Aishwarya Rai started her career as a model and was already a household name with a soft drink commercial, before she won an international pageant title. People who have worked with her, even in her early days have always showered praise on her. In a recent interview, celebrity stylist Ashley Rebello reminisced about working with the actress long before she became a global icon. He recalled how she was hesitant to wear a revealing outfit. In an interview with Beyond the Frame with Avinash Tripathi, Ashley said, “Actually, when I first met her, she wasn’t ‘the Aishwarya Rai’ yet; she was just a simple girl. The first advertisement she did was a suiting campaign, and at that time, I used to conduct trials in my bedroom. Our first meeting happened when she came to my house for her fitting, and it was a backless dress. She asked, ‘Will I have to wear a dress like this?’ And I told her, ‘Yes, what’s the problem with it?’”Rebello also recalled that Aishwarya had arrived for the trial with her mother, who initially felt the outfit was too bold. However, he reassured her family that everything would be handled tastefully.“I remember she was very young and in the middle of her college days. She had come for the trial with her mother. Her mother said that the dress was too revealing. But I told her, ‘No, aunty, don’t worry. These ad films shoot everything very aesthetically, nothing will happen, and I’m here.’ I told her to first see the fitting and be happy with it. She was convinced, and from that point onward, I feel she developed a sense of trust in me.”According to Rebello, that trust gradually developed into a long-standing professional relationship. When Aishwarya travelled to compete at Miss World, he designed several outfits for her to wear during the event. He added, “When she went for Miss World, I gave her at least 20 sarees. I made chiffon sarees in different colours: rani pink, yellow, turquoise blue, black, white, and red. I also gave her lots of bangles and matching bindis and told her that when you go for breakfast every day, you must wear a new saree.”The stylist said the idea soon became a talking point among other contestants at the pageant. Aishwarya later called him to share how the colourful sarees had captured everyone’s attention. “I can’t tell you how every morning everyone just wants to see which colour saree I will wear today. Everyone has been asking me for my bindis, so all my bindis are finished and all my bangles are gone. My mother is coming, so please send more with her. That’s when I realised that she is not just beautiful but also such a nice person,” he said. Meanwhile, film producer Shailendra Singh, also recently spoke about spotting Aishwarya in her early advertising days. During an interview with Siddharth Kannan, he recalled how she began her career in commercials. He recalled, “I spotted Aishwarya when she was 18 or 19 at Marine Drive, if I recall correctly. She came to meet Kunal Kapoor and me at 8:30 at night with her parents. She was just 18 or 19, and she did our first three advertisements for just Rs 5,000. She was first, I think, an extra tied to a pole in Mukesh Mills for a commercial. Then she did a Ghrit Kumari Hair Oil ad with Malvika Tiwari, and then another commercial with Arjun Rampal. That’s how she started.”
