On a fashion high

Day 1 of the Lakme Fashion Week saw creativity at its best
Fresh fashion came to the fore on the first day first show of Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2010 at Grand Hyatt on Friday. Laser lights pierced the air and danced on the long ramp at the GenNext show as young and talented designers including Riddhi and Siddhi Mapxencar, Juilee Benkale, Fazal Mahmood and Akanksha Arora, Pragya and Megha Samor, Jelin George and Ruchika Sachdeva displayed their creations.
Indigo and natural dyes featured heavily in the collection by Abhishek Dutta with a range that aimed to promote nature on all fronts. Colours like blue, deep aqua, Turkish blue, white, pearl along with silver and antique gold were on view with a profusion of embellishments with resham, appliqué, cutwork and plenty of highlights with Mukaish and metal chains.
Following him, was Soumitra Mondal who gave an earthy ethnic touch with khadi in earthy tones of dark brown, maroon, black and green. Batik was the main craft that added to the rustic beauty of the khadi fabric in different designs and colours. Presenting an Indian line, the designer worked wonders with the sarees, lehengas, kurtis, kalidar kurtas and long dresses.
The return to nature theme continued with Digvijay Singh for Bhusattva presenting an organic collection inspired by the Rafflesia flower called ‘Tidak Ada Lagi’ which means “there are not many left” in Malay. Silhouettes of the collection were inspired by the flower but with a marked Indian touch, giving a flowing elegant look to the creations.
From the designing table of Asmita Marwa once again it was Maya that inspired her, but this time it was the ‘Evolution of Maya’ as the theme. Aimed at the free-spirited globe-trotter who is quite bohemian at heart but wants no boundaries for her dressing preferences, the designer’s creations had that certain touch of spiritual attitude. The dories or threads that were the highlight of the collection symbolised the lines that connect life.
Anita Dongre’s collection worked around a more western silhouette but highlighting them with beautiful traditional craft, the garments were adorned with stunning silver jewellery. Using some eco-friendly fabrics, Anita had a versatile wardrobe for the woman on the go. The embroidery was cleverly used on cuffs, necklines, yokes in glittering gold and silver. Drapes appeared on dresses with the greatest of ease as they moved all over the garments in an innovative manner.
Bringing day one of the Lakme Fashion Week with Good Times partner Kingfisher, to a grand close, was Manish Arora, who one can always expect the unexpected from. A terrific experience of extreme creativity, bringing forth an inspirational mix of futuristic style with a robotic feel and art deco into fashion. Packed with psychedelic kaleidoscopic, abstract designs and colours, Manish appearing on the Mumbai ramp after years unleashed a line of dresses with drapes, rouched blouses, structured jackets with colourful cowl pants, bias cut skirts and sexy plunging V necklines.
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