It’s day two of fashion week and already some strong trends are emerging. Red is a favoured colour, stripes are back and there is a strong leaning towards all things pleated. With Rahul Mishra, Shivan and Narresh, Pankaj and Nidhi, AM:PM all showing today, expectations were higher. These designers have graduated from being rising stars to the arrived ones.
HITS:
Shivan and Narresh are India’s swim wear and resort wear heroes. Known for their colour blocking, they decided to skin block for this collection. The “Slash” was the favoured technique and the anchor of the collection. I am sure the slash sari will be a favourite with fashion editors. They used more black than earlier and kept things cleaner. The result was their most focused collection to date.
AM:PM stayed true to use of the Urbane with all things Tribal. Navy blue was their black and like most designers, they embraced red. Mao collars added soft elegance. This duo always uses beautiful fabrics resulting in a collection that has natural finesse. No wonder so many attendees chose to wear AM:PM.
Amit Aggarwal has been the media’s darling for a while. And this show will ensure he continues to be. Futuristic is his thing, and his use of texture turns garments into pieces of sculpture. Texturing in horizontals played on the stripe trend. He also used a lot of diaphanous materials. One shoulder capes and warrior style shapes gave it that signature Amit Aggarwal feel. Not to be missed was his footwear, he turned wedges into pieces of wearable art.
Pankaj and Nidhi continued the whole sporty chic feel. Starting with a collection in tennis white, there was even a play on the tennis dress. Printed training pants were paired with boxy jackets. The elastic waistband belt with a metal bit was a constant. The collection was called “The Grammar of Ornament” and really showed you that this duo understand applique like no other. This was surface ornamentation that was all about refinement.
Rahul Mishra loves his textiles and this time it was all about Khadi Jamdani. By mixing jamdani with jersey, adding zips and throwing in PVC, this collection, like most others at fashion week was sporty. Rahul’s signature floral embroidery gave a feminine feel. He showed that you can be all about the traditional, yet be on trend.
MISSES:
Tarun Tahiliani held a press preview in his stall. Like many other senior designers, he opted not to show this season. An easy breezy collection, his use of layering is sophisticated, from the dhoti sari worn with a gillet to a dress with a shawl style overlay. This collection of separates lends itself to some beautiful styling and belongs on the ramp. With Rohit Bal, Sabyasachi, Manish Malhotra and Rajesh Pratap Singh staying away, the fashion calendar is a little skinny. Only in India, do designers take a season off- would Gucci’s Frida Giannini or Dior’s Raf Simons skip a season? Continuity is very important in fashion and senior designers need to lead the way. This is the biggest miss at fashion week. But for the emerging designers it has been a great opportunity which may have just been grabbed with both hands.