The beauty really is in minute details as Rina Singh will tell you or in weaves which whisper traditional bearings by Gaurang. The third day at FDCI X Lakme was about ‘conscience’ buying
By Asmita Aggarwal
Guru Dutt’s classic playing in the background, reminding you of sepia toned 70 MM, with a lissom Waheeda Rahman in Chaudavin Ka Chaand, barefoot models with Arabian Jasmine in their tresses, and woven wonders from Paithani to Kota taking the spotlight—it was a stage set for a blockbuster. Cut to 2021, Rahman was replaced by Tapsee Pannu in a Gaurang Shah designed Jamdani, as an ode to revering the weaving traditions of a country, where 31,44,839 handloom worker households still survive on this lost craft as per the All India Handloom census 2020-2021.
Anup Jalota kept the mood nostalgic at this physical show in Mumbai for the FDCI X Lakme Fashion Week, as Gaurang’s Kota, Uppada and Benarasis stole the thunder from even the irresistible charms of Noyonika Chatterjee.
Day 3 of the Fashion Week maintained the momentum with the need for a global change and few make consistent efforts to create a zero waste line. Germany-based Chandra Prakash Jha is a frontrunner in this movement where he believes each garment of his label Cocccon must not leave any carbon footprint, so he works tirelessly in his hometown Jharkhand, to provide not just employment to tribes, but also teaches them the value of ecological farming. Thus, his origami inspired futuristic skirts and peace silk along with penchant for appliqué created a line that spoke about the need to change our outlook towards fashion or be ready to face environmental damages.
Slouchy, roomy, sometimes sequinned most of the time rooted, can be some working words that best describe the design ideology of Abraham and Thakore. This year too they stuck to what they do best— black and whites, asymmetry and engineered saris using discarded PET material adding to this their signature hand stitching. Of course, you have the one-off printed suits for men, which you can sober down with separates or wear an entire ensemble just the way it is like their showstopper Dia Mirza.
The new mom showed us that nothing can really take away from who you inherently are if you know who you want to be! Men in A & T didn’t shy away from adorning shine, though the interesting paradox in the duo’s line was the desire for elementary juxtaposed with the want for lustre. On one hand, came their belted wraps skirts and jackets, on the other side of the spectrum were some seriously glistening men’s jackets as Thakore and Abraham walked the proverbial tightrope ensuring every customer’s need is satiated.
What can one really say about Rina Singh of Eka, except that she has never really deviated from her core belief system in creating outfits with an artistic edge. And it is just not about the use of ingenious fabrics or floating dresses, but making clothes that don’t overtake your personality but add an endearing dimension to it. So her quintessential Japanese take with quilted pants, whispering dresses in gossamer white as well as lace trimmings told us ‘have faith, fashion is now more about how you feel and less about how you look’.
There is a song that goes something like this….these are a few of my favourite things and for Rajesh Pratap Singh known for his clean minimal lines that have made many women swoon for the last twenty years, announced his love for austerity through —- the dishy Rahul Bose, analogue cameras, merriment of a rainy day, banter and pieces of a Retro life. Puneet Nanda who, named the label after his father, has now retired into Sadhguru’s ashram passed the baton to Rajesh Pratap Singh who maintained the vibrancy of Satya Paul but introduced his 3 D flowers onto ubiquitous pant suits and dresses, this time in their printed glory. Did he need Tripti Dimri in a charcoal black suit to tell us that he can still create magic, maybe not, but Pratap does know that his line will bring back hope and light into a world that was plunged in darkness with unabashed colour.