Kareena to cut hair, go on global shopping expedition

Kareena now intends to go on a long shopping binge in fashion capitals.

Mumbai: Having been designated a style icon, Kareena Kapoor now intends to go on a long shopping binge in various fashion capitals and also cut her hair."I have to...I`ve no choice. I`m looked at as a fashion statement. Very tiring, but flattering. Dress designer Aki Narula has set impossible standards of fashion for me through my films. Now I`ve no choice but to live up to those standards. I`ve raised the bar for fashion," Kareena said.

"After `Kambakkht Ishq`, in `Qurbaan` Aki has again made me look so special," added the actress who gives the credit for her `Kambakkht..." look to Aki. "He went shopping for my clothes and accessories. This may be a film, but I`ve never worked harder. In terms of styling and body language even dance and drama, I really worked hard. I wanted it to be a `phataka` kind of role. I wanted the audience to come out breathless," said Kareena, who may soon be off on a shopping expedition to fashion hubs such as Milan, Paris, London and New York. "It becomes tiring for everything I wear to be in the media glare. I constantly need to be well-dressed. It`s a price I`ve to pay, in more ways than one. I don`t have a choice but to have my wardrobe filled with choices. "Nowadays when I go abroad, I find myself spending more time in shops than holidaying. It`s a responsibility. And I do need to be chic all the time. But my being a fashion icon also depends on my attitude and mood of the moment," said the actress. Asked if has she shifted loyalties from dress designer Manish Malhotra to Aki, she said: "No. I love Aki`s work and plan to use his clothes very often. But Manish and I go back a long way. He dressed up my sister to stardom and then me. We`re not the kind of people who move on in our friendships. "I`m back with Manish Malhotra in `3 Idiots` and the remake of `Stepmom`. I`ll be dressed up as a stylish young girl. I`m planning to cut my hair. I`m really proud to be called stylish. I like that," said the actress. The selection of clothes and designer depends upon the roles, says Kareena. "In `Jab We Met`, I was simply dressed in salwar-kameez. In my forthcoming films `Qurbaan` and `3 Idiots`, I`m minimalist in my clothes. "But `Kambakkht Ishq` was about beautiful surfaces and shallow people. I had to dress immaculately. The standards for a heroine`s look and styling had to be raised. In terms of clothes, hair and makeup we`ve done that in `Kambakkht Ishq`. The fact is, I wanted to look very different. I wanted to look larger than life," she said. But the actress says she is equally comfortable playing a girl next door like she did in "Omkara". "If I can carry off Kolhapuri chappals in `Omkara`, I`m equally at home in Jimmy Choos in `Kambakkht Ishq`. I`m equally proud of both kind of films. Madhuri (Dixit) did a `Mrityudand` and a `Choli ke peeche` (in `Khalnayak`) side by side. Look at the film actors like Madhuri, my sister Karisma, Saif Ali Khan and Akshay did in the 1990s. And look where they got! I guess I was lucky." IANS