Lakmé Fashion Week, a leading business event for the fashion industry, is back again with the Spring/Summer 2009 collections being showed at National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai
from 20-24 October 2008
. RVG Newsvision bring you daily coverage of the shows with detailed reviews specially written for us by fashion expert M.Mistry.
CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements ANNOUNCES WEDDING BELLES: ITS GLOBAL INITIATIVE IN INDIA
TOP TRENDS OF THE DAY
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One button jackets with single vents or vent less
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Lean silhouettes for suits
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Skinny pants with darted hems and Zootlanders for bottom wear
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Drawstrings at waist or hem for jackets
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Tonal embroidery and fabric texturing
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Zippers, cubes, jigsaw as embellishments
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Red for full suits and ice cream pastel colours for men’s wear
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Using knots to construct dresses
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Embossed fabrics for matte and shimmering effect
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Braille script and fabric braiding as embellishments.
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Hemlines extended to form hooded capes
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Bridal wear inspired by Gujarat and Rajasthan
TROY COSTA
Troy Costa focused on the Mumbai film Industry and has 35 movies to his credit. He progressed to designing corporate attire and eventually to the launch of his label TD Costa. In 2003 he launched a prêt line under his label 'Helen of Troy'.
Troy Costa presented a blend of sports and couture and called his collection just that – “Sports Couture” - which was basic with just a few touches of detailing using jersey and tricot along with satin, cotton, poplin, jersey and silk rayon.
The line had an easy elegant appeal very suitable for the hot season. Sporty destructured jackets with narrow sleeves and shawl lapels were teamed with skinny pants with darted hems. The silhouette at times was long with detailing like zips, double lapels, studs, and buckles adding to the masculine touch.
The knits were light weight and simple, similar to the jackets which were body hugging. Starting with a black sheer hoodie with a kangaroo pocket and rib hem; Troy followed it with a horizontal striped Tee worn with a multi pocket pant, then moved onto a grey zipped sweater and onto another blouson. Jackets had single vents and Troy introduced the one button closure rather strongly for them. Flap or concealed pockets cleverly added to the jackets. Giving the Jodhpuri a western touch he added a shirt collar. A one tab opening jacket in grey was interesting, while the double flap pockets for white Jodhpuri jacket again gave a new look to this traditional garment.
Shirts were meant for clubbing and were in shimmering abstract patterns, while a velvet vertical striped jacket and an iridescent grey formal suit made a good choice for late night events. A lapel less jacket was added to the collection for the adventurous male. “Sport Couture” will be a good seller for Troy Costa as he has played very safe with his styling and not ventured too much off the beaten track.
Arjun Khanna graduated from London and launched his namesake label in erstwhile Bombay in 1990. He designs for both, men and women. He creates classics and his trademark is exquisite embroidery, very fine finish and a clean contemporary styling.
For hot summer days Arjun Khanna’s collection was aptly titled “Ice Cream” which meant that all the colours would revolve around the cool flavours. With Vanilla as the base, Arjun added strawberry, mint, blueberry, lemon, pista, and butterscotch along with mocha for an absolutely ornate men’s wear collection that would serve as great trousseau wear for the stronger sex.
Each garment was an exclusive with belted backs, teamed with skinny ties or bows in textured linen, cotton and cotton silk blends. Excellent at construction, Arjun cut the trousers and patched them together in nine part patterns and gave the sleeve cuffs the rippling effect of ice cream.
His favourite sherwanis were given a more western touch with collars. The tailored jackets, shirts, waistcoats, bundgala jackets had minute pleating and pin tucking while the pants had chevrons and multi joints. Appliqué was used in varying patterns and the silhouettes were single or double breast with multiple buttons for the jackets. Embellishments appeared in the form of shimmering half belts or tonal embroidery. Lace was used lavishly for loose shoulder yokes, pockets and pastel contrasts for waistcoats which gave them a jaunty look.
The tailoring as always was superb with each garment ending up as a show stopper. The “Ice Cream” line was a fun filled collection with a lot of mix and match options that an adventurous man could experiment with.
Arjun Khanna once again proved that when it comes to men’s wear he has few equals in the business and when it comes to being stylishly avant garde, then he stands at the top since his men’s wear is what most groom’s dream of dressing in.
CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements ANNOUNCES WEDDING BELLES: ITS GLOBAL INITIATIVE IN INDIA
CRYSTALLIZEDTM – SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE UNBRIDALED – THE MARRIAGE OF TRADITION AND AVANT GARDE On 16 September 2008, at the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi,
CRYSTALLIZED™ –Swarovski Elements, Swarovski’s new product brand for all loose Swarovski crystals, will unveil its fabulous wedding initiative and aesthetically ground-breaking coffee table book “UNBRIDALED – The Marriage of Tradition and Avant Garde” for the very first time in India. The breathtaking exhibition, displaying exclusive accessories, jewellery, fashion and interior pieces embellished with CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements, will be open to the public from 17-20 September. To make this initiative more relevant in the country CRYSTALLIZEDTM has exclusively partnered and collaborated closely with top local influencers in the Indian wedding market.
Distinctive Indian cultural richness and grandeur will be displayed by over 65 spectacular exhibits from Indian design labels and talents, which will be juxtaposed with a host of renowned international pieces from the unveiling of the exhibition earlier this year in Paris. Showcasing a fresh, modern and edgy interpretation for the burgeoning Indian wedding market all exhibits will be illuminated by the brilliance of CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements.
Narendrea Kumar graduated from National Institute of Fashion Technology in 1990. He specializes in creating perfect garments with contemporary global styling. He achieves this by focusing on shapes & silhouettes, finishing and tailoring techniques.
Narendra Kumar Ahmed was a little upset and angry with the levels of intolerance in the country when he created his collection for Spring/Summer 2009. So, it was but natural that his collection was titled “The Rise of Fascism” inspired by the neo Nazi skin heads with models’ heads wrapped in “blood soaked” bandages.
But let the theme not depress the buyer, because the line was a trendy set of short jackets with skinny pants, cropped cabin jackets some embellished with a variety of denims. The fabrics were light cotton silk for jackets with mesh lining and poplin jackets teamed with sporty formal track pants in colours that were very masculine with orange and green inspired by the Indian flag.
Epaulettes appeared on most of the garments to give a more martial look to them. Bombers in shot silk, green cargo Bermudas, draped neck Tees, orange and black shot silk blouson had small detailing like tiny side contrast insets at pocket flaps and pants. Zippers and metallic trims were part of the creations as buckles on double breasted blousons were an embellishment and zippers doubled up as rows of trims for jackets and bombers. Narendra added on a couple of trench coats - some with drawstring at the waist while the others were just hip length.
For formal wear the silhouette still remained lean for the suits but the designer added on bits of embroidery. Keeping the theme in mind Narendra presented a dull gold embroidered grey thigh length sherwani with a built in collar as a finale. Creatively it was the embellishments which made the difference to the basic shapes but commercially the collection should sell well for Narendra Kumar.
Dev, a commerce graduate from St.Xaviers Kolkata, went on to pursue fashion at NIFD, Kolkota and became a 'Style File Young Masters' finalist in 2004. Nil acquired his fashion education from Canberra Institute of Technology, Australia. He even interned under Akira Isogawa, which helped him understand the importance of Art in Fashion.
“The Jigsaw” was the title of Dev R Nil’s men’s wear line and it was a monochromatic story in black, white, grey, sap green, pink, blue and mauve. Subtle textures were created for the men’s wear using chikan kari from the Japanese illusion printing techniques to create subtle textures and then the duo added on batik print to for jigsaw patterns. The fabrics were rather colourful with silk Lurex, silk satin, linen, viscose blends, stretch cotton and jacquards for a cool resort wear line.
The collection comprised jackets, bomber jackets, pleated or fitted trousers, shorts, shirts and tee with fine pleating, pin tucking and kantha stitch for texturing. Layering was used in black and white for printed organza jackets while the trousers were pleated. The cube embroidery also appeared in print in varying colours. The show opened with a black and white printed line of jackets then moved into a dusty pink overlap vest with grid batik shorts, and then onto a batik jersey jacquard jumper.
The butterfly embroidery on jackets and trousers was a discreet entry in black, while the double breasted Lurex jacket with cube embellishments worn with crushed cotton trousers was a trendy offering. Waistcoats were often pleated in Lurex while bomber jackets in crushed brown Lurex were embroidered finely. Moving slightly off the conventional track the duo added a black taffeta long sleeveless jacket with zipper and a striped shirt with crystal buttons.
When it comes to giving the metro sexual male a new style statement, then Dev r Nil have a few options which are striking without being too over the top.
The label is jointly owned by Lecoanet, of French origin, who acquired his fashion design training at Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, Paris and Hemant Sagar, who trained in Germany. The fashion house was born in 1984. They present each year, a line for both, haute couture and ready-to-wear.
Are you High? Asked Lecoanet Hemant with their men’s wear line under the LHMAN label. Well for Spring/Summer their look went literally into outer space with an inspiration that revolved around the twilight zone. To match the mood of the theme the silhouettes moved from sporty to formal in fabric choices which were fluorescent plastic, metallic plaques, transparent framings for lapels and cuffs along with linen jersey herringbone, denim, crinkled linen and twill.
The colours were subdued – khaki, white, pale pink, beige, choc mint, brown, blue, clay, steel and coral. While the jackets were lean and figure hugging the trousers were zootlanders or zooid (full at the hips and then tapering down). The mix of the various garments which could be matched with the rest of the collection gave more options to the wearer. The matte pink canvas Buffon shorts were worn with a decollage jacket, while the tailored herringbone jacket was teamed with crinkled linen zootlanders. A dog print appeared in gold or was embroidered on jackets or splashed all over suits.
An interesting detailing was drawstring at the hem or a slightly gathered hemline of jackets. T shirts were with broken necklines or in faux grosgrain with raglan sleeves. The finale was a postbox red three button suit which seems to be the colour for men when the next summer arrives.
While the Leconet Hemant’s line for men was interesting it is quite possible that the wearer may just get too high in it.
Sailex Ngairangbam graduated from NIFT and went on to do his masters from Domus Academy in Milan. Based in Delhi, his label Sailex. Presents apparel which are significant for their simple and elegant styles.
Last season Sailex was part of the Gen Next section. This time he was in the emerging designer group. He started out in March 2008 for the Autumn/Winter 2008 season by working on an emerald green, black and white silk colour story; Sailex was inspired by a cartoon character Emily. The range had skin tight trousers, some stylish quilted wraps on skirts and jackets, trench coats and a black quilted tuxedo suit with a green cummerbund. The highlight of the line was the towering platform shoes in green or black with long beaded necklaces.
This time for Spring/Summer 2009, Sailex went on a tangent and worked with drapes and layers in solid pastels and bright colours in fabrics which were soft and fluid like satin and chiffon for long and short very feminine evening wear.
Using fabric braiding as the basis of the collection he added it to shoulder straps, around the bodice and for neck detailing. He preferred to work on draped micro mini bubble dresses, used some shading for outfits, added on Capri jumpsuits, cowled satin mini and harem pants, gave pleating a chance to change the look of a dress and then ended the show with an asymmetric pink shaded gown with an attached hemline hooded cape.
The collection moved on a somewhat jerky path – the drapes were interesting though a little passé in some of the creations. While the pants and capris could have been avoided.
This is Sailex's second season maybe next year he will be on a more sure footing and develop his distinct signature style.
Agnimitra Paul first got a MBA degree before acquiring a diploma from the Fashion School of the Birla Institute of Liberal Arts & Management Sciences. Her label INGA is well known for its Indo-Western context and very popular with the film frat of Mumbai and Kolkata.
Working with just two colours - black and white - Agnimitra Paul's collection "The Black Lily" was an offering of love to those who feel the world more than they can see it.
Using sheer fabrics like net, chiffon, georgette and linen the garments in soft fluid shapes in the negative/positive colour story with just a hint of red, pink and green had a lot of shade blocking with mainly white being the front of the garment and black the rear.
There were dresses with lilies embroidered at the back with hints of colour; while the fabric base was a mix of textures and the Braille script was used as embellishment. While women's garments included semi formal wear like the one shoulder knee length dress with drape, the ruffled halter, tiered skirts and tops and a line of very ornate saris with heavy zardozi embroidery of lilies; the men's wear tended to be a little different with the short cropped cross over tops and the black and white trousers which projected a slightly humorous image.
Commercially the women's line could sell more than the men's as it will be difficult for even the most trendy male to see himself in such acute colour blocking even if the intention behind the designing was noble.
The idea of using Braille as an embellishment is not new. It has been done before by Wendell Rodricks. But maybe this time around Agnimitra Paul may be able to make it a more saleable proposition for Spring/Summer 2009.
Anand Kabra is a Hyderabadi who launched his label ‘Anand Kabra’ in 1999. He has trained in fashion at the London College of Fashion. His passion for clean faultless lines and immaculate cuts and finishes, give an international appeal to his garments and are his trademark.
There was a marked oriental touch to Anand Kabra once again for Spring/Summer 2009 and this time the designer called his collection “Wabi-Sabi” which is an intuitive appreciation of transience and understatement. Most of Anand’s creations are part of his emotional thoughts so they have a spiritual feel about them. This was a tranquil quiet line in hand loomed cottons, relaxed silks and tissues which were allowed to fall gracefully around the body in long lean and layered silhouettes.
Ideal for resort or holiday dressing, the colours were white and black with muted yellow or pink and a touch of brown and beige. The Japanese influence in the garments was very visible while the footwear was perfect wooden Japanese sandal to complement the creations. There was minimal placement of colour and motifs starting with just splashes and then graduating onto line drawings of flowers in black and then onto giant marigolds in shaded and smudgy colours.
Starting with a white line in organza for a layered dress with a grey silk bodice; Anand moved to georgette shaded drapes for halter dresses, then splashed a little colour on tunics and moved on to wrap dresses with wide sashes. Interesting touches were the wrap around cholis which were tied over the saris in contrast colours. Extending the hemline further Anand allowed it to flow over the shoulder and turned it into a classic Grecian drape. Side pleated palazzos, one shoulder kaftans, zuoave pants and even a jumpsuit in the same shape and a sari in ivory with shimmering flowers completed the collection.
For those who are followers of elegant minimalistic style then the Wabi-Sabi collection by Anand Kabra will delight them.
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