Essay: The intelligent garment
Indian fashion is slowly shifting towards casual, low-key, non-blingy but dexterously designed garments
Soon after the London Fashion Week in September, Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian wrote an article on how the catwalk and the front row were embracing the new normal. It may be premature to chime in and agree with Cartner-Morley’s arguments on the vanishing of the peacock, or spot normal dressing from the catwalk to the street, but fashion is not called “forward" without a reason. Its tremors resonate everywhere. India is no exception.
The march to our own new normal was visible at the Spring/Summer 2015 edition of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week last month. Designers like Rajesh Pratap Singh, Pankaj & Nidhi, Aneeth Arora, Nachiket Barve, Sanchita Ajjampur, Urvashi Kaur and Payal Singhal, to name some, invested in silhouette, technical know-how, modern craftwork and fabulous materials, to offer a no-fuss approach to good dressing.
Clothes that are aesthetically beautiful instead of being inaccessibly “awesome", as fashion is feared to be: A subtler colour palette with no space for fuchsia and parrot green, the absence of shiny embellishments, the toning down of hair and make-up from shrill multiple statements to quiet, powerful glamour (think wet, gelled hair without a trace of make-up), attention to silhouette, and the ouster of tiny, clingy clothes, exemplify this change.
Most enjoyably, there is an emphasis on casual as truly “casual" instead of overdressed prêt that passed as Indian casual for years.
Pratap, known as the master of minimalism, focused his collection Blue Blood on indigo-dyed Khadi denim styled as a blue-collar line with sturdy leather shoes and workday jumpsuits. It had clothes for men and women brushed with the aura of simplicity that elevates casual wear to memorable fashion.
“I’ve loved indigo ever since I was a kid and for me the blue-collar worker is far more chic than anyone else. We edit out the fuss all the time. Each collection has a meaning which would get disguised if one stashed 50 things on it. The point is not to create a substantial visual overload but to concentrate on quality and construction," says Pratap, who worked on his indigo Khadi denim for more than three years.
On the other hand, Pankaj & Nidhi, known among fashion retailers as “star designers who balance commercial success and artistic appeal", showed Vintage Closet, using silk threadwork to reflect the elegance of lace in cape dresses and jackets.
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