There is a particular look which Kavita Bhartia is known for and her Wild Flower Hall collection took a few entries to achieve it. Working around a colour palette of dark green, neutral, purple, blue, red, maroon and lots of black; Kavita had a good mix of jersey and Lycra along with crushed silk, georgette and cotton.

The embellishments were chosen keeping the tradition of India with kalamkari and tie dye with silver zardosi embroidery being the favorites. The first ten garments which followed a very complex crushed draped look for dresses and skirts in georgette with knit tops with antique silver embroidery appeared a trifle overdesigned, especially the draped bottle green silk skirt.

But when Kavita moved into the green and black thread shift dress the show moved onto an even keel. The green knife pleated printed skirt with embellished yoke in shot silk, the mehendi green handkerchief dress with black cutwork flowers, the blue maroon printed maxi skirt and dress, the indigo printed Lycra poncho, the one shoulder satin dress with ornate neckline, the crushed georgette draped skirt and the printed skirt with three asymmetric tiers brought back the vintage Kavita Bhartia touch in plenty. Special mention must be made of the sequined leggings and the sheer stockings which added to the beauty of the creations.

No doubt Gaurav Gupta has mastered the drape technique and has made it his signature style that has stayed a constant across seasons. The collection that he presented for the AW 10-11, was inspired by the artistic theme of romancing the obsession of the fantastical beauty found in roses and insects, and each garment was a showcase of controlled volume play of drapes and deft pleating techniques. On a red tartan runway rolled out a line up of around 34 pieces with the same red tartan print across dresses, tops and even stockings.

The collection comprised one shoulder drape satin dress, tartan puff sleeved tops, flare drape jackets, trench coat, gold lame drape sleeve saree, a puff sleeved checked shirt with an aubergine satin jersey tulle saree, Victorian pleat neck shirt with a satin jersey drape gown, black satin moulded curves jacket, a red-sat mirror satin dress with Victorian neck drape top, teamed with tights or stockings with matching prints. Neckpieces embellished with CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements, remained the main accessory with all. The show stopper was a red godet dress with a CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski gold chain fabric neckpiece.

The silhouette was modern drapes that flowed around expertly across dresses, tops, skirts, sleeves, hems et al. Fabrics were predominantly satin, chiffon, jersey, the use of tulle here and there, all of which work well with drapes. The color palette remained wintery and comprised, red, champagne, silver, gold, grey, lavender, purple, with a profusion of tartan checks, digital prints, botanical prints, mirror prints. The main accessory remained the CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski embellished neck pieces that were worked in with every type of garment and did not always do justice. The poems by his friend Navkirat Sodhi did show the artistic soul of the designer as he walked the runway in the end wearing one of his trousers with drapes that was from his menswear collection. All in all, Gaurav Gupta has remained true to his genre. Yet a dash of freshness might have been welcome from someone of his caliber.

City Scape was the title of the collection by Amrish Kumar for The Label from Ritu Kumar. Following the inspiration, the collection was dark and somber with colours that ranged from grey, black, rust with hints of abstract and geometric prints using dyeing techniques, borders and adding on tie n dye that tried to recreate the concrete, steel and glass of a metropolis.

There was just a hint of glitter with mukaish, sequin,  chain and bell elements and the silhouettes were very western in form with sharp asymmetric cuts and drapes adding to the look. Fabrics ranged from lots of silk to net, jacquard, velvet, georgette, satin and knit used quite interestingly in a mix or in a fluid form.

While the minis and tunic tops were teamed with metallic or Lurex tights, the dresses were often allowed to make a fashion statement. Where the collection went slightly askew was when some of the dresses gave a sense of déjàvu to the viewer and did not make a striking impact. The gold embellished swirling bias mini skirt in the early entries with sheer black blouse was interesting and so was the black jersey mini with a gold yoke.

The favoured net blouson over printed shell is something that many collections offer while the black and white print mini and lace sheer layer over print yoke took the concept further. The grey knit and fabric tight pants could become a trend and the rust tie n dye wrap kimono was great but could work more for summer rather than autumn/winter. In the tie n dye story the rust hooded draped mini and the asymmetric silk half pleated bias mini were good additions while the black tie n dye wrap mini with front cascades was a youthful item.

A mix of sheer over solid for dress, the tiny petal mini skirt with an asymmetric tuxedo jacket and the beaded hem border for the black mini skirt with a sari drape jersey blouse could make good sellers. What was lacking was a strong fashion statement that somehow failed to emerge from the collection unlike in the past when The Label has been offering memorable traditional craft with the right touches of western sensibilities which are a distinct aspect of the Ritu Kumar look.