Indian
traditional fashion at its best
Mumbai,
July 20: The second day of the hyped Lakme India Fashion Week
(LIFW), currently underway in Mumbai, showcased Indian traditional
fashion, at its best. Catering to today's woman without compromising
on tradition, fashion doyenne Ritu Kumar left her audiences and buyers
spellbound by showcasing her collections, one of the most-awaited
of the season. Being in the business for almost 40 years, Kumar is
known for making Indian clothes - detailed, elaborate, pretty and
traditional - but not everyday wear. However, this year's collections
proved all contemporary design-lovers completely wrong.
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Beauty
pageant favourite Ritu Kumar's offering for this season included
her trademark style of tradional embroidery, muted earth tone
colours and trousseau collections, highlighting her well- known
penchant for Indian weaves and textiles
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The
first section of Kumar's collections aimed at young women and the
clothes spoke for themselves - strong, bold, colourful, fun, but most
importantly, aesthetically traditional. Kumar's new fusion look brought
together ethnic kitsch, crystal- studded jackets and western cuts
with Indian motifs, targetting the foreign buyer. The second section
included her trademark style of traditional embroidery, muted arth
tone colours and trousseau collections, highlighting her well-known
penchant for Indian weaves and textiles. "It was absolutely awesome.
She outdoes herself everytime. Everytime I see her lehengas (traditional
skirts) I feel like getting married. I am already married, I wore
her clothes for my wedding. But everytime I see her lehengas I feel
like getting married all over again," said Mandira Bedi, an actress.
Meanwhile,
Indian fashion's enfant terrible Rohit Bal unveiled his collection
for men this season under his pret label 'Balance'. Embellished jackets
and straight cuts made for a contemporary yet decidedly Indian look,
which went down well with the audience, that took up almost all the
rows. It was fashion to shock acceptable aesthetics, blurring gender
lines, defining metrosexuality. With kohl-lined eyes and vermillion
streaks in the hair, male models wore Bal's collection of Elvis-style
jackets with embroidery and mirror-work, Sherwanis (traditional jackets),
silk capes with tassels, sarongs and lungis, with aplomb. "I hope
men are able to wear this, at least in India. In Europe unfortunately
man is much more boring than that. It is very boring, very flat, very
plain. But this was absolutely great," said Maria Louisa, a French
buyer.
Nearly
60 Indian designers are slated to showcase their "pret-a- porter"
or ready-to-wear collections at the LIFW that is expected to draw
15,000 spectators. Some of the big name potential buyers expected
to attend the show include luxury conglomerate Moet, Hennessy-Louis
Vuitton and British clothing retail giant Marks and Spencer. A study
by KPMG Consulting has forecast Indian designer wear sales could jump
to 216 million dollars over the next decade from just 39 million dollars
now. But that would still only be a fraction of the 35-billion dollar
global fashion market.
-ANI
