BackUNDERSTATEMENT: 10 looks we loved at LFW Winter-Festive 2014
Bursting with multi-collections or rather mini multi-collectionsmany shows with three designers displaying at onceLakme Fashion Week (LFW) Winter-Festive 2014 did have bursts of worthy fashion. Here, our pick of 10 in no particular order.
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1. Who: Frou Frou by Archana Rao who won the second Vogue Fashion Fund Award.
What: ‘Teasim’ inspired from Japan’s tea culture was a sweet, strong and modern line that included body con dresses, floral appliqués, sheer capes and layers, barely opaque shirts and buttoned-down maxis.
Lounge Loves: the striped body con dress with a sheer skirt sheath and pink floral appliqué work. Soft styling, both mod and modish, we also love the shoes.
2. Who: Sreejith Jivan. He debuted last season with his label Rouka.
What: ‘Strung Together’, inspired by handspun Indian garlands was a focused collection with consistency in shapes, a symmetry in use of colours—vermillion red and emerald green particularly—and interesting use of gentle, illustrative embroidery in geometric shapes on skirts, tunics, crop tops, dresses, pants, jackets…
Lounge Loves: The cowl necked top with gathers on the sleeves, mix of black sash, dancer’s belt and green flared pyjamas.
3. Who: Anavila Sindhu Misra, debuted last season at LFW with linen saris.
What: Mohenjo Daro, another small collection of linen saris, some overdyed for an older feel, others hand woven with gold threads, yet others indigo dyed and block printed in Kutch. Paired with loose, long blouses in appliqué and handloom variations.
Lounge Loves: The easy loose drape of the sari, the gold-thread woven blouse with a longer length than popular cholis.
4. Who: Antar Agni by Ujjawal Dubey who debuted last season in the GenNext show.
What: The collection titled ‘The Other Side’ had kurtas, dresses, trousers, crop tops, coats, wide pants and jackets for men and women in heavy, handwoven cottons, cotton jacquards and chambrays. It was a sturdy line with tough and basic country side aesthetics instead of delicate elite leanings.
Lounge Loves: The attitude of rugged reality in the way the clothes were stitched and styled with boots. Charcoal black usually looks good but it looks powerful here.
5. Who: Asa Kazingmei
What: ‘Changvei’ was a mini collection inspired by Naga warriors. For women there were skirts, corsets and gowns and for men, jackets, pants and shirts in staid forms. Shoulders were structured, necklines high—the influence of an armour’s restrictive and protectionist shape visible.
Lounge Loves: The way the designer pushed for a distinction, a niche in the otherwise populist world of Indian fashion crowded with sequins, gold, shimmer and lush fabrics.
6. Who: Payal Singhal
What: ‘Excavations’ by Payal Singhal was inspired by Chintz, one of India’s first exports to the world from the Coromandel coast. The palette was one of the best aspects of the collection with tones of aqua, teal, sienna, cranberry and coral. The linens, silks and crepes used were drape worthy, lust worthy.
Lounge Loves: The fact that there is a regular churidar-tunic-dupatta ensemble on the fashion ramp with good thought given to its construction. The floral printed dupatta is the high point of this set.
7. Who: Karishma Shahani Khan for her label Ka-Sha
What: ‘Khoj’ by Ka-sha was a line of tie-dyed and hand-painted motifs and patterns in natural dyes, combined with hand-embroidery techniques. The clothes were made from bits and pieces using discarded materials – fabrics, vegetable sacks, and plastic and ‘mukaish’ strips. There were see through shirts, short-short soft jackets, long soft jackets, overcoats and saris.
Lounge Loves: The Bohemian styling with a visible European sensibility to wear multiple layers in an enticing way. You can take these clothes anywhere in the world, wear them anyhow you like. Besides the intelligent mix of silhouettes, we loved the way colours like red, denim blue, orange, mint green were thrown together.
8. Who: Vaishali Shandangule
What: ‘Rabari’ had a long line of garments from minis and maxis to crinkled ghaghras, peplum blouses to cholis with extended front panels, the folk artist’s unrestrained colour palette the designer’s will to look at her design practice from a vibrant angle instead of minimalist, purist strokes she has tried so far.
Lounge Loves: The good old traditional combination of crinkled ghaghra with brocade blouse and vibrant green dupatta brought together in a pleasantly festive ensemble.
9. Who: Suhani Pittie
What: ‘Found and Lost’, yet another jewellery line from the popular Pittie’s New Age sensibility that pulsates with impulses from different eras. She used German silver, plated brass and copper, acrylic and pearls as materials and techniques like enamel work, lace work, curling, folding and pressing of metals to create hairpins, ear buttons, cuffs, harnesses, earrings, necklaces, belts and buckles, rings and bracelets.
Lounge Loves: The two-sided bold suspender neckpiece in gold and silver metal styled with a black and white ombre garment and black shoes.
10. Who: Varun Bahl
What: An elegant, luxurious and creatively definitive diffusion line with fine construction achieved what a horde of people call East meets West but don’t get anywhere close. It had gota jackets, silver shifts, minis, skirts, shirts, a satin swing coat, peplum jackets, tank tops and embroidered black and white capris. Some garments had Bahl’s signature rose motif appliqués and assorted botanical prints; others represented his talent at garment construction. With duchesse satin, soft cottons, crepe and tulle, the glamourous collection used black, gold, silver, grey, ivory, beige, mustard, rose, pale pink and blue as its colours.
Lounge Loves: Priyanka Chopra’s showstopper ensemble with black deconstructed pants, crop top and silver soft jacket.
This series is a comment on popular culture statements made through actions or words. Shefalee Vasudev is the author of Powder Room: The Untold Story of Indian Fashion.
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