Romance, memories, shine and geometry meet this spring as Amit Aggarwal redefines the cool quotient, Pankaj and Nidhi let the ‘light’ in and Hemant and Nandita give you 50 rules of love!
By Asmita Aggarwal
It is not an easy decision to take the road less travelled in an industry that gives little credence to deviators, but Amit Aggarwal seems to have his A-game on, well, most of the times. Whether it is his experiments with textiles, this time Chanderi or his rather modern ode to childhood memories that somewhere lie buried in the recesses of our hyper active mind, he kind of polishes them up, ties a nice ribbon on it and gifts it back to us in the form of his SS ‘17 line, “icloud”.
Even for those of us who are not tech-savvy, Amit’s line was not just captivating, based on how he played with textures, but also insightful as to how he combined cutwork, exaggerated sleeves, flatforms and bubble wrap effects on to his big skirts which were frankly beautiful, and his rather extra roomy pants.
Cinched waists and pristine whites were his only outing with femininity, the rest was pretty much quilted with sportswear inspired parkas, plastic pockets on floral shirts and the heady lilac metallic pants. If you are wondering it is wearable, there would be a unanimous “yes”, as, as separates it was refreshingly haunting with just punches of drama added in making everything impactful or shall we say larger-than-life.
Day four of the AIFW SS 17 was eventful, with the never disappointing, husband-wife duo Hemant and Nandita and their crisp, well-edited line that attempted to reinvent romance in an age when it is almost six feet under the ground as emojis explain how the heart feels and Facebook reveals one’s partnership status.
However, the zari embroidered flowers on white shirts was the only sparkle in the otherwise easy prêt line, which came armed with piecrust and Victorian collars, shoulder play, and charming details like lace placed delicately on pockets. Bows have carved a distinct place on the SS ‘17 catwalk, this time round, as jacquard jackets and dropped shoulder silver dresses were teamed up with retro shades, flower earrings and fringed bags. And they certainly made us love summer a bit more.
Quite a departure from their otherwise subtle renderings, Pankaj and Nidhi this time, went for uninhibited shine and sexed it up with pencil skirts, metallics and their all-time favourite appliqué. The fringed capes in powder pinks were interesting and so were the rather natty fabric manipulations that resulted in precise geometry. The covert had become overt in their silver playsuit with a basket weave tunic as pastels ruled the catwalk.
The surprise of the day was Abhi Singh, who presented one of the most fabulous collections at AIFW, setting a monochromatic mood complete with endearing geometric lines that lighted up his school-girl style pleated skirts. His play of checks and stripes was superlative and so were the boxy tops, as this season has also seen the renaissance of the button down shirt.
