Of eccentric cuts and asymmetrical silhouettes – Alpana & Neeraj

Alpana & Neeraj at the Wills India Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015

Alpana & Neeraj took the audience by surprise at the Wills India Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015, with their quirky take on Japanese culture. Their collection brought forth a rather unusual amalgamation of eccentric cuts and asymmetrical silhouettes. What stood out the most was the atypical yet bold usage of the bow motif.

Alpana & Neeraj at the Wills India Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015

The designer duo seemed to be obsessed with everything cute or Kawaii (in the context of Japanese tradition). Their chosen colour palette was bold and vibrant—electric blue, scarlet, black with hints of beige, golden and whites. The subtle interplay of fabrics made the outfits stand out. Sheer, raw silk and satin interplayed well to surface patterns, and multiple layers of frills with undertones of minimalism and clean lines.

Alpana & Neeraj at the Wills India Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015

Sharp linear structures are softened with bows and scallops. Harajuku-styled aprons skirts are worn over sharply-cut pants, large floral patches are sewn on to long linear dresses, and black gets special attention with obe add-ons and structured tie ups. Roundness of compositions, childlike proportions and interesting choice of colours make the collection look like little dolls’ clothes.

Power to Women at Lakmé fashion week winter/festive 2014

Druv Kapur

Druv Kapur’s label ‘DRVV’ showcased stunning garments that depicted after-effects of a battleground, wherein the fighting woman emerged stronger and bolder. The garments were primal and eclectic, which depicted resurrected soldier. Untamed and unstructured in construction with textures handcrafted from silk, it was minimal.

Druv Kapur

The colours that so rightly gave essence to the collection were wolf grays and bloody reds. These hues were hinted at in the linings or on the garment as a whole, along with fur and button detailing. The bloodthirsty compilation consisted of modest yet fierce silhouettes like plain collared shirts with dramatic back floor touching drapes paired with pants that were lined with zip detailing. Another focal point of the designs was the fur like dress, stitched on blood red cape that further went on and draped around the arms.

Pranav Mishra & Shyma Shetty

‘HUEMN’ by Pranav Mishra and Shyma Shetty made another powerful statement through their clothing line at the fashion week. The fascinating duo enticed the crowd and created a line that threw light on the battles of a fearless woman. They based it on the delicacy and softness of ideal woman that subtly yearned for masculine separates. The constant change was depicted in the form of androgynous styling. This transformed into a dubious contrast with the character of the fabric, the craftsmanship and the colour that balanced it out. Importance was given to both the trouser and skirt that rendered it equivocal. Restructured evergreen silhouettes were fused with futuristic materials and embellishment detailing that gave it the perfect urbanised demeanour.

Pranav Mishra & Shyma Shetty

Fabrics like vinyl, cotton, silk, hosiery and classic suiting fabrics took centre stage as the chaos was merged to form serene silhouettes like the pants in suit fabrics that were designed to look sporty. A mehendi green pencil skirt with a white stripe and an oversized black jumper was another ensemble that stood out. Men’s wear had plain white shirt with a leafy appliqué in the shape of an ‘O’. Also seen was a classic grey suit sporting white striped patches and ankle grazed pants. This made the collection wearable for both the sexes.

Monica Shah and Karishma Swali

Proud owners of ‘JADE’, Monica Shah and Karishma Swali once again showcased a collection that one could be proud of. India’s heritage and culture were revealed in their new collection, ‘In The Temples Of Hoysala’ at the fashion week. The show opened with internationally renowned contemporary dancer Astaad Deboo who also closed the presentation with his graceful dance movements. The effort put into the collection by the pair was to draw attention to work of the artisans who, at that time had no idea how magnificently it would be admired.

Monica Shah and Karishma Swali

This dynamic duo rendered the beautiful painstaking hand carvings from around the temples of Hoysala in Karnataka, South India onto fabric to give the collection the grace and beauty that the temples emit. The exquisite ensembles were further enhanced in elegance with the moulded motifs that were discovered around the temples. The duo infused colours drawn from Kathakali dancers, which were subtle muted shades like beige and gold that matched with contrasting colours like pinks, oxblood and antique gold to highlight the contours of the temples. The silhouettes were clean cut and gave prominence to the colossal grace.

Nupur Kanoi

Nupur Kanoi celebrated bridal wear in an unconventional style at the fashion week. Marrying traditional with contemporary touches, the line offered loose distressed knits with cable knit patterns, slipped rows in hand knits, along with wool, herringbone and argyle patterns. ‘Close Knit’ is the unconventional title given to the collection, which was divided into three distinct colours – bronze, silver and gold, along with heavy metal revealed marked fusions touch and were ideal for the bridal season.

Nupur Kanoi

This interesting avant-garde blend of winter wear with bridal embellishments was used creatively for sweaters, coats, blazers, kimonos, ponchos and parkas, which were merged with lehengas, gherdaars, sherwanis, kurtas and angarkhas to form a new-age offering in silks and crushed tissues. The silver segment worked around cable knit/slipped row embroidery for the crushed tissue cropped jackets, angarkhas, trousers and the bundhgala suits. An innovative silver poncho T-shirt maxi and long poncho waistcoat gave a new look to western wear.

Style Parade at Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2014

Teresa Laisom and Utsav Pradhan

Designer duo Teresa Laisom and Utsav Pradhan under their label ‘Munkee see Munkee doo’ showcased an uber chic collection titled ‘An Asian living in Europe’ at the fashion week. The imaginative range inspired by Japanese modern art and culture incorporated contemporary European aesthetics onto silhouettes, which ranged from skirts, dresses, coats, jackets, tops to trousers.

Teresa Laisom and Utsav Pradhan

Structured with a charming, natural flow, each piece was a beautiful fusion of oriental-meets-modern. Layers dominated the outfits in unique blends such as wool-felt, viscose twill and poly-satin, while embroideries with chords and shaded threads helped add a touch of bold sophistication.

Teresa Laisom and Utsav Pradhan

Mesh work along with zippers, pleats and an innovative use of suspenders to connect pieces infused a sporty-fun vibe, balancing out the range’s diverse appeal. The colour palette comprised of bold tones of white, red, grey, black, dusky cream and blue, while also offering paler, pastel tones for a more playful edge.

Chandni Mohan

‘Selvage’ an elegant and unique collection inspired by memories and their part in human life by designer Chandni Mohan was a raging success at the fashion week. Classic, quirky silhouettes of the late 1980’s, graced the ramp with emphasised cuts and forms and were balanced by seams with anchor and nylon threads, for a wearable yet stylish appeal.

Chandni Mohan

Separates and ensembles comprised of box fit jackets, shirt dresses, shorts, skirts, cape jackets and draped dresses in versatile shades of night black, bronze brown, mulberry wine, and ethereal white. Fabrics ranged from woolen fur, felt, heavy cotton twill to micro crepes matched to stretch wool, foil jersey and Napa leather.

Chandni Mohan

Combining aesthetics from Frank Gehry’s movement in architecture, the designer focused on extreme detailing and skillfully used zipper accents, metal studs and antique gold buttons for a simple yet sassy edge. Nifty, nostalgic and out of this world, ‘Selvage’ by Chandni Mohan will have any fashionista reminiscing and ready to take on the world- fashionably.

Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson

Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson made a debut with their label ‘Easton Pearson’ at the fashion week with an Indo-Australian fashion fantasy. No strangers to India, this 25-year-old label, which started in 1989 in Australia has become one of the top sellers in Sydney and Brisbane.

 

Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson

Working with Indian artisans for the past 20 years, this label caused excitement on the fashion ramp with the ‘BeBop’ collection. Inspired by the 1940’s BeBop Jazz era, it was a line replete with colour and exciting patterns. A line up of models sporting white wigs edged in pink, green, blue or orange set the mood for the show.

Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson

Opting for only natural fabrics like high quality silks and cottons, the pair used embellishments, which were varied with glass, raffia, cotton tape, beads, cut and mirror work as well as hand embroidery, which added to the beauty of the garments. Contrasts were rampant in hues as blue, orange, green, brown and white combined with modern shapes and extraordinary details. Beaded slip dresses had flirty raffia fringing, while there was wildly striped multi-coloured tussar silk with opulent embroidery executed by Shrujan in Kutch.

Organic fashion takes centre-stage at Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2014

Anavila with Showsopper Konkona Sen Sharma

‘Mohenjo Daro’ by Anavila Sindhu Mishra– Anavila Sindhu Mishra’s collection ‘Mohenjo Daro’ took the spectators back to an era of sheer magnificence at the fashion week. She brought back the various strands of life from a beautiful bygone time. Taking direction from various objects found at the excavation such as the culture, regional artifacts and the art remains, Anavila painted a beautiful visual picture for the collection. She was also inspired by her muse Konkona Sen Sharma, who portrayed this era gracefully.

Anavila

The major highlight of this compilation was the handiwork of treatments done on hand-woven textiles. The fabrics used were linen, cotton and silk, which were dominant at that time. Stitching techniques like extra weft weaving, block printing and ikat gave prominence to the Indus motifs. Over-dyeing and printing had also been used to create an aged, rustic look. Ajrak printing, featured at Mohenjo Daro, was an important aspect of the collection. The becoming creations had gorgeous colours like mehendi green, gold metallic sheens, off white, navy blues and rust reds.

Anavila

Other garments that stood out were the cutout sari with the rust/red blouse and garment detailing, which included line texturing in the form of embroidery and elephant prints along with a tan-belted sari that really brought out the visual appeal of the textile. To add to the ethnicity of the entire collection the accessories were made of beaten metal, terracotta and leather.

Purvi Doshi with Showstopper Sonal Chauhan

‘Chavi’ By Purvi Doshi- Purvi Joshi showcased her creative side at the fashion week by bringing in harmony between two cultures for her collection ‘Chavi’. Inspiration was drawn from the ever-famous African Aztec prints, which are trendy all over the world. Purvi converted these prints to turn them into a desi offering of glamorous fusion wear. This change from international to hometown material was created with brilliant merging of the prints into mirror embroidery with subtlety of Kutch and Gujarat beaming through.

Purvi Doshi

The garments looked melodious in sound hues of saffron, blue, chili red, green and white that effortlessly flowed into the silhouettes. The handwork on the garments was the reflection of a dying art of mirror work by the rural crafts-people who were struggling to keep this tradition afloat.

Purvi Doshi

This collection had maxis, saris paired with short kurtas along with flared blouses, tie and dye skirts as well as long kurtas with flared pants. This collection had variety of detailing like pleats, layering, gather and keyholes. It was colourful and eclectic just like its mirror work. Other enchanting ensembles were the anarkalis that were rich in blue and had colourful edging details. Rajasthani bangles were also a major statement making accessory style that was adopted to complete the collection. Sonal Chauhan was the showstopper for her collection.

Sashikant Naidu and Showstopper Shreya Saran

‘Separe’ by Sashikant Naidu– Sashikant Naidu brought the limelight onto 21st century women with his collection ‘Separe’, which is French for ‘Separates’ at the fashion week. The underlying idea was to create separate pieces that would look divine with already possessed items in every lady’s wardrobe.

Sashikant Naidu

A wide range of dresses, jackets, skirts, scarves, stoles to dupattas, lehengas, saris and blouses was the essence of the collection. The brilliance of a collection such as this would only stand out by using silks, Dupion, fletcher, ikat and khadi along with crepes. The look commenced with light, layered and textured outfits, all made in khadi with embellishments such as handmade accessories and tribal jewellery to bring out the rawness of idea.

Sashikant Naidu

Hues like metallic grey, flower prints, lime green, emerald green and rust reds had exquisite detailing like pom-poms and pleats. Majority of the colours of this compilation were in shades of red, green and blue dawned on silhouettes like body-fitted maxi dress, sleeveless high low cardigan, sequined edged kurtas and asymmetrical handkerchief maxi skirts. Another ensemble that stood out was the midi dress, which was layered with box pleats and had long flared sleeves. A technique of hand painting was used with only eco-friendly paints and was contemporary for the style and silhouettes of the collection. Adding just a hint of shimmer in the embroidery, Sashikant ensured that the artisans incorporated the temples of South India and embodied nature in the designs. Bollywood star Shriya Saran was in a polished emerald green blouse with a red sari along with exaggerated nose jewellery, which was a perfect ending to the radiant collection.

Pakistani Designers, Sania Maskatiya, Riawan Beyg and Zara Shahjahan presented fashion flavours of Pakistan at Lakmé Fashion Week Winter Festive 2014

The ramp came alive with glitz and glamour of three top Pakistani designers presented by POPxo.com in association with HELLO.

Rizwan Beyg

‘Digitruck’ by Rizwan Beyg– Working with rural communities that empower women, Rizwan Beyg’s collection incorporated soft, feminine, romantic feel that will appeal to women who long for aesthetically designed ensembles. Inspiration for Rizwan was the very colourful truck art, which Pakistan is known for.

Rizwan Beyg

Using the many designs and colours of this very quirky form for a variety of garments like jackets, pants, tops, waistcoats, skirts and accessories; Rizwan offered a characteristic style statement of his country. Presenting a funky line called ‘Digitruck’, which also included jewellery, shoes and bags, the collection was a riot of colours on the ramp. Tiered miniskirts, white bustier, asymmetric dress, off-shoulder dhoti jumpsuit, orange flared top with satin printed sharara, and printed corset with blue flapper pants were all fun filled offerings for the young at heart. The empire line georgette cover off- shoulder blouse, tiered maxi drop waist printed corset dress and the will-power asymmetric gown with a long trail looked striking on the catwalk.

Sania Maskatiya

‘Sakura’ by Sania Maskatiya– After launching her label in 2007, Sania Maskatiya is one of the fastest selling brands in Pakistan. Short listed for the 2014 Woolmark Award, Sania’s fashion statement was a remarkable balance between elegance, aesthetics, comfort and above all practicality.

Sania Maskatiya

Inspired by nature and her surroundings, the collection called ‘Sakura’ was an ode to the Cherry Blossoms of Japan. The embellishments recreated Japanese flavour with landscapes and culture and had hints of treasure chest motifs. The blend of geometric embroidery and great textures added to the opulent look of the garments. Sania’s creations were divided into prét-a-porter, luxury and haute couture for women and had the interplay of colours and intricate detailing, which was the basis of her collection. The beauty of Japanese motifs came alive in the printed tunics, sheer flared beige top, one-shoulder satin tunic and pleated printed organza waistcoats. White pants were topped with a variety of cropped tops and blouses; while overlapped tunics, a gorgeous reversible asymmetric cover, angular two-tone tunic and draped printed column gown, over pants completed the look of the ensembles.

Zara Shahjahan

‘The City of Gardens’ by Zara Shahjahan– Zara Shahjahan’s creations were aimed at making women look beautiful and confident. Her decade old label has been a hot favourite in Pakistan and beyond. Creating a variety of categories that ranged from luxury prét to western wear and couture, Zara’s designing skills were amply evident in the extravagant detailing. The gara embroidery, Swarovski crystals and the amazing handcrafted embellishments were selectively used.

Zara Shahjahan

‘The City of Gardens’ was the title for Zara’s vintage collection, where old Lahore and floral vintage prints were the highlight. Merging traditional designs from her country with modern high fashion quotients, Zara offered a fusion look to the buyer. Shimmer and shine was the basis of this ethereal collection, which opened with a delicate sari followed by an organza-sequined attached cape for a feminine top. Printed, pleated maxi skirt, net covers with tilla work, sequined sheeting for skirt with lace cover and the one sleeve waistcoat-cum-cape were gorgeous in appearance. Glittering rhinestone, scalloped kurti cutwork top with printed embroidered drop waist skirt and the cut-out sleeve net kurta matched to a flowing sharara created magic on the ramp.