Anuradha's
hand-woven silk saris steal the show
 |
|
Anuradha Vakil's 'Shabana' creations, mostly in natural fibres,
had a timeless feel with splashes of indigos and black and white
and the glittering brocaded Kanjeevarams. Vakil, who is among
India's leading revivalists, is famous for her traditional attires
|
Mumbai,
July 22: Indian women look at their
sartorial best when dressed in a traditional saree. This time too
they floored the audience with a unique collection of hand-woven silk
saris with elaborate embroidery by eminent designer Anuradha Vakil
on the fifth day of Lakme India Fashion Week, now on in Mumbai. Mostly
in natural fibers, Vakil's ensembles had a timeless feel with splashes
of indigos and black and white and the glittering brocaded Kanjeevarams.
Simply styled, the focus was on the textile which clearly presented
the weave, print and the craft.
Vakil
is perhaps one of the few designers in India to revive the ancient
and traditional rafts of embroidery, printing and weaving. "I have
nothing against western clothes and I think Indian women can carry
western clothes with equal style and ease. It is just a personal choice.
I think that Indian women really look wonderful in Indian clothes
and India is perhaps the only country in the world where these traditions
are still surviving. And I think it needs...we need to give it a bit
of a thought because we wouldn't want to...at least I personally wouldn't
want to see my country where everybody is looking alike. We have a
very individualistic sort of clothes style and I would like to see
it preserved," said Vakil.
Adding
to the collection showcasing traditional Indian dressses was the music
that was a fusion of Sufi songs, vedic chantings and western beats.
Mukesh Bhatt, a Bollywood producer, said that he liked the traditional
Indian clothes with embroidery. "I feel that anything done with class
is very good, whether it is Indian or western and especially the segment
which I saw, I got a very good demonstration of Indian and ethnic
clothes and also western, very innovative, very fresh," said Bhatt.
Nearly
60 Indian designers are slated to showcase their "pret-a- porter"
or ready-to-wear collections at the event 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. India Fashion Week's showcases fewer internationally-known
designers than Paris, New York and Milan, relying instead on its reputation
as the breeding ground for tomorrow's Indian
stars.
-ANI