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India Couture Week review: The bridal lehnga goes white
Summary
While the eight-day fashion showcase stuck to the usual Bollywood-esque themes and glamour for wedding wear, it did challenge some traditional ways of dressing
When brands Asal and Mard opened the India Couture Week on 24 July at Delhi's Taj Palace hotel, they unintentionally set the tone for the rest of the 13 showcases scheduled over the next seven days.
Foot-tapping music, heavily embroidered garments targeted towards brides- and grooms-to-be and their families, blingy jewellery, celebrity showstoppers, and a collection drenched in neutral shades—it was not just reflective of the brands' maximalist approach to design, but also of what today's shopper wants.
In place of the usual red lehnga-choli or sari that's synonymous with traditional bridalwear, for instance, couturiers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, the brains behind more accessible brands Asal and Mard, opened their show with actor Wamiqa Gabbi wearing an ivory lehnga, embellished with chikan and resham work, with a matching pearl embroidered corset-style choli and a webbed headgear made using, again, pearls and crystals. Of the 100-odd looks, only seven carried bright shades of red. (Quite opposite of what the world saw during the recent Ambani wedding festivities.)
"Today's modern bride want to go light," Khosla said backstage. “Even heavy embroidery looks light on neutral shades, especially white."
Small wonder then the rest of the 13 collections included more shades of ivories, silvers, greys, blush pinks, blacks and blues, than the earlier trending bright reds and rani pinks. Whether it was Roseroom's lacy mermaid-style skirt-blouse combinations and bodysuits (matched with almost-knee length lacy socks), or J.J. Valaya's Art Deco-meets-Mughal art billowy skirts and saris inspired from his travels across India, Istanbul and Isfahan, there were far more varieties, in terms of silhouettes and designs, in lighter shades.
Even Suneet Varma decided to look beyond his usual colour palette and experiment with pale shades, including blush pink. The result: a collection that made heads turn, if you looked beyond the over blingy-ness. Among the striking creations in Nazm was the corset blouse that came attached with a blooming 3D garden of pearls, crystals and sequins that reached well over the model's face. It leaned into the concept that couture is, at the end of the day, wearable art.
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That concept was evident throughout Amit Aggarwal's collection Antevorta, which, according to the press release, is “used in Greek philosophy to personify the Goddess of Future". It was an intelligent combination of turning traditional textiles (pre-loved Benarasi saris) and engineering them to become sculptural dresses. While his stunning collection made you realise the immense creative potential of Indian designers to create couture that's capable of impressing global audience, it made you wonder whether such garments could shine on bodies of all sizes.
Strictly meant for India
The Abu-Sandeep's Rani Aur Raj Kumar: The Triumph Of Love collection made another thing clear: In India, couture largely means wedding wear. And it isn't surprising, considering the fashion market dedicated to weddings is a billion dollar industry.
Perhaps that's why both Rahul Mishra and Gaurav Gupta chose to present collections far different from their Paris Couture Week showcases.
Mishra's Nargis collection, which communicated the designer’s well-known love for flora and fauna through forms of intricate embroidery, showed various scenes of a spring garden, including peacocks overlooking a Mughal-style window. A personal favourite was a beige-ivory sari that had flowers embroidered in such a way that it gave the impression of blooming out of the garment. There were, however, instances where embroidery seemed too much. A pant-suit, for example, had elements of Art Deco, besides scenes of the garden.
Sometimes no embroidery can also make a garment stand out. And Gaurav Gupta's cape-meets-kaftan sheer dress with an exaggerated shoulder-plate was a great example of less is more. His Arunodaya collection, again mostly in browns, blacks, ice whites and greens, was classic Gaurav Gupta: futuristic designs served in variations of lehngas, gowns, suits and sari gowns. Elements such as metallic breastplates and reflective embroidery helped the collection stand apart in a sea of shows that used more traditional embroideries like chikan and zardozi.
There at Tarun Tahiliani's Otherworldly showcase, couture was married with comfort, with a variety of takes on the sheer dress and sari. It served as a reminder of Indian designers' growing interest in how people use clothes to reveal, or disguise, themselves.
Crafts like kashidakar, mukaish and chikankari were married with more contemporary silhouettes to keep the looks trendy, yet timeless—something the Tahiliani is known for.
Falguni Shane Peacock, the finale brand, on the other hand, decided to not stick with the house design codes, at least not towards the beginning of the Rang Mahal collection showcase. Instead of crowding the looks with their trademark feather-embellished dresses, the designers, Falguni and Shane Peacock, presented chandelier-inspired lehngas-choli and gowns. Some would have looked more opulent if the zip wasn't too visible.
The ending look of the Peacocks show was actor Rashmika Mandanna (along with Vicky Kaushal in a beige-ivory white sherwani and sheer kurta) in an ivory lehnga, embellished with pearls, crystals and sequin, confirming what the Asal bride had communicated a week ago. Red is out, white is in.
