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LIFESTYLE: LAKME INDIA
FASHION WEEK
Patchwork Chic
The
outre and the conventional sashayed together at India's biggest style
spectacle. In effect it was clutter mania on the ramp.
By Natasha Israni
Fashion is a controlled
celebration of exaggeration. At this year's Lakme India Fashion Week (LIFW)
in Mumbai there was both starefest and schmooze but on the ramps, while
the flashbulbs spat and the music played, a lot was a patchwork of couture-an
indecisive, mixed bag of colour, cut and cloth.
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| Monica Jaising's elegantly contemporary Indo-Western
fusion |
The opening show was wearable fashion, the choice
the two junior mad boys of Indian design. Delhi's Aki Narula showcased
his "getting up after sex feel" hot pants and jock straps, with
bikini tops with cellophane and streamers as accessories, while Goa-based
Savio Jon had salwar-like gathered pants for women and gold Roman kilts
for men. Wearable? "It's a culture shock," buyer Deepak Budhrani
rolled his eyes.
Malini Ramani and Jon, stuck to the loud 1980s
cluttered look-leather, even fur. Ramani said her new inspiration was
religion. Those sporting her designs will surely have to say their prayers.
As for Jon, he says he tends to be wilder when he's single. No marks for
guessing his current status. Without a woman, the result is chaos. In
spite of his madness and long orgasmic shrieks for his shows, Narula did
have some good stuff like the bunched up patchwork skirts teamed with
a host of white shirts and denim jackets.
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| CULTURE CONTRAST: Aki Narula's 'getting up
after sex feel' hot pants and jock straps |
Of course, the ubiquitous delight of the spectacle-apart
from the models-was the thin, navel savvy sarong. Few designers could
resist from adding some to their collections. Even the traditional Ritu
Kumar's sexiest designs were the soft, asymmetrical skirts that she draped
her models in, with matching bra tops and thin chunnis.
Pret often gave way to diffusion as was seen
at Kiran Uttam Ghosh's show. After her "whimsical" pret line
with poncho-like shapes, you suddenly had the embellished lehenga catwalking
towards you. Monisha Jaising was the elegant surprise of the fest. Her
fusion and diffusion was stylish and harmonious. Poonam Bhagat's saris
may have been exquisite, but it was really her short skirts that were
impossibly cute. Puja Nayyar, one on the Selfridges hot list, did well
with hand-knit chiffon pants. The others who got buyers interested was
waif-like Anshu Arora Sen. This Stephanian, who has been into designing
costumes for plays, did well with the bright synthetic, gathered skirts.
Eclectic and creative, she blended Indian street elements for a kitschy
look. Thankfully, she didn't opt for the clutter mantra that was on overdrive
on the ramp.
Mumbai king of funk and designer to the stars,
Rocky S, showed Bollywood muscle. Hrithik Roshan in beige, Suzanne in
black and friend Preity Zinta in sassy pink-all chewing giggly gum. But
when Rocky's show began, there was no taking away the attention from his
bodacious and wearable lycra.
The first floor of the Taj Mahal Hotel was an
extension of the catwalk. Tinted haired make-up dons like Cory Walia,
perennially pouty models like Carol Gracias in her low-waisted grunge
'n' smoke look, Delhi designers who refused to take part in desi fashion
weeks but couldn't keep away either, like Suneet Varma, fashion photographers
like Italy's Carlos Silvestro who loves Fleur Xavier's looks but didn't
find her there... That's just a whiff of the surface. The real thing:
150 backstage workers, including 48 female and 16 male dressers, 33 stalls,
four sets of choreographers, three make-up teams, around 15,000 general
visitors, 250 accredited media people, 300 company visitors, 600 individual
buyers, including 10 international ones. A noveau addition this year was
a booth manned by trend forecaster Rajiv Goyal whose profession, unlike
in the West, not many designers in India take seriously.
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