Former actor Sameera Reddy may be out of the limelight, but the memories of navigating Bollywood in the early 2000s remain vivid. In a recent interview, he spoke candidly about the pressure to conform, admitting that he once pushed himself to overspend on luxury brands.Speaking to Hautterfly, Sameera reflected on how her fashion choices have evolved over the years. “I’ve adapted to organic clothes now and haven’t touched up my fancy clothes as much,” she said, while reviewing pieces from her old wardrobe, including a Chanel jacket worth around Rs 2.5 lakh. “It was me before the kids,” she added.Opening up about her mindset in her early 20s, Sameera admitted, “I was a shopaholic back then.” She elaborated further as she picked up a bag from her early film days, “This is a Dior Gaucho bag. This is from 2005. When I started movies, I felt like I needed every last bag.”He did not shy away from acknowledging the underlying pressure. “I bought these bags because I felt pressured to fit in. People usually say how they like bags, but I really bought these things so that people would think I was grown up. When I look back now, I think I wish I had bought a gold block, I would have done a lot better,” she said. The Dior Gaucho bag he mentioned is estimated to be priced between Rs 3-4 lakh.
“I didn’t want to scream ‘look at me’ anymore”
Sameera also recalled that she bought a Louis Vuitton bag because it was trendy in the industry. “If you look at this big bag, everyone in my industry was carrying these big LV boxes (for their airport look), and I felt so pressured that I remember going and getting it, thinking I have to have an airport look. I have to look like this,” she shared. The Louis Vuitton bag is priced at around Rs 1.7 lakh.He added that the phase was driven by the need to show wealth and status. “I went through that phase, when everything was ‘let’s show what we have.’ And then, about thirteen years ago, I realized that I didn’t want to scream ‘look at me’ and beauty is in quiet luxury.”
“I’ve become a very quiet girl in Goa”
Today, Sameera leads a simpler and more responsible lifestyle. “Since moving up, I’ve become this very laid-back girl. I love organic cotton. I’ve gone into less fast fashion, I’ve moved away from bigger brands, and now I like to keep it really simple and mix and match what I have,” she said.Sameera Reddy, who worked in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films between 2002 and 2013, left the show after her marriage to Akshai Varde in 2014.
