She is more streamlined than ever before – flirty, happy, gorgeous, even with her hair up in rollers like a honey-coloured halo and tissue paper strategically tucked around the neck of her clingy, almost-sprayed-on, Tarun Tahiliani Lycra dress. Success sits well on Katrina Kaif, who has had her best film year yet, with box-office hits like Namastey London, Partner and the more recent, Welcome. She is mellow, though, and certainly comfortable in her own hourglass silhouette. Her comic timing, her celluloid forte, seems to extend to real life as she banters with make-up guru, Clint Fernandes. It is that dress – Tarun has a knack of doing it every time. A stray piece accentuates a curvy behind into remembrances of “a V. Shantaram heroine,” claims Clint. “Oh yeah,” she flashes back. “If it was J Lo standing here, you would admire her, wouldn’t you?” She is not apologetic about those curves!

But, most of all, she is on the right side of cool – in her celluloid roles as well as in person and as a clothes horse. The former supermodel, who has walked the ramp for every major Indian fashion designer, has brought a refreshingly young and mod look to her films, earning a place for herself amongst the stylish-elect. And if this happened quite by chance, we are not complaining. Namastey London is a style revelation of sorts – Katrina laughs, pouts and preens her way through a two-country romp. She carries off those daring minis with elan, her body language screams stylish and her Rocky S salwars sit on her with much pizzazz. Her accented Hindi and English inflections, seem to add to the moment rather than detract and the whole makes for a look that is the better part of glamour. Everything seems choreographed for style whether in sophisticated London or the earthy Punjab countryside. The sometimes trashy side of Bollywood skirts and bursting tees is thankfully not apparent here.

The best part is that Katrina is totally responsible for her look, here, bringing a personal sensibility to celluloid drama. A designer selected from London proved to be a disaster just a few days before shooting began. “The sales were on and I was literally running from shop to shop in London,” recalls Katrina, one of eight sisters, who has grown up in this city, before Kaizad Gustad and the box-office disaster Boom brought her to India. She did a round of all her favourite labels: Miss Sixteen, Diesel, the unusual boutiques of Carnaby Street, London’s street markets.

And, her look works. Perhaps because it is as close to her personal style as any Bollywood rendition can get. Or, perhaps, because she has brought the same freshness to her appearance as she has to her very western character.

“I think it came out pretty good, compared to the time I had,” she says now. “We could have done something really unusual.” She regrets, in fact, that Bollywood does not pay enough attention to styling its heroines. “Unfortunately, due to a lack of time and preciseness, we have not reached the heights we are capable of. The style quotient can definitely be upped. I most often work in conjunction with Rocky S but a lot of times, we are scrambling for outfits just before shooting a song. It’s pretty difficult.” She says that she would love to sit down and really work it out entirely. “I usually play generic glamorous roles which can tie in with almost any look. I would love to do one with fashion quirks like with very colourful handbags or a variety of boots... something like that.”

As for her favourite Bollywood designer, it would be Rocky S. “For Namastey London, Rocky designed the Indian look. I love wearing his clothes because his construction is very well done. I am not comfortable in a badly made garment; even if it cannot be seen on screen, a certain quality is absolutely necessary.” If she were to choose her favourite styled film it would be Bunty Aur Babli since it was ‘very kitsch, very new’. “Karan Johar’s films have a great sense of style since he is himself always up to date with fashion. Sanjay Leela Bhansali also has a definitive, unusual style. I could see that a lot of thought had gone into the styling of Black.”

While she rues the elegance of the old films with ‘Rekhaji or Nargisji’ Katrina does not gel well with the ’90s look in films and in general. Today, she discovers however, that “In the last two years, there has been a definite rise in awareness in Bollywood with International designers coming in and Indian designers paying more attention.” Her personal style encompasses both and is perhaps a watered-down version of Namastey London which presented the contemporary, but with exaggerated colours and body-hugging silhouettes. Her own look is feminine with a penchant for knee-length dresses. Today, however, Verve shoot over , she shrugs into a pair of velvet Juicy Couture track pants and a casual sleeveless T-shirt. Her unusually large feet she pushes into slouchy mid-calf suede boots, so much a part of her personal style statement. “I am very obsessed with flat boots,” she offers. “I don’t like wearing heels on my personal time. Lycra gym pants and black boots, that is what I keep buying.” Making these her predominant wardrobe staples.

In these handbag crazy days, Katrina – almost refreshingly – admits to buying perhaps one handbag a year. “And that’s it!” she exclaims with finality. “I am a zero accessories person. I never have any jewellery and I never wear any.” Being the true clothes horse that she is, she stands obliging as a Christmas tree, even as we embellish her and mould her to our requirements. She is excited about her upcoming release, Abbas-Mustan’s Race and particularly about her ‘very stylised’ look in it. “Every outfit looks very consciously put together… I have this song in a fabulous ’60s style flapper dress by Jenny Packham. I think that is probably my favourite look in a film.” So far....