my course during the annual design show. The theme was “Sustainable Fashion” and the students were only using waste material, revamping them and creating exquisite and elaborate masterpieces. I was quite excited about it actually!
This friend’s friend approached me and explained to me what I had to wear. It was going to be a dress made out of wires – not just any wires but thick electrical wires. It was a short, mesh, sleeveless dress and there was a old tiny table fan that was going to be attached on a belt as an accessory. I tried it on, and boy, was it heavy!
The day arrived and our makeup was done, which was essentially prominent red cheeks and multicolored eyes to keep up with the “Circus” mood. And everyone’s hair was all done up in a most snazzy manner. I had been asked to come in a black camisole and black shorts, along with my 6 inch black heels. Just the night before, I had practiced walking in those shoes and was fairly comfortable with them! My boyfriend had told me to not do this, knowing how clumsy I am but I still went ahead and did this because I thought, “How can anyone stop me?!”
So, there I was, all dressed up in that 10-kilo dress and heels. Just before my turn arrived, the designer came and started fixing these light bulbs at the hem of the dress. I was, like, “What? Why? These are dangerous, no?” He calmed me down saying it would only be for a few minutes. “You’ll be fine,” he said. “In fact, I was actually planning to put an electrical circuit to light it up, which I am not now, so it’s completely safe.” He was aiming for the grandesque look, I guess!
Anyway, I managed to get on the ramp, being very, very conscious about not letting the bulbs clash with each other, which had now become my biggest concern. I walked as slowly as I could. And as soon as I turned around and came back into the wings ahead of the final round, I removed my heels!
Now, happy that I had managed the first round well, and more comfortable in my bare feet, I started jumping around when I walked back on stage. And that’s when the bulbs clashed with each other and broke!! I didn’t realize it, though, and I happened to step on one of those broken glass pieces. That’s when this boy came running to my rescue, my knight in shining armour, I thought! He picked me up along, with those extra kilos of my outfit, and made me sit on the side.
That’s when I noticed blood running down my left leg. I was pretty numb, though, and couldn’t feel any pain! At that moment, someone ran to get scissors to cut the damn dress up, because that was the only way to get it off. That’s when the whole crowd had started shifting their attention towards me… A girl with a bleeding leg, getting her clothes cut off – on stage!!
Everyone was running around getting me cotton and dettol and scarves to cover me up. My best friends who were in the crowd cheering for me came running to me and we went to the ambulance stationed in case of an emergency. The guy gave us some dettol and said that should be enough. It clearly wasn’t, because I was feeling faint. My friends rushed me to the closest hospital and called my boyfriend up too! I reached the hospital in those clothes – rather, almost no clothes, and covered up only by scarves – with all that makeup on my face. I had never felt more embarrassed in my life!!
The doctor said, “You’ll need stitches.” I started crying because this was turning out to be my worst nightmare, and everyone around was finding this funny, all thanks to my rosy cheeks and makeup and state of undress. I went in to get stitches, with my boyfriend holding my hands the whole time – all he said, though, was “I told you so!”
The guy who picked me up to apparently save me from stepping on those broken glass pieces stayed away from me because he knew that the reason I got those stitches was because when he picked me up that’s the time the broken bulb that was hanging went into my thigh and that’s where the bleeding started! And THAT was the whole reason why I had to have my outfit cut off on stage and suffer through my deliberate wardrobe malfunction. :-X
They say every scar has a story to tell…mine is a rather strange one!
Image: Shutterstock
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