Celebrity costume designer Ashley Rebello opens up about crafting the emotional and visual language of Haq through colour — especially for its leading ladies, Yami Gautam and Vartika Singh, and the grey-toned world of Emraan Hashmi.
From the start, the director had absolute clarity. “He was very specific… I wanted two different sets of colours — one palette is pre-divorce, and one palette is post-divorce,” Ashley recalls. But he also pushed back on the idea of sudden transformation. “Just because you`re divorced, you don`t change your wardrobe suddenly… You have that many clothes, you don’t anticipate what’s coming.”
Instead, he added a subtle, emotional shift. After the divorce, Yami’s character moves back to her mother’s home, prompting a natural change in her dressing. “She starts wearing her mother`s dupatta because she just doesn`t want to wear those colours anymore.”
Crafting Yami’s journey through fabric and shade
The film Haq opens with Yami’s world full of life — vibrant colours, hand-stitched fabrics, and dyed dupattas. “It’s about colour, it’s about fabrics… you dye your dupatta, you dye your fabrics… you buy your husband’s clothes, your children’s clothes,” Ashley explains, describing her character’s nurturing, hands-on nature.
To ensure authenticity, he meticulously built a lookbook of fabrics, samples, and silhouettes. “Sukant loved it… We had different photographs with different looks — her marriage look, pre-marriage, post-marriage, when she’s pregnant, her divorce, and her final, older look.”
Ageing Yami on-screen required a thoughtful palette shift. “To show Yami older, we gave her pastel, softer shades,” he says. After the divorce, however, her life weighs her down. “She gets dowdier… she doesn’t bother about what she’s wearing.” Her wardrobe moves into “more saturated colours — greens, browns, ruffs, maroons.` Her accessories were intentionally minimal. Ashley worked closely with her glam team. “I kept telling Alpa (her hairstylist) that I want little twists in her hair, a pulled-back look… just a normal knot. Yami would do it herself most of the time.”
Even something as small as a handkerchief carried meaning. “One journalist mentioned how nice it was to see Yami carrying a handkerchief,” he quipped. “That was deliberate… It’s like her security blanket. If she’s crying, she wipes her tears. It gives her strength.” He adds that such props deepen performance. “It gives you something to do… it helps hone the character on screen.”
The Grey World of Emraan Hashmi
While Yami and Vartika embraced colours, Emraan Hashmi’s palette was intentionally muted. “We kept him in tones of grey because that’s his character… unknowingly, he just wears these colours until you see that side of him.”
Vartika Singh: Bright, bridal, and rooted in culture
Vartika’s wardrobe was crafted in stark contrast. “She was like this new bride, so we had to portray her in reds, bright yellows — everything bright,” Ashley says.
Having worked with her as a model, Ashley was excited. “I was so happy… she’s a lovely girl. But Sukant told me she’s not a model in the movie — she’s just a girl coming from Pakistan.” That meant grounding her look in regional authenticity. “I gave her the feel of the Gota Patti, the borders, the kinaras… very typical to that side of the country and the city.”
Every piece was custom-created. “We didn’t buy off-the-rack fabrics. We got everything dyed — even the pink sarees. I wasn’t getting the shade she wanted, so I dyed them.” Ashley kept a massive shade chart on hand. “It had about 500 to 800 colours… getting the right shade for each look was a struggle.”
Dupattas played an important role in Yeh Yami’s transformation. “They don’t pin them; they wear them effortlessly,” Ashley says, referencing women like Beena Kak who inspired the look. “I told Yami to see how these girls carry their dupattas — it’s beautiful and effortless.” It was as emotional as an aesthetic choice. “It helps in the acting process… if the dupatta comes off or moves, it adds to the moment.”
Through dyed fabrics, evolving silhouettes, and carefully chosen colours, Ashley Rebello shaped Haq’s emotional arc in a way that feels intimate and real. Every thread, every shade carried meaning — quietly echoing the characters’ inner worlds.