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LIFESTYLE: IFW
Cockamamie Confusion
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THE CLICHES
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Rina
Dhaka created a Klingon nightmare while Rohit Bal went belt-crazy.
Muzaffar Ali was all Kanpur-chic while Ritu Kumar, ah, disappointed
with the mundane. |
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THE SURPRISES
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Rajesh Pratap Singh justified hype with frayed
denim, asymmetry and wearable newsprint. Anuradha Vakil was pret
sexy, while Leena and Ashima Singh had ruched shoulderwear and trendy
turbans.
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It doesn't take
couture cognoscenti to see that it was the luminaries of Indian fashion
who disappointed. Even a wannabe designer like Vijay Arora, at least tried
to be taken seriously with a much-hyped women's chogha in fuschia pink
silk with gold zardosi which apparently took three months to weave. But
the zardosi-loving Kumar herself seemed to be content with an infertile
imagination: one of her collections was aptly named the Colours of Thar-pleasant,
unexciting, with lots of layered clothes; long kurtas, teamed often with
churidars and shararas, or sheer patiala salwars. While it was obvious
that Dhaka was trying to make a contemporary design statement, the end
result was cockamamie confusion. Psychedelic in a sparkle of savage squares
with sequinned borders, green and blue and red clashing with scant disregard
for aesthetics, la Dhaka was a grotesque parody of her erstwhile mentor
Rohit Bal. Kitsch and tell seems to be her motto. Parrots on hair, Klingon
makeup and the AXN look. As design statements go, Dhaka did not have the
sophistication of a Malhotra or the elegant elan of a Monisha Jaising
nor the innovative mixture of colour, fabric and style which Ashima Singh's
ruched chunnis and Arab-Egyptian dresses showed. Her inspiration? Ragpickers,
we are told. Obviously it must have been a ragpickers to riches story.
Bal in his trademark dark bandgala was better
dressed than most of his models. His clothes were neither well-fitting
nor innovative, though his fabric work was perfect: they offered little
beyond the usual little puns designers love-belts on lowslung lehengas,
evening gowns as Punjabi wedding wear. Bal, who complained that the press
was insipid, loves belts and he did hit below consistently with broad
white hipwear, whether it be on saris, lehengas or pants. His formal wear
was the saving grace: elegant in black and silver.
Ultimately, the spectacle was about celebrity-lots
of clubbing and totty at the party. A bespectacled Kajol cheering and
mussing her hair while choking at the clouds of mica the swish of skirts
threw up. Behind her Kareena Kapoor in red danced to the rampbeats while
a balding Yash Chopra looked on. Kumaramangalam Birla wore casual leather
pants and loafers without socks while Sonali Bendre looked fascinated
by Malhotra's chunnis on saris. Vijay Mallya high-fived with Bal on the
catwalk, Parameshwar Godrej mwah-mwahed Malhotra and a stiff-necked Indrani
Gupta, the new Lakme model, groovied on the dance floor. But a miffed
Leena Singh, who had given away her invitations to the Finale party, departing
with bags and baggage, said she worries about the future of ifw. "Only
a few matter here, the rest don't exist. Rohit Bal and Rina Dhaka didn't
even bother to have stalls."
Looks like in India, where the fashion industry
is still in its zari-zardosi cradle, all that will glitter for now is
the glitterati.
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