Designer Aneeth Arora opened the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week’s Spring/Summer 2015 edition on 8 October at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan with a collection that underlined femininity and prettiness. The setting denoted youth and spring, happily synonymous concepts if you think about it. Shiny, man-made grass to tread upon, rows of flowering plants giving you the impression of sitting in a blooming nursery, models carrying watering cans with flower tiaras in their braided hair, tiny earthen pots with the spiritually symbolic and medicinal Tulsi plant as a giveaway, sweet sunflower seeds to nibble on and thoughtfully selected romantic music.
My reason behind this argument is to substantiate why I found Arora’s collection rather traditional—very Indian in its head even if Parisian in its body. As a reviewer following her commendable work from the time she debuted, this show prompted me towards a course correction and relook at the symbolism the designer now conveys.
That said, the collection comprising chanderi tunics and kaftans, silk slips, cotton and linen jackets, a couple of all over embroidered waistcoats, cotton gauze dresses some fluorescent needlework on the collars, crocheted inners and blouses, silk jumpsuits with lace, tunics with beaded yokes, denim trousers with hand-embroidered hems, check print shorts, linen tops with floral cut work would undoubtedly send aspiring European buyers into a fashion frenzy. You can see women rooting for them everywhere in the world.
“It’s for the woman who would rather wear flowers in her hair than diamonds around her neck….; more for art gallery opening than red-carpet…” said Arora’s collection note giving away her enchantment with the understated and the grassroots than with crass capitalism.
I would still urge her to probe this femininity impulse a little more to see if she hasn’t glossed over the steely nerve and verve that modern women look for. Both in themselves and in their clothes.
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.
